• majorAlexa

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
        4. Duplicate Content From Indexing of non- File Extension Page

        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.

        Duplicate Content From Indexing of non- File Extension Page

        Intermediate & Advanced SEO
        4
        22
        3400
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • WebbyNabler
          WebbyNabler last edited by

          Google somehow has indexed a page of mine without the .html extension.  so they indexed  www.samplepage.com/page, so I am showing duplicate content because Google also see's  www.samplepage.com/page.html   How can I force google or bing or whoever to only index and see the page including the .html extension?  I know people are saying not to use the file extension on pages, but I want to, so please anybody...HELP!!!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • WebbyNabler
            WebbyNabler @Mike.Goracke last edited by

            Yeah I looked further into the URL removal, but I guess technically I did not meet the criteria....and honestly I am fearful other potential implications of removal....I guess I will just have to wait for the 301 to ick in.  I just cant believe there is not a simple .htaccess code to cause all URL's to show the .html extension.  I mean it is a simple thing to implement the reverse and have the extension dropped...I mean....good lord...

            Thanks for all your help though Mike, I truly appreciate the efforts!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Mike.Goracke
              Mike.Goracke @WebbyNabler last edited by

              LAME! You may just want to let the 301 redirect you have in place take its course or remove the URL from Google's index since it was added by mistake anyway.

              Mike

              WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • WebbyNabler
                WebbyNabler @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                Nope. .....good lord....

                Mike.Goracke 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • WebbyNabler
                  WebbyNabler @Mike.Goracke last edited by

                  Nope. 😞

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Mike.Goracke
                    Mike.Goracke @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                    If that does not work, give this a whirl:

                    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{3,4}

                    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$

                    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.html

                    WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • TakeshiYoung
                      TakeshiYoung @WebbyNabler last edited by

                      Try:

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

                      Mike.Goracke WebbyNabler 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • WebbyNabler
                        WebbyNabler @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                        That caused the same "500 Internal Server Error" .......   😞

                        TakeshiYoung 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • TakeshiYoung
                          TakeshiYoung @WebbyNabler last edited by

                          Try my code without all the other redirects, and see if it works. If it does, then add back the other redirects one by one until everything works.

                          WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • WebbyNabler
                            WebbyNabler @Mike.Goracke last edited by

                            Oh, and my site auditor is seeing it as a directory with a file in it???  Ugghhh....

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • WebbyNabler
                              WebbyNabler @Mike.Goracke last edited by

                              Nope.  Didn't work.  I am seriously about to lose my mind with this....

                              TakeshiYoung 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Mike.Goracke
                                Mike.Goracke @WebbyNabler last edited by

                                Maybe give this a whirl:

                                If URL does not contain a period or end with a slash

                                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.|/$)

                                append .html to requested URL

                                RewriteRule (.*) /$1.html [L]

                                WebbyNabler 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • WebbyNabler
                                  WebbyNabler @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                                  I get a server error when I do this?  Sooo confused...  Here is the htaccess changes I made.  FYI...I have removed the code you told me to put in there temporarily so the site's not down.  I attached the server error screenshot too...

                                  Options +FollowSymlinks
                                  RewriteEngine On

                                  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ! .html$
                                  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ! /$
                                  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.html

                                  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hanneganconstructionllc.com [NC]
                                  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.hanneganconstructionllc.com [NC]
                                  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hremodeling.com [NC]
                                  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.hremodeling.com [NC]
                                  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                  RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index.html\ HTTP/
                                  RewriteRule ^index.html$ http://www.hanneganremodeling.com/ [R=301,L]

                                  RewriteBase /
                                  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hanneganremodeling.com$ [NC]
                                  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [R=301,L]

                                  m9Kq8yJ

                                  Mike.Goracke 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • TakeshiYoung
                                    TakeshiYoung @WebbyNabler last edited by

                                    You repeat this code a few times, maybe that's the problem? Pretty sure you only need it once:

                                    RewriteEngine On
                                    Options +FollowSymlinks
                                    RewriteBase /

                                    The line:

                                    RewriteEngine On

                                    Also only needs to be included once in an htaccess file. You may want to remove all the other instances.

                                    Try adding this code at the very top, after the first "RewriteEngine On":

                                    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ! .html$
                                    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ! /$
                                    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.html

                                    WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • WebbyNabler
                                      WebbyNabler @Mike.Goracke last edited by

                                      Thanks Mike, you are awesome!  I actually was thinking to do that, but I was concerned that it might have some larger implications?

                                      I also just resubmitted a sitemap so hopefully that "might" speed up the crawl process...

                                      Thanks again!

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • Mike.Goracke
                                        Mike.Goracke @WebbyNabler last edited by

                                        "I accidentally manually submitted the url to google and manually in submitted it to index and that when this issue began...."

                                        It sounds like you accidently added this URL to the index. You can follow the procedure outlined below to request Google remove the specific URL from the index:

                                        https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=59819

                                        I checked your site's structure using Screaming Frog and it does not appear that you are linking to any non-.html versions. If I perform a scan using one of your non-.html pages, it appears that it only links to itself.

