Is this method of redirecting of 404 okay?

[mrmagnecom]

Hi all,

This is my first post at this forum

I'am running a Opencart shop with a SEO extension installed. This extension has a redirect module which works like this.

When visiting the site on 404 url (and if there is setup a redirect for that url). It serves the correct content but on the 404 url with the correct url set in rel canonical.

For example:

Try visit this url: 
https://makitech.no/ventilasjon/ventilasjons-pakketilbud
Here i have setup a redirect to the correct content, which is actually this url https://makitech.no/pakketilbud

I am used to use a 301 header redirect so the user get redirected to the correct url.

So my question is this. Is it a okay practice to serve the content on the 404 url (it responds 200) when the correct url is set in canonical? Any thoughts?

[mrmagnecom]

The URL https://makitech.no/ventilasjon/ventilasjons-pakketilbud was correct on the 05.02.2018 (google cache time) and did at this time not have any rel canonical set. When looking at the Google cache all i se is a white page, but when clicking on "view text-version" and "view sourcecode version" i se the content. Not sure why google cache shows only a white page on "view full version".

Quote: "the more redirects you have in place, the slower the load times get".

The way it's working now, there is no redirect. The shop is fetching the correct content but serving it on the "old/wrong url" instead of doing a 301. But it appends the rel canonical to the correct url.

So i'am wondering if this is okay seen from Google's SEO eye

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Well, if the pages are being indexed, you have an eye on speeding things up and you aren't losing any customers because of it, then I can't see any real harm in it. I can't deny that it seems a bit of an odd way of getting there - perhaps other sites do something similar but I just haven't seen them - the Internet is a big place

I am very much of the opinion, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

-Andy

[mrmagnecom]

The extension i use is built this way and i can change the behaviour by changing the extensions sourcecode. But since it's built this way by the author, i wonder why. That's why i'am looking for an answer if it's okay practice.

The general load time is not optimized, that's also on my todo-list

[Andy.Drinkwater]

It does seem like a long way of getting to the page.

I checked the page but when you do a cache:https://makitech.no/ventilasjon/ventilasjons-pakketilbud it doesn't show the page as not cached, but I can't see the page. THis might be something at my end - or might not. The same with this page: cache:https://makitech.no/pakketilbud

As Donald said, the more redirects you have in place, the slower the load times get - are you limited by the system to what you can / can't do?

-Andy

[donsilvernail]

My only question would be the speed of the redirect. Over 5 seconds. Maybe loose some potential customers who do not want to wait. Is there a reason you cannot 301 the url that is giving the 404?

Thanks,

Don Silvernail