Rebranding: 404 to homepage?
-
Hello all!
I did a rebranding, [Domain A] -> [Domain B]. what to do with all the 404 pages?1. [Domain A (404)] -> [Domain B (homepage)]?
2. [Domain A (404)] -> [Domain B (404 page + same url) - for example: xixix.com/page/blaWhat do you think ?
-
I can't think of any reason it wouldn't be safe to alter those redirects after a month. You may want to resubmit your sitemap in Webmaster Tools to alert Google, but it should be totally safe.
I'm afraid I can't recommend a plugin or regular expression—those are both well outside my expertise. As an agency SEO, I placed 301s in .htaccess or had a dev do it for me.
-
and it's safety to do that after a month? all my 404s redirect to my homepage currently.
and you know about plugin + regular expression for this?
-
I have to agree here. I tend to believe that redirecting all 404s to the homepage isn't the best idea from a user experience perspective. If a user clicks on a link on your site expecting to find information on a particular topic and instead winds up on the homepage with no explanation, they're likely to get frustrated.
Honestly, your BEST bet is to 301-redirect all old URLs to their equivalent new pages. If there are no corresponding new pages, then I'd say redirecting to a 404 page is your best bet.
-
Hello John,
Ok, a little misunderstanding here! Remember first of all that I'm only trying to help/advice you but I don't know your domain, your site and what you may have in mind hehe.
If you read my first answer, I said "the best option". Both options were good, but in my case, I prefer to put a 404 page instead of sending the users to the homepage (with no explanation). Again, this is only a little improvement in terms of UX but in terms of SEO both options work fine.
It's all I can say!
Luis
-
If I understand you correct, you meant to keep it as is? 404 -> homepage?why? why you changed your decision?
-
Well, in that case probably I'd keep it like that (I don't see any SEO/IT problem with a redirect to the homepage!)
It's just that I rather prefer the other solution in terms of UX.
Luis
-
I have a website with +3000 visitors per day, I don't know how many 404s I have in my old website because all of them redirect to my Homepage, I have no any idea how many.
Don't forget: I have a news websites with 20,000 pages (live). it's okay to keep the redirects as is? )(to homepage?)
all the 404s came from forums/comments from third party websites. -
I don't know this plugin sorry!
Let's think about 2 scenarios to understand the situation here:
- If a site is having 1,000+ visitors/month watching a 404 error ==> the problem here is not the 404 landing page, but a bad domain URL redirect or something different to be analyzed.
- If a site is having 20 visitors/month watching a 404 error ==> there's no problem here, this happens to everyone and you should take care of them creating a 404 landing page to minimize the impact of a 404 error.
In what case you are now? I need more information in order to help you/giving you deeper advice.
Luis
-
I have a Wordpress site
you know plugin (RegEx)?
and what I'll do with all the errors in my WMT?
-
Hello John,
Do you know plugin for this? (for the auto redirect 404 to the same page with another domain)?
==> May I know your domain name? Are you using wordpress? Sometimes you don't even need a plugin for this if you know how to code
and important question: If I did it already, I meant, all 404 redirect to Homepage. It's safety to replace it again?
==> YES, normally shouldn't impact your site
Luis
-
Hi Luis!
Thanks for your answer!
Do you know plugin for this? (for the auto redirect 404 to the same page with another domain)?and important question: If I did it already, I meant, all 404 redirect to Homepage. It's safety to replace it again?
-
Hello John,
I think the best option is the second one: [Domain A (404)] -> [Domain B (404 page + same url). In the 404 page, you can implement a 404 page with some options, and your visitors could chose if they want to go to the homepage, blog, abandon the site,....
Remember, this page is necessary but you don't want people land this page
I dont know your SEO/IT level, but you should be sure to redirect properly all your old pages to the new ones using the htacces file.
- domain(A) --> domain (B)
- domain(A)/homepage --> domain(B)/homepage
- domain(A)/about-us --> domain(B)/about-us
- and so on....
This is specially important to avoid an increase in the number of visitors landing to your 404 page after a rebranding/domain change.
