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 redirect not working
- 
					
					
					
					
 Hi there! I have recently moved a domain that has been indexed by google and setup redirects so that it forwards to the new domain. It seems like the only redirect that actually is working is the canonical and main domain but every other page and or page nested within a folder are not working. Here is an example of some of the redirects. Am I doing this wrong? It seems to be going to the new domain but can't find the actual pages.... RewriteEngine On 
 RewriteBase /
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !agoodsweep.com$ [NC]
 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://agoodsweep.com/$1 [L,R=301]
 redirect 301 woodstoveservicerepair.html http://agoodsweep.com/woodstoveservicerepair/
 redirect 301 /westchesterchimney.html http://agoodsweep.com/west-chester-chimney/Thanks in advance for any help!! 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Great news there is a plugin you might like http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/redirection/ ps I would still use a maged Wordpress host they will speed up your site and keep it safe. Happy it is fixed 
- 
					
					
					
					
 PS all your links point to www.antrimscomplete.com 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Sorry I just spent 45 min and went to post the site made me login it did not post i will have more time later but do NOT tell google to devalue HTML links Make a redirect with links shown http://www.htaccessredirect.co.uk/ http://yoast.com/change-wordpress-permalink-structure/ http://www.webconfs.com/htaccess-redirect-generator.php http://www.internetofficer.com/seo-tool/redirect-check/ http://www.webconfs.com/how-to-redirect-a-webpage.php If moving your domain this is a good time to use a Wordpress only host use Zippykid , WPengine, Pagely, Web Synthesis or PressLabs Zippykid gives you the most for the moneyhttps://www.zippykid.com/pricing/they are great and will move you and fix this for you. https://www.zippykid.com/resources/kb/pre-sales-faq/can-you-migrate-my-website-for-me/This is how to move to there hosting your selfhttps://www.zippykid.com/resources/kb/getting-started/migrate-your-wordpress-website-to-zippykid/if not use this infohttp://robcubbon.com/moving-wordpress-site-to-new-domain/ 
- 
					
					
					
					
 read a bunch of those articles and saw the video w/matt cutts... i have gone into google webmaster tools and have both sites. I told google to redirect antrimscomplete.com to a goodsweep.com. I also simplified the htaccess : Redirect 301 /http://agoodsweep.com/ 
 redirect 301 /index.html http://agoodsweep.com/
 redirect 301 /woodstoveservicerepair.html http://agoodsweep.com/woodstoveservicerepair/
 and on and on...still the sitelinks in google get 404's. Looked in the host ftp panel to make sure it was reading it - it was. So then I just figured that if i redirect those links in agoodsweep (the new url) to the correct page, it might work.It worked! Thanks for all the help - much appreciated!! Now i have to do a bunch of redirects in the wordpress simple redirects plugin. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 hi Thomas - I did clear my cache and history and used separate browsers but do not see that it is working. I will check out the screaming frog!the old site at antrimscomplete.com has been a wordpress site for years now. I guess that the developer of that site left all the html pages up and then realized the problem and put in redirects. So this site has been sitting for a few years as-is. The owner wants to use a different domain name and wants a different look. I am trying to clean up the mess! I want it to be in wordpress because he uses it as a cms. I guess google indexed a hodge-podge of links, some of which are some of those html pages. Do you suggest going into google webmaster tools and demote the sitelink url's that are the old pages? Does google then use other pages to fill the slots? 
- 
					
					
					
					
 you have some serious problems that site just so you know. I will look at your inbound links a lot of them are very spamy. Why would you take an existing HTML website and convert it into WordPress out of curiosity? I'm not saying there aren't advantages toward press I love WordPress for it much to HTML however if you're going to do a web project like that you and want to start with a clean slate yours has anchor text stating that the website is going to be turned from HTML to WordPress that's not good. I would strongly consider having somebody like Joost audit the site and then fix it. Or simply have a developer pull the good code. The stylesheet will tell the website will look along with CSS with that start you can• with a fresh and get it right 
- 
					
					
					
					
 I am so sorry this is taking so long. Let me somebody that is sure to know It IS fine it redirects to http://agoodsweep.com/ no www if you want to use the www. you must swap what you have up there. use this to find the problem Use the link below to find any big problems in most websites. Change your browser or clean out your cash or reset your browser entirely because it is functioning correctly now http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-avoid-seo-disaster-during-a-website-redesign/42824/ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-and-an-easy-way-to-set-up-a-301-redirect-on-your-blog/36752/ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-friendly-url-structure/4556/ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/10-ways-coding-can-help-your-seo/45402/ 
- 
					
