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    4. Remove html file extension and 301 redirects

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    Remove html file extension and 301 redirects

    Technical SEO
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    • ulefos
      ulefos last edited by

      Hi

      Recently I ask for some work done on my website from a company,  but I am not sure what they've done is right.
      What I wanted was html file extensions to be removed like
      /ash-logs.html to /ash-logs
      also the index.html to www.timports.co.uk
      I have done a crawl diagnostics and have duplicate page content and 32 page title duplicates. This is so doing my head in please help

      This is what is in the .htaccess file

      <ifmodule pagespeed_module="">ModPagespeed on
      ModPagespeedEnableFilters extend_cache,combine_css, collapse_whitespace,move_css_to_head, remove_comments</ifmodule>

      <ifmodule mod_headers.c="">Header set Connection keep-alive</ifmodule>

      <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews</ifmodule>

      DirectoryIndex index.html

      RewriteEngine On 
       #

      Rewrite valid requests on .html files  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f

      RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html?rw=1 [L,QSA] 
       #

      Return 404 on direct requests against .html files

      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .html$  
      RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !rw=1 [NC]
       RewriteRule ^ - [R=404]

      AddCharset UTF-8 .html # <filesmatch “.(js|css|html|htm|php|xml|swf|flv|ashx)$”="">#SetOutputFilter DEFLATE #</filesmatch>

      <ifmodule mod_expires.c="">ExpiresActive On
      ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 years"
      ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 years"
      ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 years"
      ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 years"
      ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 years"
      ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 years"
      ExpiresByType text/x-javascript "access 1 years"
      ExpiresByType application/javascript "access 1 years"
      ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 years"</ifmodule>

      <files 403.shtml="">order allow,deny allow from all</files>

      redirect 301 /PRODUCTS http://www.timports.co.uk/kiln-dried-logs
      redirect 301 /kindling_firewood.html http://www.timports.co.uk/kindling-firewood.html
      redirect 301 /about_us.html http://www.timports.co.uk/about-us.html
      redirect 301 /log_delivery.html http://www.timports.co.uk/log-delivery.html redirect 301 /oak_boards_delivery.html http://www.timports.co.uk/oak-boards-delivery.html
      redirect 301 /un_edged_oak_boards.html http://www.timports.co.uk/un-edged-oak-boards.html
      redirect 301 /wholesale_logs.html http://www.timports.co.uk/wholesale-logs.html redirect 301 /privacy_policy.html http://www.timports.co.uk/privacy-policy.html redirect 301 /payment_failed.html http://www.timports.co.uk/payment-failed.html redirect 301 /payment_info.html http://www.timports.co.uk/payment-info.html

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • Tom-Anthony
        Tom-Anthony @ulefos last edited by

        This looks good to me, the html pages are 301ing to the non .html versions. 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • ulefos
          ulefos last edited by

          I think I've done it this is what I have found and added to my htaccess code.

          <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">   
           Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews</ifmodule>

          DirectoryIndex index.html

          RewriteEngine On    
          RewriteBase /

          #removing trailing slash
          RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d    
          RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ $1 [R=301,L]

          #non www to www
          RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.    
          RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

          #html
          RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f    
          RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d    
          RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.html [NC,L]

          #index redirect 
          RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index.html\ HTTP/    
          RewriteRule ^index.html$ http://www.timports.co.uk/ [R=301,L]
          RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} .html    
          RewriteRule ^(.*).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]

          Tom-Anthony 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • ulefos
            ulefos last edited by

            I still have the internal error, thank you for your time in looking at this I will keep trying

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • LynnPatchett
              LynnPatchett @ulefos last edited by

              Hi,

              htaccess can be a pain and I will admit I usually manage what I am after with a bit of trial and error. Try the following, and if you have problems concentrate on the lines:

              RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} .html
              RewriteRule ^(.*).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]

              I have added a redirect for index.html to root, and from non www to www and removed the last .html from the last list of _ to - redirects. Give it a shot, and keep that backup handy just in case. If no go, maybe one of the htaccess experts around can step in and have a look, I am not 100% sure what some of those other rules are doing to be honest!

              <ifmodule pagespeed_module="">ModPagespeed on 
              ModPagespeedEnableFilters extend_cache,combine_css, collapse_whitespace,move_css_to_head, remove_comments</ifmodule>

              <ifmodule mod_headers.c="">Header set Connection keep-alive</ifmodule>

              AddCharset UTF-8 .html

              <filesmatch ".(js|css|html|htm|php|xml|swf|flv|ashx)$"="">

              #SetOutputFilter DEFLATE 
              #</filesmatch>

              <ifmodule mod_expires.c="">ExpiresActive On 
              ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 years"
              ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 years"
              ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 years" 
              ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 years" 
              ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 years" 
              ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 years" 
              ExpiresByType text/x-javascript "access 1 years" 
              ExpiresByType application/javascript "access 1 years" 
              ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 years"</ifmodule>