                                        Since you have the 301 redirect in place, you can choose to wait it out and Google should correct things eventually; otherwise, requesting Google remove the URL is a faster... PERMANENT process.

                                        Good luck.

                                        Mike

                                        WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • WebbyNabler
                                          WebbyNabler @NakulGoyal last edited by

                                          No it's not a wordpress, it was created with Dreamweaver.  I didn't make sample and sample.html same page, but google is treating it that way....  I have implemented the 301, so I guess I just have to wait for a crawl

                                          Mike.Goracke 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • WebbyNabler
                                            WebbyNabler @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                                            Thank you very for your input!  When I implement into my .htacces what you suggested I get a "Internet 500 Server Error" ?   Maybe it would help if I list what I currently have in my .htaccess  I had to redirect some old domains and did canonical redirects and default non .index....I hope this help, I am at my wit's end...  I also attached a screenshot of the webmaster warning... THANKS!!!

                                            Options +FollowSymlinks
                                            RewriteEngine On

                                            RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hanneganconstructionllc.com [NC]
                                            RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                            RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.hanneganconstructionllc.com [NC]
                                            RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                            RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hremodeling.com [NC]
                                            RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                            RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.hremodeling.com [NC]
                                            RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [L,R=301]

                                            RewriteEngine on
                                            RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index.html\ HTTP/
                                            RewriteRule ^index.html$ http://www.hanneganremodeling.com/ [R=301,L]

                                            RewriteEngine On
                                            Options +FollowSymlinks
                                            RewriteBase /
                                            RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hanneganremodeling.com$ [NC]
                                            RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.hanneganremodeling.com/$1 [R=301,L]

                                            Options +FollowSymLinks
                                            RewriteEngine On
                                            RewriteBase /

                                            u1YvXLR

                                            TakeshiYoung 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • NakulGoyal
                                              NakulGoyal @WebbyNabler last edited by

                                              Is this a wordpress based site ? What CMS are you using ? How were you able to get domain.com/sample and domain.com/sample.html be the same page ? Either way, canonical tag is the correct solution in this case. There's no need for a 301 and if you do 301 redirects, you are not really fixing the issue caused by your CMS System.

                                              I would therefore strongly advise to use the canonical tag. That's the intended use of that tag.

                                              WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                              • TakeshiYoung
                                                TakeshiYoung @WebbyNabler last edited by

                                                A canonical tag won't physically redirect you when you visit the page, it just lets the search engines know which is the right page to index.

                                                If you want to actually redirect using .htaccess, try using this code

                                                RewriteEngine On

                                                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ! .html$

                                                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ! /$

                                                RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.html

                                                WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                • WebbyNabler
                                                  WebbyNabler @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                                                  I tried the canonical and when I enter the url without the .html, it doesn't resolve to the url with the .html extension.  I tried an .htaccess reirect...I am stumped, I can't get it to redirect automatically the the .html  I accidentally manually submitted the url to google and manually in submitted it to index and that when this issue began....

                                                  TakeshiYoung NakulGoyal 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                  • TakeshiYoung
                                                    TakeshiYoung last edited by

                                                    Add a canonical tag to your header so that Google/Bing knows which version of your page they should be indexing.

                                                    You can also try looking into where the link to the non-html page is coming from. If it's an internal link, just change it so that Google doesn't continue to crawl it.

                                                    WebbyNabler 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                    • 1 / 1
                                                    • First post
                                                      Last post

                                                    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.

                                                    • See all categories

                                                    Related Questions

                                                    • EdenPrez

                                                      Will I be flagged for duplicate content by Google?

                                                      Hi Moz community, Had a question regarding duplicate content that I can't seem to find the answer to on Google. My agency is working on a large number of franchisee websites (over 40) for one client, a print franchise, that wants a refresh of new copy and SEO. Each print shop has their own 'microsite', though all services and products are the same, the only difference being the location. Each microsite has its own unique domain. To avoid writing the same content over and over in 40+ variations, would all the websites be flagged by Google for duplicate content if we were to use the same base copy, with the only changes being to the store locations (i.e. where we mention Toronto print shop on one site may change to Kelowna print shop on another)? Since the print franchise owns all the domains, I'm wondering if that would be a problem since the sites aren't really competing with one another. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EdenPrez
                                                      0
                                                    • boostaman

                                                      How to check if the page is indexable for SEs?

                                                      Hi, I'm building the extension for Chrome, which should show me the status of the indexability of the page I'm on. So, I need to know all the methods to check if the page has the potential to be crawled and indexed by a Search Engines. I've come up with a few methods: Check the URL in robots.txt file (if it's not disallowed) Check page metas (if there are not noindex meta) Check if page is the same for unregistered users (for those pages only available for registered users of the site) Are there any more methods to check if a particular page is indexable (or not closed for indexation) by Search Engines? Thanks in advance!

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | boostaman
                                                      0
                                                    • friendoffood

                                                      Pages are Indexed but not Cached by Google. Why?

