Https Implementation - Weird Redirection After Putting 's' in http://
-
Hi Mozers,
I have come across some websites with their https version going to a totally different website.
For example, http://www.samplesite1.com will load fine but when the protocol is changed to https (https://www.samplesite1.com) it will go to a total different domain say, https://www.samplesite2.com
How does this happen, in technical sense?
In the warning from browser, it says the the security certificate is from the other website but I would like to understand how this happens and how it impacts SEO. I seem to be not able to understand the relationship of this error and SEO impact.
Thanks in advance for your response.
Malika
-
Thanks Chris Ashton for your response. Yes, I agree with you on the benefit bit. I dont think there is any sort of impact apart from confusing the users.
-
I can't say I've seen an instance of that happening before but chances are it's just being redirected via the htaccess file.
Through htaccess you can essentially say if the URL is prefaced with https://, redirect to the other domain.
As far as SEO benefits, there really are none that I'm aware of. Looking purely at rankings, the only value this will pass is ~90% of link juice from any links that explicitly point to the https version. From a legitimate SEO point of view (ie actually caring about users) it's more than likely going to give them a very confusing experience!
There are instances where it makes sense to push users to a https version and maybe a new subdomain or something (from www.store.com to https://www.store.website.com) but even then, there aren't too many instances where that would be ideal.
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
-
How to Redirect Old Domain to a New Domain?
One of my clients has chosen a new domain for her website so we will redirect the old domain to the new. I understand that once redirected, most of the authority built up over the years for the old domain will pass through to the new domain. Is this correct? Can this be done through the Wordpress dashboard, say with a plugin perhaps? I have a plugin called 404 Redirected I was going to try to use for this purpose. Finally, the client has other domains (5 total) she has used for one reason or another. She wants to consolidate all of them and have everything redirected to her new domain. Do you see any downside to this in terms of crawling, Google trust and authority? I know there are some user experience issues to deal with, but we're addressing those. I just don't want to do anything that may cause Google not to trust the new domain. Thanks, Dino
Web Design | | Dino640 -
Should I Kill the Old Domain or Work Through the Redirect?
Our IT department wasn't able to create a new directory on the current domain name for whatever reason and so we had to create a new domain name called ww2.domain.com to build the new site. So now we have the new site up and appartly some PDFs and pages are being directed to the from the old site. www.domain.com but 10,000 pages /PDFs are still indexed in Google and are not redirected. So when you open the page you get the old www.domain.com instead of it redirecting to ww2.domain.com. It's sort of a mess! My question is can we just kill the old domain name and move the ww2.domain.com back to the old domain? We also want to do away with the ww2.domain.com and go back to www.domain.com. I know it's confusing as heck! What would you recommend?
Web Design | | Eagle-ABS0 -
SEO strategy for UK / US websites
Hi, We currently have a UK-focused site on www.palmatin.com ; We're now targeting the North American market as well, but the contents of the site need to be different from UK. One option was to create another domain for the NA market but I assume it would be easier to rank with palmatin.com though. What would you suggest to do, if a company is targeting two different countries in the same language? thanks, jaan
Web Design | | JaanMSonberg0 -
Does anyone know how much a wordpress site can store (in terms of data) I want to put all my movies on it and use it as a personal global external hard drive! Thanks!!
So basically, I have about 500 GB of movies on my computer and I don't want to buy an external hardrive. I don't want to spend the money A website I could access anytime, and anywhere, without having to carry my external with me everywhere I go. Thanks in advance for any help/ references.
Web Design | | TylerAbernethy1 -
301 Redirect ! Joomla Pages, Already ranking. ( just wanted to change the url
hey guys hope everyone had a new year. I am ranking for a page on my site that i want to ( not specifically move ), but just change the url name: It is too long i think and i want to move it from one portion of my architecture to another menu. I have never physically done a 301 redirect myself, always had someone do it for me. I wanted some pointers. Since it is a fairly new site 4 months old! What are my options. Do i need to 301 redirect the page, if i am changing the Structure and AI of my site, or can i just change the url as is and it will still get ranked? How do i keep that url put delete the page and redirect it ? Sorry its very simple but i wanted to get the communities help to continue on ! Best Wishes HAmpig
Web Design | | BizDetox0 -
RSS Submissions Positive/Negative/Neutral Impact...
We are looking to push our site content and blog content out to the masses... There are several sites and services that accept RSS feeds or submit RSS feeds to 50+ RSS sites. Have you seen an positive or negative impact of submitting feeds to these RSS directories? I am primarily looking at this for getting or content out and builing inbound links... Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated... C
Web Design | | hireawizseo0 -
Is there a limit for 301 redirection in htaccess file?
For the SEO perspective, there is a limit for the number of 301 redirection inside the htaccess file?
Web Design | | Naghirniac0 -
Is it necessary to redirect every Error page (404 or 500) found?
If I have Hundreds of pages with 404 and 500 erros should set up 301 redirects for all of them? Some of the pages have external links, some don't.
Web Design | | jmansd0