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.
301 Redirects - Large .htaccess file question
-
We are moving about 5000 pages from root into different folders. We need to individually 301 each page because the are sitting at root level now:
We want to move them to: mysite.com/folder/page.html etc
I dont think redirect match can works because of the different files names and folders they are being moved in to.
Will 5000 entries in .htacess slow site loading? Any other suggestions how to handle?
-
@leadforms
Try this format via your .htaccess# Enable Rewrite Engine RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / # Individual 301 Redirects Redirect 301 /page1.html /folder1/page1.html Redirect 301 /page2.html /folder2/page2.html Redirect 301 /page3.html /folder3/page3.html # ... (and so on for the other 4997 pages) # If there are other specific redirects unrelated to the pages being moved, you can add them here as well.
I hope it helps you.
-
Sorry I meant to add some links that might be useful.
here they are
https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/q/will-301-redirects-slow-page-speed
https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/blog/heres-how-to-keep-301-redirects-from-ruining-your-seo
https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/q/massive-301-permanant-redirects This is an older question on here but may have some useful insights.
https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/113246/does-too-many-301-redirects-harm-serp-rankings
http://www.thesempost.com/best-practices-for-301s-in-large-htaccess-file/
-
Hi Leadforms,
Interesting question.
Having lots of redirects will slow down your site.
There are different ways to implement your redirects other than .htaccess but I believe this would be the best method for you.
Is there any way you can group some of the redirects? maybe part of the URL is the same for all the pages you want to send to a certain folder then the match may work?
If not then I think you have a massive job on to redirect 5k pages and manage the redirects afterwards as well.
I would look at the pages and judge the value of a redirect on that page. If the page has no external links pointing to it and it has a low PA then do you need to redirect it?
You also need to keep in mind a few other things:
1. You need to make sure that the page you are redirecting to and from are similar in a boolean context - that is that a machine will see them as the same content and not just a person
2. you need to avoid redirect chains - that is a redirect to a redirect and so on
3. If you have redirects in place at the moment from HTTP to https you need to redirect these separately otherwise you will generate a chain
4. I would amend all your internal links rather than relying on the redirect otherwise again you will create a chain
Once you have implemented the redirects you will need to monitor them to see how much traffic they are generating, if after a few months a redirect is generating no traffic and all the traffic is going to the new URL then you will need to consider the benefit of keeping that redirect in place or removing it to improve site load times.
I hope this helps,
Steve
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 do I carry out a redirect? Is there a code I need to use?
How do I carry out a redirect? Is there a code I need to use? Thank you in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | laurentjb0 -
Should I redirect or add content, to 47 Pages?
We have an insurance agency website with 47 pages that have duplicate/low content warnings. What's the best way to handle this? I'm I right in thinking I have 2 options? Either add new content or redirect the page? Thanks in advance 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | laurentjb1 -
Will Google Count Links Loaded from JavaScript Files After the Page Loads
Hi, I have a simple question. If I want to put an image with a link to another site like a banner ad on my page, but do not want it counted by Google. Can I simply load the link and banner using jQuery onload from a separate .js file? The ideal result would be for Google to index a script tag instead of a link.
On-Page Optimization | | CopBlaster.com1 -
On Site Question: Duplicate H2...
Hi All A few on-site audit tools pull information on duplicate H2 tags on pages. This implies it's a bad thing and should be fixed - is that the case? On one of my sites the tag-line is in H2 in the header, so appears on every page... Just wondering if this is something worth fixing. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | GTAMP0 -
Using a dash or underscores in file names.
Is it better to use a dash or an underscore in file names to improve SEO? EX memory_flash.jpg or memory-flash.jpg Or does it make no difference?
On-Page Optimization | | Robotnik0 -
Quick H1 Above the Fold Question
I was wondering if the H1 for this page was alright even though it is below the fold: http://www.seniorplanning.org/assisted-living-phoenix-arizona/. Any suggestions/comments would be very helpful. Thank you!
On-Page Optimization | | JacobEdward0 -
SEO Location Pages - ALT Image Tag Question
Hello Guru's, I have a Hire Website whereby you can rent products online. I have created different Location pages for these which are in essence the same pages page but with different location specific urls, title tags , on page content etc etc. This helps me to rank for local search. These location pages also display 20 products per page. My question is Should I make the ALT IMAGE TEXT location specific for each of the 20 products . Example - Steam Cleaner Rental in "location" or should I only amend a few of the Atl Image Texts to be location specific. I don't want to come accross as spammy in google eyes but I also don't want to be seen as having duplicate content , images etc etc What do you think ? thanks Sarah.
On-Page Optimization | | SarahCollins0 -
301 redirects from several sub-pages to one sub-page
Hi! I have 14 sub-pages i deleted earlier today. But ofcourse Google can still find them, and gives everyone that gives them a go a 404 error. I have come to the understading that this wil hurt the rest of my site, at least as long as Google have them indexed. These sub-pages lies in 3 different folders, and i want to redirect them to a sub-page in a folder number 4. I have already an htaccess file, but i just simply cant get it to work! It is the same file as i use for redirecting trafic from mydomain.no to www.mydomain.no, and i have tried every kind of variation i can think of with the sub-pages. Has anyone perhaps had the same problem before, or for any other reason has the solution, and can help me with how to compose the htaccess file? 🙂 You have to excuse me if i'm using the wrong terms, missing something i should have seen under water while wearing a blindfold, or i am misspelling anything. I am neither very experienced with anything surrounding seo or anything else that has with internet to do, nor am i from an englishspeaking country. Hope someone here can light up my path 🙂 Thats at least something you can say in norwegian...
On-Page Optimization | | MarieA1