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        4. Duplicate Content From Indexing of non- File Extension Page

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        Duplicate Content From Indexing of non- File Extension Page

        Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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        • 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
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