					
					
					
 thanks for all the input! I did adjust the htaccess to Method 1, but still it is not working correctly. Here is what i did: Options +FollowSymlinks 
 RewriteEngine On
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^antrimscomplete.com [NC]
 RewriteRule ^(.)$ http://agoodsweep.com/$1 [L,R=301]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.antrimscomplete.com [NC]
 RewriteRule ^(.)$ http://agoodsweep.com/$1 [L,R=301]The old site was originally html and then they made it into a wordpress but kept all the html pages up and active with a few redirects here and there. My client wants a new domain name and eventually a different design, so i have started the process by moving the old domain and all of it's content to the new domain. When you google antrims complete, google has added some site links and here is where things go south - it seems that the pages follow to the new domain but fall short of going to the new page. For example: google points to "our services" page and it redirects to: http://agoodsweep.com/ourservices.html in the htaccess i have: redirect 301 /ourservices.html http://agoodsweep.com/our-services/ it's weird because google any thoughts?? 
- 
					
					
					
					
 http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/redirection http://301redirects.net/redirect-old-domain-to-new-website.php http://website-tools.net/google-keyword/word/apache+redirect+domain http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93633 Redirect an Old Domain to your New WebsiteHow to instructions using a 301 redirect and mod_rewriteSimply enter the following code into your .htaccess file (changing the addresses in the examples below as needed) and save the changes. If there are several individual pages which have moved, just repeat as neccesary. Not sure how to access or change or .htaccess file. Read our .htaccess guide here. Method 1:Options +FollowSymlinks 
 RewriteEngine On
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^olddomain.com [NC]
 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.olddomain.com [NC] 
 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]Method 2: Options +FollowSymlinks 
 RewriteEngine On
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} \olddomain.com$
 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]Method 3:Options +FollowSymLinks 
 RewriteEngine on
 RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]Method 4:Redirect 301 / http://www.newdomain.com/ Benefits of redirecting traffic from your old domain - Don't lose website traffic! Ensure all visitors coming through to your old domain are instantly redirected through to your new address, rather than being presented with a an ugly error 404 which destroys trust in your website and perceived credibility. This means that customers who have already bookmarked your site, or memorised your web address can continue to have access seamlessly. Still have business cards or publications advertising your old website address or domain? This is not an issue with a properly setup 301 redirect.
- Keep the Google bot happy! When a website or domain returns an error 404 (page not found) this tells Google that your website no longer resides at this address, and Google therefore promptly removes all of your web listings from it's search engine index, meaning all your SEO efforts to raise search engine ranks will have been wasted. Instead, by properly setting up a 301 redirect for your domain name, this tells Google (and other search engines) that your website has changed address, and Google then therefore updates it's index to reflect this change of address (while preserving your rankings). Also very important to note, is that Google then recognises all inbound links pointing through to your old website and attributes these 'votes' towards your new website, transferring almost all of your Google Pagerank and other signals accross to your new site, and assisting in preserving your sites reputation.
 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Would you do me a favor and explained exactly what you are using WordPress? Can you give me both domains without folders? I will get you the right info. I also need to know are you using lightspeed, Apache what you using? sincerely, Tom 
- 
					
					
					
					
 I am confused. I am no .htaccess expert; however, I think you should have your old domain in the condition and the rule should have your new domain... like this maybe? RewriteEngine On 
 RewriteBase /
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !antrimscomplete.com$ [NC]
 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://agoodsweep.com/$1 [L,R=301]Mike 
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
- 
		