              <files 403.shtml="">order allow,deny allow from all</files>

              # mod_rewrite On only needed once
              RewriteEngine On

              301 permanent redirect old underscore.html to new dash urls

              redirect 301 /PRODUCTS http://www.timports.co.uk/kiln-dried-logs 
              redirect 301 /kindling_firewood.html http://www.timports.co.uk/kindling-firewood
              redirect 301 /about_us.html http://www.timports.co.uk/about-us
              redirect 301 /log_delivery.html http://www.timports.co.uk/log-delivery
              redirect 301 /oak_boards_delivery.html http://www.timports.co.uk/oak-boards-delivery
              redirect 301 /un_edged_oak_boards.html http://www.timports.co.uk/un-edged-oak-boards
              redirect 301 /wholesale_logs.html http://www.timports.co.uk/wholesale-logs
              redirect 301 /privacy_policy.html http://www.timports.co.uk/privacy-policy
              redirect 301 /payment_failed.html http://www.timports.co.uk/payment-failed
              redirect 301 /payment_info.html http://www.timports.co.uk/payment-info

              301 permanent redirect index.html to folder

              RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)index.html?\ HTTP/
              RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)
              )index.html?$ http://www.timports.co.uk/$1 [R=301,L]

              301 permanent redirect non-www to www

              RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www.timports.co.uk)?$
              RewriteRule (.*) http://www.timports.co.uk/$1 [R=301,L]

              301 permanent redirect all .html to non .html

              RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} .html
              RewriteRule ^(.*).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ulefos
                ulefos last edited by

                thanks Lyn, but that gave an 500 internal error, back up worked though

                LynnPatchett 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • LynnPatchett
                  LynnPatchett @ulefos last edited by

                  Hi,

                  I think you will only need this bit:

                  #301 from example.com/page.html to example.com/page
                  RewriteCond%{THE_REQUEST}^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /..html\ HTTP/
                  RewriteRule^(.
                  ).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]

                  And you would replace this bit below with the above:

                  Rewrite valid requests on .html files  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f

                  RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html?rw=1 [L,QSA] 
                   #

                  Return 404 on direct requests against .html files

                  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .html$  
                  RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !rw=1 [NC] 
                   RewriteRule ^ - [R=404]

                  But leave the  at the end of that section.

                  htaccess files can be a bit picky, so be sure to keep a backup so you can quickly undo something if it is not working!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • ulefos
                    ulefos last edited by

                    Ok have got links to work again with old code, going to try this

                    #example.com/page will display the contents of example.com/page.html RewriteCond%{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-f RewriteCond%{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-d RewriteCond%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f RewriteRule^(.+)$ $1.html [L,QSA] #301 from example.com/page.html to example.com/page RewriteCond%{THE_REQUEST}^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /..html\ HTTP/ RewriteRule^(.).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]

                    where would I put this code in relation to what I already have in my htaccess file

                    LynnPatchett 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ulefos
                      ulefos last edited by

                      Thanks you for your reply, I have looked at the links you provided and tried replacing this RewriteEngine On #

                      Rewrite valid requests on .html files RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f

                      RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html?rw=1 [L,QSA]

                      Return 404 on direct requests against .html files

                      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .html$  
                      RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !rw=1 [NC]
                      RewriteRule ^ - [R=404]

                      with this, but it didn't work or I did something wrong. #example.com/page will display the contents of example.com/page.html RewriteCond%{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-f RewriteCond%{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-d RewriteCond%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f RewriteRule^(.+)$ $1.html [L,QSA] #301 from example.com/page.html to example.com/page RewriteCond%{THE_REQUEST}^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /..html\ HTTP/ RewriteRule^(.).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]

                      Now www.timports.co.uk  says this page cant be displayed so I tried to put it back to the previous  .htaccess and still no links working

                      I am so stuck

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • LynnPatchett
                        LynnPatchett last edited by

                        Hi,

                        Indeed there seems to be an issue with your redirects since the .html versions are still available on your site. Two things to check in the first instance:

                        1. The redirect line for the .html to non .html versions:

                        Rewrite valid requests on .html files  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f

                        RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html?rw=1 [L,QSA]

                        I am not sure if this will work the way you want it. First of all a # at the beginning of this line means it is a comment and not processed so you seem to have the RewriteCond part of the statement as a comment (maybe this is just the forum formatting it wrong, but good to check).
                        You can check some other solutions for redirecting .html to non .html here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5730092/how-to-remove-html-from-url

                        2. At the bottom of the file you have a bunch of 301 redirects like this:

                        redirect 301 /kindling_firewood.html http://www.timports.co.uk/kindling-firewood.html

                        Which are working as expected redirecting underscored urls to urls with dashes. But they are also redirecting to the .html version which means you will be getting into double redirects which is pointless in your case. Once you have the non .html redirects working as expected you should adjust these 301s to go to the non .html version like so:

                        redirect 301 /kindling_firewood.html http://www.timports.co.uk/kindling-firewood

                        Hope that helps!

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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