                                                      Here's an example: I get a 404 error for this: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.qjamba.com/restaurants-coupons/ferguson/mo/all But a search for qjamba restaurant coupons gives a clear result as does this: site:http://www.qjamba.com/restaurants-coupons/ferguson/mo/all What is going on?  How can this page be indexed but not in the Google cache? I should make clear that the page is not showing up with any kind of error in webmaster tools, and Google has been crawling pages just fine.  This particular page was fetched by Google yesterday with no problems, and even crawled again twice today by Google  Yet, no cache.

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | friendoffood
                                                      2
                                                    • Rubix

                                                      Do you add 404 page into robot file or just add no index tag?

                                                      Hi, got different opinion on this so i wanted to double check with your comment is. We've got /404.html page and I was wondering if you would add this page to robot text so it wouldn't be indexed or would you just add no index tag? What would be the best approach? Thanks!

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Rubix
                                                      0
                                                    • desmond.liang

                                                      Our login pages are being indexed by Google - How do you remove them?

                                                      Each of our login pages show up under different subdomains of our website. Currently these are accessible by Google which is a huge competitive advantage for our competitors looking for our client list. We've done a few things to try to rectify the problem: -  No index/archive to each login page Robot.txt to all subdomains to block search engines gone into webmaster tools and added the subdomain of one of our bigger clients then requested to remove it from Google (This would be great to do for every subdomain but we have a LOT of clients and it would require tons of backend work to make this happen.) Other than the last option, is there something we can do that will remove subdomains from being viewed from search engines? We know the robots.txt are working since the message on search results say: "A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots.txt – learn more." But we'd like the whole link to disappear.. Any suggestions?

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | desmond.liang
                                                      1
                                                    • sbaylor

                                                      Artist Bios on Multiple Pages: Duplicate Content or not?

                                                      I am currently working on an eComm site for a company that sells art prints. On each print's page, there is a bio about the artist followed by a couple of paragraphs about the print. My concern is that some artists have hundreds of prints on this site, and the bio is reprinted on every page,which makes sense from a usability standpoint, but I am concerned that it will trigger a duplicate content penalty from Google. Some people are trying to convince me that Google won't penalize for this content, since the intent is not to game the SERPs. However, I'm not confident that this isn't being penalized already, or that it won't be in the near future. Because it is just a section of text that is duplicated, but the rest of the text on each page is original, I can't use the rel=canonical tag. I've thought about putting each artist bio into a graphic, but that is a huge undertaking, and not the most elegant solution. Could I put the bio on a separate page with only the artist's info and then place that data on each print page using an <iframe>and then put a noindex,nofollow in the robots.txt file?</p> <p>Is there a better solution?  Is this effort even necessary?</p> <p>Thoughts?</p></iframe>

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sbaylor
                                                      0
                                                    • digisavvy

                                                      There's a website I'm working with that has a .php extension. All the pages do. What's the best practice to remove the .php extension across all pages?

                                                      Client wishes to drop the .php extension on all their pages (they've got around 2k pages). I assured them that wasn't necessary. However, in the event that I do end up doing this what's the best practices way (and easiest way) to do this? This is also a WordPress site. Thanks.

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | digisavvy
                                                      0
                                                    • CarlS

                                                      Capitals in url creates duplicate content?

                                                      Hey Guys, I had a quick look around however I couldn't find a specific answer to this. Currently, the SEOmoz tools come back and show a heap of duplicate content on my site. And there's a fair bit of it. However, a heap of those errors are relating to random capitals in the urls. for example. "www.website.com.au/Home/information/Stuff" is being treated as duplicate content of "www.website.com.au/home/information/stuff" (Note the difference in capitals). Anyone have any recommendations as to how to fix this server side(keeping in mind it's not practical or possible to fix all of these links) or to tell Google to ignore the capitalisation? Any help is greatly appreciated. LM.

                                                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CarlS
                                                      0

                                                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                                                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                                                    Start my free trial
                                                    Products
                                                    • Moz Pro
                                                    • Moz Local
                                                    • Moz API
                                                    • Moz Data
                                                    • STAT
                                                    • Product Updates
                                                    Moz Solutions
                                                    • SMB Solutions
                                                    • Agency Solutions
                                                    • Enterprise Solutions
                                                    • Digital Marketers
                                                    Free SEO Tools
                                                    • Domain Authority Checker
                                                    • Link Explorer
                                                    • Keyword Explorer
                                                    • Competitive Research
                                                    • Brand Authority Checker
                                                    • Local Citation Checker
                                                    • MozBar Extension
                                                    • MozCast
                                                    Resources
                                                    • Blog
                                                    • SEO Learning Center
                                                    • Help Hub
                                                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                                                    • How-to Guides
                                                    • Moz Academy
                                                    • API Docs
                                                    About Moz
                                                    • About
                                                    • Team
                                                    • Careers
                                                    • Contact
                                                    Why Moz
                                                    • Case Studies
                                                    • Testimonials
                                                    Get Involved
                                                    • Become an Affiliate
                                                    • MozCon
                                                    • Webinars
                                                    • Practical Marketer Series
                                                    • MozPod
                                                    Connect with us

                                                    Contact the Help team

                                                    Join our newsletter
                                                    Moz logo
                                                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                                                    • Accessibility
                                                    • Terms of Use
                                                    • Privacy

                                                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.