redirect

which will harm more..

[Istvan]

I am planning to use a redirect on some of my pages. Now I have read about several options, by javascript or by a meta refresh. Which is a better option here.

I know of <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1;URL=http://www."> but will this harm your pagerank while redirecting to the other site?

Or is it better to use some javascript (any suggestions?), that googlebot anyhow can't read?

What is best?

Istvan

[Istvan]

Anyone?

[msr986]

If you are trying to get users to see different content than the bot's, this is considered spam, and may get you banned!

The best way to legitimately redirect users is by using the 'redirect' directive in your .htacess file. This type of redirection shouldn't cause any problems with the SE's.

There is plenty of info on WebmasterWorld with regards to this.

Just click on the WebmasterWorld 'site search' link, and search for '.htaccess redirect'

[jamesyap]

You can use the meta refresh without any problem with gogglebot. If you are scared, you can put a robot 'noindex' meta tag in the redirect file so that googlebot and other bots won't index that page.

[msr986]

Some people who think there is a problem with meta redirects and SE's:

[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

[ciml]

Istvan, what are you hoping to achieve?

If you want to move people from an old address to a new address, and you want to avoid potential search engine problems, then you can exclude the URL with /robots.txt

If you want to 'move' content from an old address to a new address, and would rather not loose the search engine benefit from the old address, then the META refresh may be OK in Google, but a 301 redirect would be better IMO (see your server documentation or ask your provider).

If you want to use a redirect of some sort to trick the engine, then Javascript would probably be most effective (if you don't use the full [example.com...] address in the source), but you risk getting banned following human review.

[Istvan]

Ciml I have sent you a sticky.

[jamesyap]

<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">

[Istvan]

I have uploaded the .htaccess file to my server. I have written several lines, like Redirect /index.htm [newdomain.com...] . Where /index.htm is site A, en the www.newdomain.com is site B.

With this Redirect in the .htaccess file, will my site A(at /index.htm) maintain its current ranking in Google and will also the Pagerank of site A maintain its PR?

Is there an influence of PR from site A to Site B, or not?

Istvan

[msr986]

If you use:

Redirect permanent /index.htm [newdomain.com...]

All PR will transfer to the newdomain, the new page will become listed in the old page's place. The old page will no longer be listed.

[needhelp]

I am also moving my site to new domain. My developer says that our redirect will be:

"The redirect permanent is an Apache redirect, so, no that's not what we will use (I asked if we were going to use the redirect that MSR986 suggested). We will permanently redirect all page-not-found links to the main page of the new domain. The main page contains links to all other pages, and therefore the site will be re-indexed."

Does this mean my PR won't transfer :( BOO HOO - I rank very well right now on the old domain!

[hurlimann]

Msr986: Other here, who know more than I do, say that the PR is only credited for a while and maybe only for one update so you must also get the links updated.

I have never tested this!

[Istvan]

Its interesting this PR business. Is it right to think, if you redirect traffic while using a .htaccess file, that the spiders (for example googlebot), will see or feel that there is a redirect by a .htaccess file? Because if you just look to the "old site" the sourcecode is the same as it was (there is no javascript or meta-refresh visible).

In this case what does the spider see? Will the spider let the "old site" live and is the redirect to the "other site" just a traffic-thing, or might the spider be influenced by the redirect in the .htaccess file? (so you would be loosing PR in the end).

[Marcia]

They will not let the old page live, because it's permanantly moved to the new with a 301 redirect.

[Istvan]

Marcia, thx for your reply. Currently I am using Redirect /index.htm [newdomain.com...]

Is there a major difference between Redirect /index and Redirect permanent /index, in regard of to be left live or not?

If there isn't a difference, in what way can I maintain the "old site", while trying to redirect to the "new site"?

[Crush]

maybe going off at a tangent here.

I want to redirect some old pages within my site and not tranfer them to a new domain.

at the moment they are just done an a meta refresh...can a 301 redirect be done witin your site.

What is the best way? I do not want the death penalty