Basic SEO question: xyz.com/index.html and xyz.com

tylerherman

14 years ago

no redirect is necessary

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retsek

14 years ago

No redirect is necessary.

If /index.html has never existed, or if there are no links pointing to it then you don't have to 301 it. You can let it 404.

If however, it previously existed or you have links pointing to it then it should be 301'd to the preferred index page.

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Dentist

14 years ago

Originally Posted by retsek

No redirect is necessary.

If /index.html has never existed, or if there are no links pointing to it then you don't have to 301 it. You can let it 404.

If however, it previously existed or you have links pointing to it then it should be 301'd to the preferred index page.

Well, the site has both xyz.com and xyz.com/index.html and even a logo with xyz.com/#, all of them returning the same page. Each one of these pages have backlinks so I was wondering if 301 will be necessary or leave them as they are. I was in the impression that search engines figure out all three are the same thing without 301 but just not sure.

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retsek

14 years ago

don't worry about the one with the hashtag (/# ), that's considered the same as /

Yes you will definitely need to 301'd to just one of them. No they don't figure it out on their own. These are two different pages. You should:

-pick the one with the most backlinks (the preferred url)
-ensure all internal links point to the preferred url
-and 301 the other one with less backlinks to the preferred url

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rickrick2012

14 years ago

Originally Posted by retsek

Yes you will definitely need to 301'd to just one of them. No they don't figure it out on their own. These are two different pages. You should:

-pick the one with the most backlinks (the preferred url)
-ensure all internal links point to the preferred url
-and 301 the other one with less backlinks to the preferred url

I guess his landing page is /index.html
In such a case, what is the meaning of 301 here? How it is even possible to 301 his full .com address on index.html?

I guess he is referring to internal link structure of the site. So the question is, from SEO view point, what is the best internal link to home page?

Thanks!

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retsek

14 years ago

Originally Posted by rickrick2012

I guess his landing page is /index.html
In such a case, what is the meaning of 301 here? How it is even possible to 301 his full .com address on index.html?

I guess he is referring to internal link structure of the site. So the question is, from SEO view point, what is the best internal link to home page?

Thanks!

There is no best. Google/Bing treats them all the same.

It only matters that you pick one and only one. Your homepage (and generally all content) should only be accessible via one URL.

We can go further and discuss the use of rel=canonical, but that might complicate things.

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julianbooth123

14 years ago

If both the pages have the same content then you need to permanent redirect one of them

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jewelraz

14 years ago

I had tried redirection for a joomla site from index.html to mysite.com, but I had faced some issues. All pages were redirecting to the home page. So better not to try it I guess.

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samual james

14 years ago

According to me you should redirect your xyz.com/index.html to xyz.com.

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Delta90

14 years ago

Do a 301 just to be sure, You dont want any duplicate content trouble.

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1 reply

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tanu19 14 years ago

Yes you have to redirect (301) to avoid duplicacy of content.
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Dentist

14 years ago

Well,

Here is the situation again:

This website that I am working on its SEO, has both pages xyz.com and xyz.com/index.html
- Both of the returning the same page as a result of entering the URL directly...
- Each one has separate backlinks but the backlinks to xyz.com are a lot more and better
- All the other internal pages on the website top menu are returning xyz.com/index.html meaning if I am on another internal page and I click on Home Button on the top menu, I go to xyz.com/index.html

Thanks
1 reply

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retsek

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Dentist

Well,

Here is the situation again:

This website that I am working on its SEO, has both pages xyz.com and xyz.com/index.html
- Both of the returning the same page as a result of entering the URL directly...
- Each one has separate backlinks but the backlinks to xyz.com are a lot more and better
- All the other internal pages on the website top menu are returning xyz.com/index.html meaning if I am on another internal page and I click on Home Button on the top menu, I go to xyz.com/index.html

follow my original advice:

-301 xyz.com.index.html to xyz.com
-update your internal pages, so that they point to xyz.com and not xyz.com/index.html

[ 1 ] Thanks
2 replies

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tonyscott 14 years ago

Originally Posted by retsek

follow my original advice:

-301 xyz.com.index.html to xyz.com
-update your internal pages, so that they point to xyz.com and not xyz.com/index.html

It's a very common problem and very good advice.

You might want to check for www and non www versions of the home page too.

Tony
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- Dentist 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by tonyscott
  
  It's a very common problem and very good advice.
  
  You might want to check for www and non www versions of the home page too.
  
  Tony
  
  Yeah. I checked that part. No canonical problems... Already has correct re-directs.
  
  Thanks
  
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rickrick2012

14 years ago

Originally Posted by retsek

-301 xyz.com.index.html to xyz.com

Can you please advise how to redirect /index.html to site url?
I did it and the whole site went down! I am wondering if there is any specific way to do it that is particular to this redirect. Thanks.

Thanks
1 reply

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retsek

14 years ago

Originally Posted by rickrick2012

Can you please advise how to redirect /index.html to site url?
I did it and the whole site went down! I am wondering if there is any specific way to do it that is particular to this redirect. Thanks.

What code are you using ?

Try these examples:
Redirect "index.html" to "www.example.com"? Google SEO News and Discussion forum at WebmasterWorld

If you still get redirect loops, contact your host and they'll fix your config.

Thanks

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rickrick2012

14 years ago

Worked great. Thanks!

Thanks
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paulgl 14 years ago

People, thread like this that morph are just because
people have no idea how to program, or what servers
do.

99.99% if websites today are built on hosts that send
all traffic from domain.com to domain.com/index.php.
If it exists. If not, it looks for domain.com/index.html,
or whatever it was designed to do.

It's the same page! It's your index page! But your browser
does not need to show the index extension.

You don't need any redirect! I have no idea why people do
not know such a basic thing as what hosts and servers do.

Why answer the question of you have no idea what's going on?

Take warriorforum.com for example. You type in warriorforum.com/index.php
or just warriorforum.com. Does not matter.
BTW, the index.html does not exist.

It's a host and server issue. It's done for you.

Paul
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Basic SEO question: xyz.com/index.html and xyz.com

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