.htaccess and SEO
-
Hey Everyone,
New to SEOMOZ and I have an important question:
We launched a new version of our site about 6 months ago and had a TON of redirects in our HTCaccess file due to a change in our permalink structure (over 2000 easily).
Anyways, recently we went back in and took 2000+ lines of individual htaccess redirects and consolidated them into a RegularExpression for the ones where we could find a pattern for and the others (30 or so) are just the actual redirect link.
Since doing that, it appears our search engine traffic has dropped a bit. It's not crazy, but it's definitely noticeable. I'm not an SEO expert, so my question is this the reason why? How long will we see this decline before we're back at normal levels? We're seeing a lot less crawl errors since doing this, so I think it's a good thing. But I just wanted to check and see.
The site is http://thetechblock.com if you want to take a look. Any help would be really appreciated.
-
Hi Bayan,
Sorry to hear your search engine traffic has dropped.
It might be helpful if you posted the section of the .htaccess file in question.
Here's some things I would double check:
1. Does the .htaccess file serve a 301 response code for the redirect? (probably, but worth double checking) What I might try is create a file of all your OLD urls and upload them into a crawler like Screaming Frog and test them all out to see if they both redirect to the proper URL and with the correct response code.
2. Did you redirect the 2000 pages to unique URLs, or did you redirect them to a single url (or handful or urls)? If you consolidated your URLs to only a handful, this could effect your rankings.
3. Did the content and other HTML elements stay the same during the redirect? For example, did the title tags stay the same or reasonable close to the original? Big differences could cause the URLs to lose relevance and thus rankings.
4. Less crawl errors = good. I would check the Index Status in Google Webmaster to see if the number of pages discovered/indexed matches up well with the number of URLs on your site.
5. Proper sitemaps submitted? Oftentimes when you change your URL structure it's good to submit 2 sitemaps - one listing all your old URLs and another for the new. This way, search engines will attempt to crawl the old URLs and "process" the redirect. Probably not an issue for you since the change was 6 months ago, however.
6. Finally, I'd keep my eyes open for any other causes that may have caused the drop in traffic, i.e. Algorythm Updates, Site Issues, Backlinks and so on.
That's all I can think of, but there may be more. Let us know if you find anything!
-
Anyone?
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
-
Is good for SEO update blog post dates after update post content
Hello I am updating some posts of my Blog, adding new and fresh content and rewriting some of the existing. After doing that I am thinking to update de post publishing so that I appears on front page of the blog and user can read ir again. But I don't know if it is good for google to change the publishing date of the post that he had indexed 5 years ago. Also I don't know if google will read it again if it is old and see the new changes in order to improve it in search results
Algorithm Updates | | maestrosonrisas0 -
Prioritising SEO Tasks for Biggest Impact
Hi I want to find out, what people feel the top 3 focuses should be for an SEO (I know there are hundreds)...Content/Backlinks/Social/Technical I'm trying to better prioritise my work - I work on a large ecommerce site - with just me as the SEO & a development team in France So most of the technical stuff is controlled there. I focus on audits, KWD research & briefing content how to better optimise products. A lot of time is taken up by that as the site is so big & I'm concerned I am not putting enough effort into other areas. What should these areas be?! Backlinks/Content/Blogs - I can't do everything but would like to prioritise tasks which will have the
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey
biggest impact Can anyone help
0 -
What was the biggest challenge you faced as an SEO in 2012?
As an SEO (in-house, freelance, consultant, agency, entrepreneur) what was the biggest challenge you faced in 2012? Please be as specific as you can, and let us all know what you are doing to overcome this challenge in 2013. For me personally I would have to say the biggest challenge I had to deal with was Google+ Local. Obviously Google is putting a lot into G+L, but it has been so messy and at times I have just thrown my arms up in the air. Especially when it comes to multi-state locations and losing reviews.
Algorithm Updates | | clarktbell0 -
How to write a good resourceful SEO enabled article
We have our saas based website - most of our online customers are those who keep coming back to us and my GA is full of their footprints. I completely want to concentrate on getting hold of those who might really need our software and as of now are not able to find them . Including keywords through which people might want to find us is one of the ways. Next how do I publish that to the majority of the users to find and get traction better on that article or post? Would posting links to facebook twitter etc and getting people to find those articles there and link back and come on our main website to read it - will this help? We sell cloud based software but have various domains where our customers can make use of it. There are at least 5-10 of them. We don't have content at all on our website. In a few simple steps how can I get started with this - Content generation **Linking back the content ** Generating good foot falls from users to those cotent Notching up on google for those content page A detailed insight would prove much helpful Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | shanky11 -
SEO for a starter
Hi I operate in a rather competitive market (IT and project management related training), and my focus is the UK market. I've recently started focussing on SEO. I have been creating content, albeit slowly. I have completed writing a book on my target subject, which is due to go out in a couple of weeks (I've received very positive feedback so far). And I have a decent PPC campaign. To get to decent ranking on Google etc., my plan is 1. Focussing on quality content and publishing on my site (I have about 15-20 articles in the pipeline). Reaching out for guess posts is next, but creating this much content is hard. 2. Get external SEO help for link building and off-page SEO. This is somewhat confusing for me, as I've got offers ranging from blog posts, BMR etc. I have some budget for this, but don't exactly know what to target. 3. Gradual focus on on-page optimisation. I haven't done anything on social front, on FB, Twritter. I do have a solid LinkedIn profile (personal). I have one full time resource available to help me out. What should I focus on? What am I missing? Cheers.
Algorithm Updates | | feneris0 -
Addicted to SEO: Please Help!
Hello. My name is Justin. And I am an addict. I have recently starting dabbling around with SEO about five months ago. And I have found myself wanting more and more. I feel like I needed to come to this group of other addicts and admit it to you. I am constantly checking my ranking in Google. I am obsessed with my keywords. And I will sell my soul for a PR8 in-bound link. I desperately want my site: www.findahealthcarejob.com to be the best in the universe and it has been a wonderful drug for me. This must stop. Please help me. What are some steps of your own 12-steps that help you detox from this addicting lifestyle? Thank you.
Algorithm Updates | | findachristianjob0 -
TOP 3-5 SEO Blogs
I am wondering if you can help me start with the top three to five SEO blogs. I have been really enjoying and getting into learning more about SEO and it is becoming really fun as it becomes less overwhelming. A few days ago there was a question about great SEO blogs. And everyone provided a great list. I bookmarked all of them, but in reality I won't be able to go through them all and really get what is being presented. My question is what would be the best 3-5 to start with? Eventually I will go through them all but experience can help me get on the right track. Thanks for the suggestions
Algorithm Updates | | fertilityhealth0 -
What are the good strategies using satellite sites in SEO??
Hello to everybody, We'are thinking about launching a massive amount of satellite websites in order to promote our website. Is it really efficient in terms of link building? Or is the ROI really small due to the amount of time and money needed to create and manage these websites? Thanks a lot!!! Update: Thanks to all of you for all these interesting answers!
Algorithm Updates | | sarenausa1