		Moz ToolsChat with the community about the Moz tools. 
- 
		
		SEO TacticsDiscuss the SEO process with fellow marketers 
- 
		
		CommunityDiscuss industry events, jobs, and news! 
- 
		
		Digital MarketingChat about tactics outside of SEO 
- 
		
		Research & TrendsDive into research and trends in the search industry. 
- 
		
		SupportConnect on product support and feature requests. 
Related Questions
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Redirect URLS with 301 twice
 Hello, I had asked my client to ask her web developer to move to a more simplified URL structure. There was a folder called "home" after the root which served no purpose. I asked for the URLs to be redirected using 301 to the new URLs which did not have this structure. However, the web developer didn't agree and decided to just rename the "home" folder "p". I don't know why he did this. We argued the case and he then created the URL structure we wanted. Initially he had 301 redirected the old URLS (the one with "Home") to his new version (the one with the "p"). When we asked for the more simplified URL after arguing, he just redirected all the "p" URLS to the PAGE NOT FOUND. However, remember, all the original URLs are now being redirected to the PAGE NOT FOUND as a result. The problems I see are these unless he redirects again: The new simplified URLS have to start from scratch to rank 2)We have duplicated content - two URLs with the same content Customers clicking products in the SERPs will currently find that they are being redirect to the 404 page. I understand that redirection has to occur but my questions are these: Is it ok to redirect twice with 301 - so old URL to the "p" version then to final simplified version. Will link juice be lost doing this twice? If he redirects from the original URLS to the final version missing out the "p" version, what should happen to the "p" version - they are currently indexed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Technical SEO | | AL123al0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		CNAME vs 301 redirect
 Hi all, Recently I created a website for a new client and my next job is trying to get them higher in Google. I added them in OSE and noticed some strange backlinks. To my surprise the client has about 20 domain names. All automatically poiting to (showing) the same new mainsite now. www.maindomain.nl www.maindomain.be Technical SEO | | Houdoe
 www.maindomain.eu
 www.maindomain.com
 www.otherdomain.nl
 www.otherdomain.com
 ... Some of these domains have backlinks too (but not so much). I suggested to 301 redirect them all to the main site. Just to avoid duplicate content. But now the webhoster comes into play: "It's a problem, client has only 1 hosting account, blablabla...". They told me they could CNAME the 20 domains to the main domain. Or A-record them to an IP address. This is too technical stuff for me. So my concrete questions are: Is it smart to do anything at all or am I just harming my client? The main site is ranking pretty well now. And some backlinks are from their copy sites (probably because everywhere the logo links to the full mainsite url). Does the CNAME or A-record solution has the same effect as a 301 redirect, from SEO perspective? Many thanks,
 Hans0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		301 redirect from Blogger
 Hello, I have a client with a Wordpress network of blogs, each blog is owned by a different blogger. Many of them were migrated time ago from Blogger. I have seen that the way used to redirect them is a meta refresh, so no authority is being passed. I cannot find any reliable way of making a 301 from Blogger, There are some plugins, but I'm afraid of using them. Any of you have experience with this situation please? I have even thought about placing a global rel canonical before the meta refresh, but I think that here the problem is the meta refresh itself.... Thank you in advance Technical SEO | | Juandbbam0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		301 Redirect on a PDF, DOCX files?
 Hi, I have to rename many pdf and docx files. How can I implement 301 redirect on them as they are linked from 'n' number of places? Regards, Shailendra Sial Technical SEO | | IM_Learner1
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		What tools produce a complete list of all URLs for 301 redirects?
 I am project managing the rebuild of a major corporate website and need to set up 301 redirects from the old pages to the new ones. The problem is that the old site sits on multiple CMS platforms so there is no way I can get a list of pages from the old CMS. Is there a good tool out there that will crawl through all the sites and produce a nice spreadsheet with all the URLs on it? Somebody mentioned Xenu but I have never used it. Any recommendations? Thanks -Adrian Technical SEO | | Adrian_Kingwell0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Trailing Slashes In Url use Canonical Url or 301 Redirect?
 I was thinking of using 301 redirects for trailing slahes to no trailing slashes for my urls. EG: www.url.com/page1/ 301 redirect to www.url.com/page1 Already got a redirect for non-www to www already. Just wondering in my case would it be best to continue using htacces for the trailing slash redirect or just go with Canonical URLs? Technical SEO | | upick-1623910
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		How to safely reduce the number of 301 redirects / should we be adding so many?
 Hi All, We lost a lot of good rankings over the weekend with no obvious cause. Our top keyword went from p3 to p12, for example. Site speed is pretty bad (slower than 92% of sites!) but it has always been pretty bad. I'm on to the dev team to try and crunch this (beyond image optimisation) but I know that something I can effect is the number of 301 redirects we have in place. We have hundreds of 301s because we've been, perhaps incorrectly, adding one every time we find a new crawl error in GWT and it isn't because of a broken link on our site or on an external site where we can't track down the webmaster to fix the link. Is this bad practice, and should we just ignore 404s caused by external broken URLs? If we wanted to reduce these numbers, should we think about removing ones that are only in place due to external broken URLs? Any other tips for safely reducing the number of 301s? Thanks, all! Chris Technical SEO | | BaseKit0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		301 Redirect "wildcard" question
 I have been looking at the SEOmoz redirect guide for some advice but I can't seem to find the answer : http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/redirection I have lots of URLs from a previous version of a site that look like the following: sitename.com/-c-25.html?sort=2d&page=1 sitename.com/-c-25.html?sort=3a&page=1 etc etc. I want to write a redirect so whenever a URL with the terms "-c-25.html" is requested it redirects to a specified page, regardless of what comes after the question mark. These URLs were created by our previous ecommerce software. The 'c' is for category, and each page of the cateogry created a different URL. I want to do these so I can rediect all of these URLs to the appropraite new cateogry page in a single redirect. Thanks for any help. Technical SEO | | craigycraig0
 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				