Will Multiple 301's to the Same URL Cause Issues?
-
Hey Everyone,
We have a client (I don't have permission to disclose) that has just attempted to create better URL's for their site, per our direction. In the process, their website platform kind of took over their renaming attempts and instead of creating the clean, short, descriptive URLs we all wanted, they got convoluted, longer URLs. This all happened within the past 3 or 4 days.
So, they went out and got an add-on that's going to help them create better URL's. In the meantime, they now have the original page/URL plus two new ones for a total of three. No 301's have been setup yet. When they create the new and (hopefully) improved URL tomorrow, will it hurt their rankings to have three pages redirected to the new one?
Is a 301 redirect the right method for this issue or should they do something different?
Thanks in advance,
Kirk
-
Thanks Michael,
That is the route we have taken with our client it seems to be working out well, so far.
Kirk
-
Thanks James
-
The Moz video on redirects - https://moz.com/academy/redirects - cautions against redirecting multiple pages to one URL.
-
Kirk, 301s are the correct choice, and there is nothing wrong with having multiple 301s point to a url, it is very common. IF you are doing a full set of new urls, make sure you go back to any old 301 redirects and point them directly at active pages, you will lose out if you are creating long 301 chains.
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
-
Redirect issue
http://www.themorrisagency.co.uk/wedding-band redirects to http://www.themorrisagency.co.uk/wedding-band-cost-much-hire/ NO canonical in place. Nothing in Htaccess. I cant think where else to look to find it. If I amend it to http://www.themorrisagency.co.uk/we it still redirects. Any ideas? I have spent way too long on it now
On-Page Optimization | | agentmorris10 -
Strange SERP's descriptions
Hey, when I googled one of our products i came up with this strange result, see attachment. I searched for: kurs praktische psychologie on google germany. These words also come up in the meta description of this page:** Praktische Psychologie** Fernkurs mit professioneller Betreuung. Testen Sie den praxisorientierten Kurs über die Grundlagen der Psychologie 4 Wochen kostenlos. and in the body: _Sie glauben der Mensch lässt sich trotz all seiner Facetten durchschauen, wenn man sich nur Mühe gibt ihn zu verstehen? Da liegen Sie vollkommen richtig! Der Kurs "Praktische Psychologie" vermittelt Ihnen hierfür alle Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten, sodass Sie schon bald das Mysterium Mensch ergründen. _ Why is Google still showing this description which i obviously don't want to be shown, and why does it state _spring naar (jump to) Kursgeburh _and how can i avoid this? yd1DStW
On-Page Optimization | | NHA_DistanceLearning0 -
What's better for SEO a page per review or a page with all reviews?
Was wondering what's better for SEO. We have a platform where consumers can read and write reviews. But the question is: is it better to give one page per company with all the reviews on it? Or should we have different pages for the specific company? Example: Itunes has a company page with all reviews on the page, but not the whole review. You have to click further to view the whole review (new page), at the moment this the current situation. What if we place the whole reviews on the company page, so you don't have specific pages for the reviews? Hopefully can someone help us out. Contact me if it's not clear or you want more extended information. Kind regards
On-Page Optimization | | MozzieJr0 -
Url structure with dash or slash
Hi There We have a content website. We don't rank well category image related searches but we get quite good traffic for those keywords. Those keywords are mostly like "category images". We want to change our url structure and we have 2 options now. 1- domain.com/category/category-images 2-domain.com/category/images option 1 repeats the category name so it looks spammy option 2 doesn't really have the keyword. any ideas which one tho choose? Thanks! ps: we don't want to use domain.com/category-images (too many root link)
On-Page Optimization | | muminaydin0 -
Panda Smacked - now it's your turn
Hi all Ok so we were smacked by Panda way back in June 2011, and are recovering from it, (though definitely still not back up to pre-Panda levels). Since then we have: 1. Taken down a load of thin content pages. 2. Increased content. 3. Tried to reduce page template complexity. However, one of the issues we have is that we make money from Adsense, so don't want to reduce the number of ads - however, we may still be falling foul of Panda because of it. So, please take a look at this sample page and tear it /us apart: http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/free-legal-information/children/children-act-orders.html Thank you. And if we can ever help the community back, please just ask.
On-Page Optimization | | dexm100 -
Cnnonical Issue! Plz Help
Hi, I'm having this problem for one of my website, say www.abc.com. Certain information in the site is long and thus required to be put into several pages. For example, let say there is a section for the "List of Business Schools in Canada", this is a huge list and thus divided into several pages. The main URL is like this www.abc.com/business-schools/list-of-business-schools-in-canada.html & after on its goes on like www.abc.com/business-schools/list-of-business-schools-in-canada1.html www.abc.com/business-schools/list-of-business-schools-in-canada2.html www.abc.com/business-schools/list-of-business-schools-in-canada3.html Etc. Now as Google is considering these pages as canonical what should I do suppose do what with it? I've examine that rel="canonical" tag is used on every pages (canada1.html, canada2.html etc.) and the canonical URL is set to the main list-of-business-schools-in-canada.html page. So, why is that Google is picking this up as canonical? Have I made a mistake in placing the rel= canonical tag ? Please suggest. Thanks in advance,
On-Page Optimization | | ITRIX0 -
Different pages for OS's vs 1 Page with Dynamic Content (user agent), what's the right approach?
We are creating a new homepage and the product are at different stages of development for different OS's. The value prop/messaging/some target keywords will be different for the various OS's for that reason. Question is, for SEO reasons, is it better to separate them into different pages or use 1 page and flip different content in based on the user agent?
On-Page Optimization | | JoeLin0 -
How do I fix a 404 with a 301
I understand the need for fixing 404's but I have yet to have a serious walkthrough of how to set up a 301. From all the talk on the forums and such I'm pretty sure this is easy but I've just never done it before and I could really use a walk through. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | BenRWoodard1