7 replies to this topic

[zamolxes]

This has probably already been discussed but I would like to know what do you think is the latest about search engines and redirect.

I am running 2 sites that are offering similar services for different regions (one of them for Europe-UK, the other for USA and Canada). I would like to make one of them into a bigger site covering all regions and redirect the other to it. What would be the best way to do that?

I'm worried that search engines might not like it and I wouldn't like to risk deindexing the remaining active site by redirecting to it as it already has about 6000 backlinks, some of them with very good PR, etc.

[chrishirst]

use a 301 redirect. The howto has been covered several times and there is a pinned thread on the subject.

[zamolxes]

Ok, thank you.

[hulio]

I have recently switched our servers over to a new host, and I am in the process of optimizing the site for SE. Originally, to avoid SE confusion, I was using a 301 redirect to be sure that aliases pointed back to our www address, however i now receive an error:

Redirection limit for this URL exceeded. Unable to load the requested page. This may be caused by cookies that are blocked.

I have read through the pinned thread, and various others on the subject, but haven't come across an answer for this issue.

How do I solve this? We are currently hosted on Linux.

[chrishirst]

welcome to HR hulio

possibly some redirection already occuring by the ISP maybe or there is a coding error.

post an unlinked url (leave off the www) or create a signature with the URL in so we could do some testing.

[hulio]

Currently, I am only using 3 errordoc redirects for 403,404, and 500 custom error pages. This is the 301 redirect that I am attempting to use (in my .htaccess document)

Redirect 301 / http://www.domain.com/

I have taken this line out since our business is dependant on people being able to access our site.

roadtrips.com

I'll have to talk to our host provider this morning to see if they have issue with the 301 redirects or not.

Hulio

[Ron Carnell]

You're trying to redirect an alias from within the alias. In other word, your / and your http://domain.com/ are really the same disk location, just with different names. Someone arrives at your site and you say, "Go over there." Except, over there is still here, so you tell them again. And again and again and again, until the server eventually throws an error.

You need to use mod_rewrite to create a conditional "Go over there," instead. There are directions in the sticky at the top of this forum.

[hulio]

Thanks for the help. I like it when things work properly. It makes me feel happy, and everything is good in the world.