Creating 301 redirect formulas

adjusting tens of thousands of URLs to new format

[VinTurk]

Our content management system (heavily modified Mambo) is creating multiple URLs for content posted within different areas of our site. If one article is linked to 5 topics, 6 different URLs will be created:
1 link from each topic (totalling 5), and one link from the Author Page. As you can guess, we are concerned with duplicate content issues. We have a project in the works that will create one URL for each piece of content, regardless of where it is referenced on our site.

Im looking for some advice/help with creating 301 redirect rules. We currently have over 1,500 pieces of content on our site and would like to avoid creating tens of thousands of 301 redirect commands (each content can be linked from up to 15 topics pages).

Unfortunately it looks like whenever a new piece of content is created, many variations of URLs are created for that single piece of content.

Here is an example.
When a piece of content appears on the homepage:
[website.com...]

When a piece of content is referenced from a topic page:
[website.com...]

When a piece of content is referenced from the Author Page:
[website.com...]

there are about 6 other ways that URLs are created, based on where they appear on the site.

So, my question is: Is it possible to write 301 redirect formulas that identify which "type" of URL is being requested and the variables within the URL, then redirect to the new URL format for that piece of content?

It looks like our URLs have a few variables:
vendor
category
ID
title

All your help is greatly appreciated,
-=Vin

[jdMorgan]

The quickest solution may be to modify Mambo some more, so that it always outputs the identifying parts of the URL-path in the same order, instead of using multiple formats and multiple orders.

Other than that, you'll need one rule for each format (though not for each possible URL).

Jim

[willybfriendly]

There is a Joomla (not sure if it works in Mambo) component that will fix the dup content issues from what I can tell - sh404SEF

The tradeoff is that it is pretty intensive with db calls and might not be appropriate for a heavily trafficed site.

With 1500 pages of content you can figure on a day or two to get things configured the first time. I have had good luck with it, but your mileage may vary.