Will I lose Link Juice when implementing a Reverse Proxy?
-
My company is looking at consolidating 5 websites that it has running on magento, wordpress, drupal and a few other platforms on to the same domain. Currently they're all on subdomains but we'd like to consolidate the subdomains to folders for UX and SEO potential.
Currently they look like this:
After the reverse proxy they'll look like this:
I'm curious to know how much link juice will be lost in this switch. I've read a lot about site migration (especially the Moz example). A lot of these guides/case studies just mention using a bunch of 301's but it seems they'd probably be using reveres proxies as well.
My questions are:
- Is a reverse proxy equal to or worse/better than a 301?
- Should I combine reverse proxy with a 301 or rel canonical tag?
- When implementing a reverse proxy will I lose link juice = ranking?
Thanks so much!
Jacob
-
Two servers? The existing one to process the redirects and a new one to handle the reverse proxy. Or vice versa. So the DNS for the old domain would point to a server that does the redirects. However, the server that hosts the site will be set to reverse proxy.
Another way of looking at this concept would be to take down and redirect the old site, and to start a new site, with the exact same files/database, that will be used to serve the content in the subdirectory/folder.
Ask what they think of that idea. I certainly don't have all the answers to every situations, but will do my best to help you find a workable solution.
-
Hey Everett,
My dev team says it's extremely difficult to do a 301 with the reverse proxy because the reverse proxy needs the domain in order to create the reverse proxy. If we place a 301 redirect it won't be able to access the domain and will be broken.
We're unable to do a server to server process because we're using load balance applications. Do you have any recommendations with this situation?
Thanks,
Jacob
-
That's good to know. I'll follow that.
Some of the articles I read made it sound like reverse proxy was another form of 301, but it didn't make sense. Now I know why.
Cheers,
Jacob
-
You need to do both.
The reverse proxy isn't about SEO so much as the ability to use subdirectories instead of subdomains, even though the subdirectories are hosted on different servers. You have to use a reverse proxy for the technological requirements of using a subdirectory (folder) instead of a subdomain when you're hosting sites on different servers but want to combine them on the same domain.
The 301 Redirects will ensure the users (including search engines) that visit the old URL on the subdomain get forwarded on to the new URL in the subdirectory. This is what preserves pagerank, and provides a good user experience. Do not keep the content available at the old URLs; Do not allow those URLs to return a 404 Status. 301 Redirect them.
I hope that clarifies your situation.
-
My dev team would prefer a reverse proxy. Is there a reason you'd rather do a 301 than a reverse proxy?
When reading this article https://moz.com/blog/what-is-a-reverse-proxy-and-how-can-it-help-my-seo it seemed that doing a reverse proxy would be preferable to just a bunch of 301's. Is that not the case?
-
It is getting over complicated. First principal is do not harm. I would not recommend a reverse proxy. 301'ing each page carry's the juice over. A 301 does everything you need.
However prior to any 301's I would be auditing each sub domain for a penalty - ie you could be pushing a penalty to the main site. So i would suggest a very thorough audit. If in doubt rel canonical that page.
Hope that assists.
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
-
Will this affect
Hi there! I've got a question that I'm having trouble answering. My client has one site url essentially has two sites within it. The homepage (name-photography.com) content focuses on her fashion photography services with a specific design and look with almost no mention of weddings unless you click the weddings icon. When you click on weddings, it takes you to a "new" site on the same url (name-photography.com/weddings) that has entirely different look and feel. The client would like to improve her visibility for her wedding services and not the fashion photography side. Would it be more beneficial to house the wedding services on an entirely new URL so that homepage content can be wedding focused. Again, with the current homepage, it's all fashion photography focused and not easy to redo. Or could one implement a 301 redirect from the fashion homepage (name-photographer.com) to the wedding homepage (name-photographer.com/weddings)? Thanks for your advice! Jessica
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | zigzen0 -
Social Links through Link Shortners. Does it count?
We use link shortner services like Bitly, Goo.gl, etc. Does the post used while making use of such link shortner services counts as a social signal. Or should we post the complete website url pointing to each page while posting on social sites. Secondly, should we write a new description while posting on Social sites or just copy paste a few lines of original posts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | welcomecure0 -
Do banners pass link juice
Hello there, If we place an animated gif banner on a website will this pass link juice in the same way as if we just had a link? Obviously the website would need to be "Follow" Thanks Robert
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | roberthseo0 -
How to Have Flat Navigation w/out Diluting Link Juice
I have a client with a very flat navigational structure relying on a menu with CSS hover dropdowns using simple items to get to just about every page on the site through the main navigation on every page. They want this ability to remain. The issue is stat is send link juice all over and does not concentrate into pages that are key search landing pages. I don't want to "no Index" "follow" the less important pages since there are some brand related long tail searches that I would want these pages found. These are useful pages to consumers who are already engaged with the brand, but not ones we would not care to rank for outside of branded search. If there was a way to have some links be non-crawled via javascript (or some other method) and those that are more important use a more standard html type link that would seem ideal. Does anyone have a suggestion for menu tool or technique for exposing to consumers all the links to consumers but restricting google bot's path while being in line with Google Webmaster guideslines? Blair
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BlairKuhnen0 -
Link masking in WordPress
in Wordpress, I want to block Google from crawling my site using the primary navigation. I want to use anchor text links in the body and custom menus in the sidebar to make maximum benefit of the "first link counts" rule. In short, I want to obfuscate all of the links in my primary navigation without using the dreaded nofollow. I do not want to block other links to the pages - body text, custom menus, etc. . This would be site wide. I'd rather not use Ajax or any type of programming unless it's part of a plugin. Can anyone make a simple, Google-friendly suggestion?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CsmBill0 -
Where do I start with cleaning up our link profile?
We have just taken the steps to start building links to www.towelsrus.co.uk, I am concerned about the state of external links to the site created by previous companies, i.e are they OK, or doing us harm, could I get more out f whats already in place or should we focus purely on getting new links? We also have about 25 pages that have 302 errors and contain external links to the site. What should i do with these. try and get them re-directed to our site with appropriate anchor text or simply put a 301 re-direct in place? In essence where I start, We want to build and increase traffic in particular for towels, bathrobes, dressing gowns and bolster our position as our positions are fluctuating a little but steadier than they have been. Any help appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Towelsrus0 -
Link Juice / Java pop up
Hi all I am a bit unsure of something and would appreciate it if someone could clarify (without the sad trombone hinting that my question is stupid like the last time i asked a question) Our Newsletter was recently posted on a website and i am not sure if the link pointing back is actually passing link juice. When clicking the link, a Java pop up box appears saying "click here to go to authors site" I am wondering if this was implemented to avoid google passing its juice? Or if google can index the pop up and give us credit for the link? Please have a look at the article, and let me know what you guys think? http://www.bestholidaynews.com/adventure-and-activities/africa/our-top-3-overlanding-egypt-trips-2.html Thanks in advance Regards Greg
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AndreVanKets0 -
Link Request Email on Site`s Link Pages
Hello I have assembled a list of web-sites that have "Links" section that has a list of persons` favorite tools. Those pages have a link to my competitor. I know my tool is just as good if not better and want to request a link. I`m thinking of sending an email asking for a link and offering a small amount of money for it. Questions: A) How much should I offer? Should I offer anything at all B) Is there an email style that someone can suggest that has been tested and proven to work for this type of situtation?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hellopotap0