Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Best & easiest way to 301 redirect on IIS
-
Hi all,
What is the best and easiest way to 301 redirect URLs on IIS server?
I got access to the FTP and WordPress back office, but no access to the server admin.
Is there an easy way to create 301 redirect without having to always annoy the tech in charge of the server?
Thanks!
-
Thanks a lot for your answer

-
You have two options:
- Set it up in IIS Manager (best option, least overhead for the server, need no coding skills)
- Code it in classic ASP in a global include file that all pages reference before sending content back to the browser.
Here's a great article that walks you through the IIS config option. For this, you need access to IIS Manager:
Sounds like that option is unavailable to you however.
For the other option: your site probably has a file or two that's included at the start of all web pages. (If not, you can add it). In that file, you'll want to check the URL passed in like this:
Dim sThisPage = Request.ServerVariables("SCRIPT_NAME")
If (LCase(sThisPage) = "/oldpage.aspx") Then
Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://" & sThisServer & "/newpage.aspx"
Response.End
End If -
Any IIS expert around?..

-
There - you can see how often I have worked on IIS servers

-
there is no .htaccess on IIS servers

-
No problem, I'll have a look for another website
thanks -
Nor was I.
If you have FTP access, you might then have to work in the .htaccess file and build the redirects in there.
-Andy
-
Bummer, I was not aware of that, its such an awesome plugin
-
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for your answer, however it looks that the redirection plugin works only for apache servers.
-
Hi Andy,
thanks, it works for IIS servers too?
- Benoit.
-
Hi Benoit,
Yes, Andy is totally on it. Server side redirects are faster, however if you have Wordpress a plugins make it so much easier and convenient.
Also if you want other powerful features like: 404 error monitoring - captures a log of 404 errors and allows you to easily map these to 301 redirects, and more Try Redirection plugin
Hope this Helps!
-
Absolutely - Install this plugin: http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-301-redirects/
I use this on a couple of my own sites and it works a treat.
-Andy
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
-
301 redirect from dynamic url to static page
Hi, i want to redirect from this old link http://www.g-store.gr/product_info.php?products_id=1735/ to this one https://www.g-store.gr/golf-toualetas.html I have done several attempts but with no result. I anyone can help i will appreciate. My website runs in an Apache server with cpanel. Thank you
Technical SEO | | alstam0 -
1000 Pages on old website. What to do with the 301 redirects for this domain?
Hi Moz Community, I have a 301 redirect question... I just acquired an old domain: Totally in my niche Domain is 14 years old Website exists of 1000 pages Great amount of backlinks Website is offline since about 2 weeks Will place a new website online asap with new url structure For the 50 best scoring pages I wrote a new, but fully comparable/related article. I will put a 301 redirect from those old to the new pages. My question: What to do with the 950 other url's? Should I put a 301 redirect to the homepage? Should I forward those pages to the 404 page? Should I divide the 950 url's with a 301 redirect to the 50 new ones? Another solution maybe? Any idea what would be the best solution so we can save as much Google juice as possible? Thanks in advance!
Technical SEO | | snorkel0 -
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 -
301 redirect: canonical or non canonical?
Hi, Newbie alert! I need to set up 301 redirects for changed URLs on a database driven site that is to be redeveloped shortly. The current site uses canonical header tags. The new site will also use canonical tags. Should the 301 redirects map the canonical URL on the old site to the corresponding canonical for the new design . . . or should they map the non canonical database URLs old and new? Given that the purpose of canonicals is to indicate our preferred URL, then my guess is that's what I should use. However, how can I be sure that Google (for example) has indexed the canonical in every case? Thx in anticipation.
Technical SEO | | ztalk1120 -
301 Redirects in subfolders
Hi, we're making our site into a static site but I would like to transfer the Google juice. Most of the links and database exist on subfolders though. Could I simply do 301 redirects on the subfolders and retain the value or does it have to be on the full domain?
Technical SEO | | Therealmattyd0 -
Will bad things happen if I cancel 301 site redirect?
Hi, please someone help! We have two identical websites, say A & B. Because of the not so good SEO establishment, site B was built and site A was 301 redirected to site B weeks ago. For some reasons, we have to reuse site A, which means we have to cancel the 301 redirection. (Sound a little crazy) So the question are: 1. Can we conduct the action? 2. If we cant, what's the reason? 3. If we can, what would be the best practice? Thanks for help in advance! Plus: we also CARE what would happen to site B if the 301 is cancelled? Will it grow healthy like a new site?
Technical SEO | | Squall3150 -
301 redirects & merging two sites into one
We have a client that has two sites that rank well for different searches in their market. The main pages ranking are things like advice articles and news pieces. For various reasons, they just want one site. I believe they need to duplicate the content from the outgoing site and place it on the main site, with a 301 redirect from each old page to each new one. What happens when they eventually want to redirect the entire domain? Would these smaller, internal redirects become obsolete, therefore removing any link value they once had? I am not sure how this works or if there is a best practice way to do this. Thanks Gareth
Technical SEO | | Gmorgan0 -
How many jumps between 301 redirects is acceptable?
For example, I have a page A that should be redirected to page D, but instead A redirects to B, B redirects to C and C redirects to D. It's something I came across and wondering if its worth the dev time to change it. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | pbrothers240