Help! I lost my website

[buckmajor]

Hi there

I was trying to use that 301 redirect and tried it to avoid the duplicate content. This is what I did www.example.com to www.example.com/index.php but being a newbie at this, I paid the ultimate price and lost my website :(. Now the browser is showing a Redirect Loop and now I'm clueless. I was reading about it and realized what it does (well sort of)until the fatal error. I contacted my host and now hoping they can do something about it. This is something to learn from but gain some understanding about it.

I really need someone's help, hopefully can get my website back.

Please help, I'm begging anyone who knows what to do here.

Many thanks in advance
CHEERS

[wilderness]

Simply restore your htaccess to its previous file.
OR
Simply remark out the lines you added.

[Robert Charlton]

Hi buckmajor - Until you get more detailed help on this forum, here's a discussion of the redirect you need to do....

Merging www.example.com/ and www.example.com/index.htm
[webmasterworld.com...]

[buckmajor]

Hi guys
That htacess file is not showing in my root directory. I just saw the link for my website, it is http://www.example.com/index.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.
phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.
phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.phpindex.php.
I think I figured out how that might of happened, was that caused by the amount of .htacess files I uploaded to root directory? I tried to upload because the file didn't display so I kept trying to upload the file and then gave up.

How do I restore it, if I files are not displayed? Maybe the .htacess file is hidden.

[edited by: jdMorgan at 1:03 am (utc) on July 9, 2009]
[edit reason] Fixed side-scroll [/edit]

[buckmajor]

Eureeka! Yaahoo..I got it going, I typed in this code for .htacess file:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [L,R=301]
</IfModule>

Yippy. Now I'm back to where I started from. I guess I can try again and hope for the best and redirect it properly.

Maybe someone can help me, I want to avoid the duplicate content by having it under one url. I am using a duplicate content tool and it is showing this:

Default Page Check: FAILED
You have not standardized your default pages meaning the following versions of your url return a 200/OK Header, which may cause duplicate content issues. The following extensions work:
http://www.example.com/index.php
http://www.example.com/

Any suggestions?

I knew I was good but I didn't know I was that awesome at solving this joks.

Thanks guys, you helped solve for this me.
CHEERS :)

[edited by: tedster at 1:04 am (utc) on July 9, 2009]
[edit reason] switch to example.com - it cannot be owned [/edit]

[Robert Charlton]

That htacess file is not showing in my root directory.

buckmajor - With some ftp clients, you need to set a view option to display hidden files. .htaccess is one of the files that usually require this treatment.

In WS-FTP Pro, eg, the view option is "-la" (ie, "-LA", but lower-case and without the quotes).

[tedster]

There are many, many, many potential duplicate url issues. Here's a great thread with a sample .htaccess file for handling many of the issues:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[jdMorgan]

You don't need the <IfModule> container or the RewriteBase directive, and the RewriteCond needs a tweak:

RewriteEngine on
#
# Externally redirect non-canonical, non-blank hostname requests to canonical hostname
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example\.com)?$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Now add this rule ahead of the one above, but after the RewriteEngine directive:

# Externally redirect direct client requests for "/index.php" to "/"
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]+\ /index\.php
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http://www.example.com/ [R=301,L]

Jim

[edited by: jdMorgan at 1:11 am (utc) on July 9, 2009]

[buckmajor]

Lucky! I was just about to cry again cause that Ifmodule code didn't work the second time but lucky jdMorgan gave me the right one and now the sun is out again :).

jd do I have to add the hash key(#) with the code?

# Externally redirect non-canonical, non-blank hostname requests to canonical hostname
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example\.com)?$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [L,R=301]

So in the .htacess file the code above is only code that goes in, right? I used it without the hash(#) key.

Thanks heaps jd.

So sorry tedster, I ignore the link and wanted a solution to fix the duplicate content issue asap. I realized I've wasted a lot of time, I will now check up that link.in,

I apologize again, and thank you for being so patience with me. I should be more appreciated that my site up and running :)

[g1smd]

*** do I have to add the hash key(#) with the code? ***

Yes. That line is a comment that tells you what the next bit does. Always comment your code so you can see what it was supposed to do.

