Random 302 Redirect (Wordpress CMS)

[kchandler]

So this new project that i am working on is a redesigned CMS site using Wordpress (php based). Before i started on the project they made a few major updates that include:

• Changed from ID based URLS to SEO friendly URLS
• Added multiple languages in directories
  • www.domain.com/en
  • www.domain.com/fr
  • www.domain.com/de
  • etc...
• Due to the new languages they wanted to have the previous home page, www.domain.com, redirect to the proper language based on their IP address. Currently they are using a 301 redirect through a php header. So if i was visiting the site from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and i type www.domain.com into the browser. I would automatically redirect to www.domain.com/en and i would have the option to switch languages if needed.

The issue:

When i first added their site into SEOMoz the crawl returned a large amount of 302 redirects coming from their old homepage www.domain.com. So i took a look at the header calls using IE's webmaster tools and Firebug in Firefox. In both profilers it showed the same problem.

• Before the 301 header redirect there was a 302 redirect called first
• When viewing the response header it mentioned an x-pingback of some file that didn't even exist on the site: www.domain.com/xmlrpc.php

This is obviously a huge issue because any link value from the old homepage will be lost due to the 302 not passing the value. I have tried search the almighty Google for help but it has gotten me no where. I have a hunch it is something to do with Wordpress but that is based on nothing but my gut. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I got to get that 302 gone or changed to a 301

Regards - Kyle

[SEOBrent]

Interesting, not sure. Did you ever check out the theme?

-Brent

[kchandler]

The funny thing is, i didn't find a solution nor did i mark this as anwsered...

It looks like someone on the SEOMoz staff thought it was done?

[SEOBrent]

Hey Kyle,

I see you set the question as answered. What did it end up being?

-Brent

[kchandler]

Brent - thank you for finding my post, i thought it was forever lost!

They had created a custom template, however i will still suggest them try the TAC plugin just incase. I will post the results once i get them.

Thanks again - Kyle

[SEOBrent]

Hi Kyle,

Did they build the Wordpress template themselves? The pingback is a little suspicious, download the plugin called TAC and see if it brings up any hidden code. I had a similar problem where I was working on a site that was using a free theme and had a 302 in the header which made the site struggle in rankings. As soon as I figured out that it was in fact the free theme causing the issue I got it removed and traffic 10x'ed (not much as they were getting like 5 visitors a day) in roughly a week.

It's hard to help without seeing the site but let me know what TAC reports and if it's clean we'll dig deeper.

-Brent