301 by category rather than page?
-
Hi Guys
It is possible (and best practice) to 301 a category as a whole rather than every page within the category.
I was asked this by a developer the other day, and it was something I'd not considered before as I've always done it by page.
It seems there's some wordpress plugins out there that do it.
Thanks in advance.
-
There's actually about 20 categories that would ideally have a new slug and the number of posts in each category varies between about 10 in each to around 50.
Is there a limit on the number of posts in a category before we start running into issues?
-
Based on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1lVPrYoBkA&feature=player_embedded
I believe there is nothing wrong with redirecting entire directories. Matt seems to suggest one could even redirect multiple pages to a homepage, and while this isn't ideal, its a legitimate method recognized by Google.
-
Sorry Gareth, misread on that part, how many posts/pages are there within the category you're looking to change? Does the category level have many links pointing in?
-
As far as I know there is no SEO difference between 301 redirecting a page or a category.
Cornel
-
Hi Greg
Cool, thanks. I probably didn't ask the question as clearly as I should. I realise there are plugins out there than can do this, but I really wanted to know whether this had any SEO implications. I've never considered redirecting by category, only by page, so wanted to know what other SEO's thought on this.
-
Hi Gareth,
The redirection plugin should cover this for you - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/redirection/
-
Hi Greg
The content will remain the same and remain in the same category, the only thing that'll change is the name and slug of the category itself.
-
Hi Gareth,
Will the content within the category be moved to another category, or is it being taken down altogether?
-
Hi Gareth,
I guess it should work like this in a web.config:
<match url=".*"></match>
<add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^domain.co.uk/category/$"></add>
<action type="Redirect" url="http://www.domain.co.uk/category/{R:0}" redirecttype="Permanent"></action>
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
-
Filter pages - Shopify
Hi there, /collections/living-room-furniture/black
Technical SEO | | williamhuynh
/collections/living-room-furniture/fabric Is that ok to make all the above filter/tag pages canonicalised with their main category /collections/living-room-furniture OR I keep them as it is, so /collections/living-room-furniture/black can rank for filter keywords, example: black living room furniture, /collections/living-room-furniture/fabric fabric living room furniture etc. Also, does it needs to be noindex, follow as well? Note - already removed the main category content from filter pages, updated meta tags as well. Please advice, thank you0 -
Site Crawl -> Duplicate Page Content -> Same pages showing up with duplicates that are not
These, for example: | https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php/?utm_campaign=july15&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=blog | 1 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 200 |
Technical SEO | | writezach
| https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php?_ga=1.145821812.1573134750.1440742418 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 2 | 200 |
| https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php?utm_source=tapclicks&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=brightpod-article | 1 | 119 | 40 | 4 | 200 |
| https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php?utm_source=tapclicks&utm_medium=marketplace&utm_campaign=homepage | 1 | 119 | 40 | 4 | 200 |
| https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php?utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=first-3-must-watch-videos | 1 | 119 | 40 | 4 | 200 |
| https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php?_ga=1.159789566.2132270851.1418408142 | 1 | 5 | 31 | 2 | 200 |
| https://im.tapclicks.com/signup.php/?utm_source=vocus&utm_medium=PR&utm_campaign=52release | Any suggestions/directions for fixing or should I just disregard this "High Priority" moz issue? Thank you!0 -
301 Redirect non existant pages
Hi I have 100's of URL's appearing in Search Console for example: ?p=1_1 These go to on to 5_200 etc.. I have tried to do htaccess and the mod rewrite is on as I can redirect directories to the root i.e RewriteRule ^web_example(.*)$ /$1 [R=301,N,L] However I have tried all kinds of variations to redirect ?p= and either it doesn't work at all or it crashes the website. Can anyone point me in the right direction to fix this.
Technical SEO | | Cocoonfxmedia0 -
If I want clean up my URLs and take the "www.site.com/page.html" and make it "www.site.com/page" do I need a redirect?
If I want clean up my URLs and take the "www.site.com/page.html" and make it "www.site.com/page" do I need a redirect? If this scenario requires a 301 redirect no matter what, I might as well update the URL to be a little more keyword rich for the page while I'm at it. However, since these pages are ranking well I'd rather not lose any authority in the process and keep the URL just stripped of the ".html" (if that's possible). Thanks for you help! [edited for formatting]
Technical SEO | | Booj0 -
Why do they rank the home page?
We are trying to rank for the key word Motorcycle Parts. We have moved up to page 2 over the past couple months; however, google is ranking our home page not our http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/s/49/61/Motorcycle-Parts page that is for motorcycle parts. We are working on internal linking to help point the right signals too. Any other thoughts? ( we have new content written to put in as well we just have to wait for an issue to be fixed before we can put it in)
Technical SEO | | DoRM0 -
Home page penalty?
What does it mean when your home page has a penalty? I have a site that has good rankings for many pages, but my home page seems to be penalized by Google. I tried searching for my home page URL in Google, www.xxxxxx.com and my page doesn't show up, but sub pages do show up? What would cause this penalty and how do you correct this issue.
Technical SEO | | tadden0 -
301 redirect: Old pages to new
Hi, We have recently made some changes to our agency site. Looking in webmaster tools we have identified a number of old pages with existing link juice. Not a great deal mostly 32/100 PA. There are a mixture of URLs "meet the team" and people pages etc. The anchor text on the majority of pages is our brand name. Could we now 301 all these pages to one page, or is this a no no in the eyes of Google? Any help greatly appreciated. Best Regards Sean
Technical SEO | | Yozzer0 -
Cache my page
So I need to get this page cached: http://www.flowerpetal.com/index.jsp?info=13 It's been 4-5 months since uploaded. Now it's linked to from the homepage of a PR5 site. I've tweeted that link 10 times, facebooked, stumbled, linked to it from other articles and still nothing. And I submitted the url to google twice. Any thoughts? Thanks Tyler
Technical SEO | | tylerfraser0