Random 302 Redirect (Wordpress CMS)
-
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
- 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
-
Interesting, not sure. Did you ever check out the theme?
-Brent
-
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?
-
Hey Kyle,
I see you set the question as answered. What did it end up being?
-Brent
-
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
-
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
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
-
Should I do multiple 301 redirects?
We launched our website less than a year ago. We had another domain name and business name. I created 301s from the old domain to the new domain, that are still in place now. We are in the process of restructuring our current site which would result in pages getting a new title and URL to match. Essentially it would look something like this:
Web Design | | MAVENTRI
-- olddomain.com/page1 --> newdomain.com/page1 --> newdomain.com/newpage I recently checked the analytics and it looks like we are still getting traffic redirected from the old domain. What is the best way to handle these redirects? Should I redirect a redirect?0 -
Is there a way to redirect URLs with a hash-bang (#!) format?
Hi Moz, I'm trying to redirect www.site.com/locations/#!city to www.site.com/locations/city. This seems difficult because anything after the hash character in the URL does not make it to the server thus cannot be parsed for rewriting. Is there an SEO friendly way to implement these redirects? Thanks for reading!
Web Design | | DA20130 -
Post CMS-Switch Actions
I have recently switched a site from oscommerce (an ecommerce CMS) to Wordpress (using WooCommerce plugins). I have already placed automatic redirect rules for all the products and product categories. It has now been 2 weeks since the new CMS went live. However, the site is receiving approximately 30% less traffic than it used to. The new site has a cleaner layout, is responsive design. As I mentioned, the old product and product category URLs are being redirected to the new WordPress URLs. Any other ideas? Do you think its just Google penalizing for changing site structure? On the plus side, I see structured data and rich snippets showing up in Google SERPs for the site. The site is www.vrtack.com
Web Design | | amitramani0 -
How import are breadcrumbs SEO wise on a wordpress blog?
I was recently told I should take the breadcrumbs off of our site, for if no other reason than that it would look much nicer, and I tend to agree. I was curious how much seo weight breadcrumbs add to a site, and if I would take a big hit if I removed them... Thanks!
Web Design | | NoahsDad0 -
Finding a good wordpress web developer for SEO fixes
I have gotten a good audit done of my site now it is time to get the fixes done. I have a developer I worked with for a long time that is good at coding and fixes on my site. However I am not confident in his abilities to execute some of the seo changes that need to be done. Their are some common stuff he can tackle but when it comes to GWT and proper handling of 404's and 301's and other seo tasks I am not sure if he is the right choice.Maybe due to a lack of experience of dealing with the issues I have or is just not his specialty or web devs just don't know seo...lol.... Is obvious a lot of SEO's don't make the changes themselves but leave it up to the devs to handle it their suggestions and fixes. But from my experience devs are not so well versed in seo and you have a hard time knowing if they are doing it correct or can even do it.(of course they will say they can they want your cash and i understand that ). In particular a good amount of wordpress devs claim to know seo but i find that far from the truth.Even when guided to issues some of them will often leave you disappointed. Sorry for my rant! Now to my question , obviously not many SEO's make the actual code changes themselves (how i wish i knew a one that did) are their ones out their that do? If not how do i find a good wordpress dev that can make proper seo changes and knows his stuff....example i need someone who can trouble shoot and track down some serious GWT I have and deal with some hardcore 404 & 301 issues . A lot claim to know but when push comes to shove I have been left disappointed. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions or recommendations.
Web Design | | chrisyak0 -
Wordpress in a subdirectory?
Hi, I've used this method a few times of developing Wordpress websites in a subdirectory and only moving the index.php file to root when the site is ready to launch. (full details of how this is done in the link below) The sites I've used this on all index correctly and rank for their terms, so I haven't seen any negatives at all. However moving forward I would like to know for sure if this is indeed SEO-friendly? note: The site functions as any other at www.domain.com, it's only the Wordpress install & admin etc. resides at: www.domain.com/wordpress/ -the pages are served to root ie. www.domain.com/about) Details.. WordPress from a subdirectory to the root directory: http://askwpgirl.com/how-do-i-move-wordpress-from-a-subdirectory-to-the-root-directory/ thanks in advance.
Web Design | | GregDixson0 -
What pluggin translator is the newest and the best to install on wordpress. Thank you very much
What pluggin translator is the newest and the best to install on wordpress. Thank you very much
Web Design | | maestrosonrisas0 -
How does using a CMS (i.e. Wordpress/Drupal) affect backlinks and SEO?
So I need to build a website with over 100 pages in it. Elements of the design will probably be moved around and or tested so I need to use a CMS. It's pretty much a review site so while the content will remain static I'd like to employ A/B testing to mess with conversion rates. Wordpress has a plugin for that even. So I'm just wondering, since CMS pages are pretty much created on spot and not retrieved from a library, how this affects backlinks and anchor text? How exactly does the external website point to yours if the URL is dynamically generated? Or am I misunderstanding something? Please recommend any extra resources as well if you can.
Web Design | | seochump0