*** So in the .htacess file the code above is only code that goes in, right? ***

No. See above for the additional code you need to add. That additional code fixes the root index.php filename redirects on your site.

[buckmajor]

Hi g1smd

I tried that code and when I click on my home button navigation, then it goes to http://www.example.com/index.php instead. Is this right? My source is;
<a href="index.php">home</a>

My duplicate content is still showing:

Default Page Check: FAILED
You have not standardized your default pages meaning the following versions of your url return a 200/OK Header, which may cause duplicate content issues. The following extensions work:
http://www.example.com/index.php
http://www.example.com/

Any suggestions?

[jdMorgan]

Use

<a href="/">home</a>

-or-

<a href="http://www.example.com/">home</a>

Jim

[buckmajor]

Hey jd, I changed it but nah its still the same. Do you reckon the duplicate content tool is faulty?

[buckmajor]

Oh no, I made a mistake. It worked jd, it passed except for 1 but that's really good progress though. I didn't refresh the page but everything with the code and link is correct.

------------------------------------------------
WWW/Non-WWW Header Check: SUCCESS
You appear to not have an issue with www vs. non www
Google Cache Check: SUCCESS
You appear to not have an issue with www vs. non www in Googles Cache

Similarity Check: FAILED
Google indicates that it has "omitted some entries very similar" to the top 1000 pages on your site. This similarity is a duplicate content penalty preventing these pages from being considered uniquely valuable in Google's index.

Default Page Check: SUCCESS
You appear to have redirected or standardized on a single use of either the / or /index.{ext} for pages on your site.

404 Check: SUCCESS
You appear to be correctly returning a 404 error for pages that do not exist.

PageRank Dispersion Check: SUCCESS
You do not have a different pageranks for the non-www and www version of your domains.
------------------------------------------------

So the only one left is the:

Similarity Check: FAILED
Google indicates that it has "omitted some entries very similar" to the top 1000 pages on your site. This similarity is a duplicate content penalty preventing these pages from being considered uniquely valuable in Google's index.

I am over the moon, that is a lot better than having no website and 2 duplicate content SUCCESS.

I know I have tested your patience but would you have any suggestions for this very last one.

Thanks heaps again guys, this won't go unnoticed and is another set of skills I have gained.

[buckmajor]

Oopps, no wonder my duplicate content was a SUCCESS because when I refreshed my website then nothing was there 'Redirect Loop' lol. I am out of ideas but I do know I have to fix this. All these years, I didn't know anything about this and now I understand why my site has been penalized in Google and ranked in the 10millions :(.

[jdMorgan]

Don't just "refresh your site." Instead, completely flush your browser cache (delete all Temporary Internet Files if using IE).

If you still have trouble, then please re-post your current .htaccess code here, changing only the domain name to "example" to comply with our TOS.

Jim

[buckmajor]

Hey Jim

I did deleted all my Temporary Internet files, cache and cookies but nothing happened.

I used the .htacsess code from the one above:
------------------------
RewriteEngine on
#
# Externally redirect direct client requests for "/index.php" to "/"
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]+\ /index\.php
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http://www.example.com/ [R=301,L]
------------------------

Is there else I was meant to do?

[jdMorgan]

You did not follow the explicit instructions I provided. Here is what you should have in .htaccess :

RewriteEngine on
#
# Externally redirect direct client requests for "/index.php" to "/"
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]+\ /index\.php
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http://www.example.com/ [R=301,L]
#
# Externally redirect non-canonical, non-blank hostname requests to canonical hostname
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example\.com)?$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Everything in .htaccess is details, and they are all important.