Hope this helps,
Luis
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Homepage has dropped out of search results
As of 9/12, my homepage has dropped out of the SERPs. If you google my business name (Sumy Designs) it shows other pages in my site, my Facebook page, etc, but not the homepage. My sitelinks are gone too. It IS still indexed, which you can see if you do site:sumydesigns.com I had been ranking for about 15 keywords that have all been lost since my homepage has disappeared. Here's what I know: There are no manual actions. The homepage is still being indexed, it's just not showing up for any keywords, even my brand Nothing has changed in terms of content, I have been a near daily blogger for several years There's no indication of a problem in search console The drop only appears to be affecting desktop searches, mobile search it still shows up which seems pretty weird. I would love any ideas as to what could be causing this disappearance.
Technical SEO | | sumydesigns0 -
Homepage Domain not Ranking, only subpages is?
What do you think can be causing issues that my main homepage is not showing on search results for the main search terms, only my sub-pages are showing up like the reservations page. ps. I did not get a manual penalty action email. Thanks,
Technical SEO | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT0 -
Unfindable 404's
So I have noticed that my site has some really strange 404's that are only being linked to from internal links from the site.
Technical SEO | | Adamshowbiz
When I go to the pages that Web master tools suggests I can't actaully find the link which is pointing to the 404. In that instance what do you do? Any help would be much appreciated 🙂0 -
How do you fix soft 404 errors?
I'm getting soft 404 errors for a gallery on my site: http://chrle.us/MBKs yet when I visit the url: http://www.chrisboar.com/html/galleries/114/portfolio/weddings-1/0 the image/url is there. Not sure how to fix this. note we do redirect the site to the flash site and only use those URLs for SEO purposes. Maybe that is what is causing it. thanks
Technical SEO | | callmeed0 -
Weird 404 Errors in Webmaster Tools
Hi, In a regular check with Webmaster Tools, I have noticed a sudden increase in the number of "not found-404" errors. So I have been looking at them and noticed something weird has been going on. There are well over 100 pages with 404-errors. The funny thing is, none of the ULR's are correct, For example, if the actual url is something like www.domain.com/latest-reviews , the 404-error points to a non-existent URL like www.domain.com/latest-re And when I checked where they were linked from, they are all from these spammy sites. Anyone know what could be causing these links, why would anyone link on purpose to a non-existent page? cheers,
Technical SEO | | Gamer070 -
Odd 404 Errors in WP That I cannot find the origin
Hello Everyone, I have a really odd error that I cannot figure out how to fix. I keep getting a 404 error (through google webmaster tools, and SEOmoz) at this url http://www.cio-tech.com/cios-oracle-optimization-results-roi-justification-save-20m-over-5-years/www.SynSynAck.com... I am not even too sure how this link originated because the first part is a URL to a blog post, and the second is another website that I have. I'd appreciate any help on the matter.
Technical SEO | | Packetman0070 -
Should we redirect 404 errrors seen in webmaster tools with ... (dot.dot,dot) ?
Lately I have seen lots of 404 errors showing in webmaster tools that are not really links. Many of them from shammy pages. (I did not put them there) One of the most common types is ones that show the link ending in ... ( dot, dot, dot) The appearance of the link is being sent from pages like this http://www.the-pick.com/00_fahrenheit,2.html For example a link like this would show up in webmaster tools as a 404 error. http://www.ehow.com/how_2352088_easily-... Are these worth redirecting? So far I have redirected some of them and found that is was not helpful and possibly harmful. Anyone else had the same experience? Also getting lots of partial urls showing up from pages that reference my site but the url is cut off and the link is not active. Does Google really count these as links? Is redirecting a link from a spammy page acknowledging acceptance and could it count against you?
Technical SEO | | KentH0 -
Looking to hire someone to help on my website. On page issues with subpages outranking homepage
Hello, I have a site that has been doing good for quite a while now. But lately I'm running into issues with on page seo. I have ranked well for long periods of time, but changes like adding content or moving stuff around has bumped me out of the rankings. I would prefer not to publicly disclose the site. My main keyword I rank for is "word1 word2". I notice if I do a site: search for "word1 word2" homepage is #1, site search for just word1 it's #1 as well, but the word2 returns a category listing above the homepage. I noticed this happen right as I fell back from the rankings. I am looking to hire an SEO profession to help me out with on page issues. I've come to admit that I just don't understand something about this and I need help from someone who has a lot of experience with this. I was hoping to find recommendations by people here for a company I could hire for this. I would want to pay no more than $1,000. I hope that budget is high enough to get a skilled individual/company working with me. I'm not sure where to search for online to get a skilled on page seo professional, so I thought a personal recommendation from someone here would possibly be able to help. Thanks
Technical SEO | | nux0