Jim

[buckmajor]

I'm so sorry Jim I didn't I must of not read it properly but yes, finally it worked! I copied the code you gave and put it in the .htaccess. I just have work on the last one which is the one I posted earlier:
--------------------------
Similarity Check: FAILED
Google indicates that it has "omitted some entries very similar" to the top 1000 pages on your site. This similarity is a duplicate content penalty preventing these pages from being considered uniquely valuable in Google's index.
--------------------------

Jim, I appreciate your help and honor you for being patient with me. Can ask for your help for this last fix?

Thank you so much.

[jdMorgan]

This one is an "SEO" problem. The pages are too similar, and Google is flagging them as duplicates.

Make sure that each page has a unique <title>This page title must be unique</title> and <meta name="description" content="This page description must be unique"> on it, and that the page contains at least as much unique informational content as it contains headers, footers, and navigational elements. There's no "easy" way around this; Google does not value pages that are too similar to other pages that it already has in its index, and it's up to you to make all of your pages "valuable" compared to other pages on your site and to other pages on your competitors' sites.

Jim

[buckmajor]

Ah, I see! Can you give some examples?

So if I have my <title> tag like this:
---------
home-page:
<title>(Name of Company) ¦ website development</title>
work-page:
<title>(Name of Company) ¦ work</title>
---------
Is that too similar? I think I know what you mean. This will some unique typing and skills.

Will be back with some results.

Thanks again Jim

[jdMorgan]

In my opinion, starting each page title with the name of the company is a mistake. People don't *know* the name of the company and are searching for a product or service. The title is *very* important when matching product/service keywords in search. So put the title of *this specific* page first, and then add the company name if there is room (see Google search results for title length limitations).

I want to re-emphasize part of that point: Each page title and description should describe *this specific page* first -- not the whole web site and not the company.

Furthermore, starting all pages' titles and descriptions with the same company name is a strong indicator of duplicate content.

View the title as the "eye catcher" in the search results, and view the description as the "sales pitch" to get searchers to click through to the page. The description should be an accurate description of what is to be found on *this page* -- and be sure to take advantage of the fact that it can be three or four sentences long. In both tags, the most important stuff goes first.

Obviously, precisely how you compose your titles and descriptions will depend on the specific product/service being offered, the related keywords for that product/service, and the cultural sensibilities of your target market. But it is not necessarily required to include the company name in either: Remember that the majority of searchers are searching for product or service keywords, and not for the company name; If they already know the company name and are searching for the company specifically, then they will scan through the results until they find it, and there will be far less competition in the search results for the company name keyphrase than there will be for the product/service keywords.

Since this is just my one opinion, and since this is now an SEO question, I recommend that you research and then post in the search engine forums for more information. Also see the Frequently-Asked Questions thread pinned at the top of the Google News forum -- There are many excellent SEO-related threads listed in that thread -- and you might have to pay hundreds of dollars or more for the same advice from a consultant. See especially the very last thread cited in that FAQ thread...

Jim

[buckmajor]

True! That's makes sense then because I'm using a php template and realized I haven't put a separate meta description on all my pages. Thanks you so much Jim for the break, I will alter my meta description and start naming my 'this specific' pages first and then my business name afterwards :)

[Robert Charlton]

buckmajor - Much more important than the meta description is the <title> element that's in the head section. Take a look at this discussion...

Building the Perfect Page - Part II - The Basics
Developing an effective <title> element.
[webmasterworld.com...]

[buckmajor]

Thanks Robert I was reading that page and found it useful for SEO. I searched google for content and there were some of my old sub domain links. They are cached, so what does that mean? Is that the cause of duplicate content? I have already deleted my old sub domain folders off the server..well I hope I did. Does this has something to do with the cached in google?

[buckmajor]

Yea I looked at the page that google cached and it was the exact same content as my website but was when I realized that google penalize you for this and then I deleted all my sub domains some time ago:

[test.example.com...] but that has been removed and only using http"//www.example.com.

So how do you delete them?

[jdMorgan]

You might try using 'delete URL' in Google Webmaster tools. Otherwise, you just have to wait.

Jim