Karin Technical Search Engine Optimization (SEO) question about redirections… I setup a regex redirect from %date%/%postname% to %category%/%postname% It's working no problem. But now there are about 300 posts we want to delete. We're going to redirect them to a new post (not regex this time unfortunately). Problem is, it will cause a redirect chain if I redirect from the new URL and not the old structure. But if I put in say 2013/old-post -> 2021/new-post how do I make sure that particular post follows that redirect and not the current regex rule? 🤔 6 👍🏽6📰👈
Kumar Let me help your answer in simpler way.. Previous redirect A-> B And now you have C URL. If you redirect now it becomes below… A -> B -> C (Double redirect) Simple way to solve is with less redirects is.. Have two sets of redirects. (no double redirect at all) A -> C.
Kumar Let me help your answer in simpler way.. Previous redirect A-> B And now you have C URL. If you redirect now it becomes below… A -> B -> C (Double redirect) Simple way to solve is with less redirects is.. Have two sets of redirects. (no double redirect at all) A -> C B ->C Karin ✍️ » Kumar I'll do that, but I still have 1200 more posts relying on the regex redirect, so I can't delete that one.
Micha "Problem is, it will cause a redirect chain if I redirect from the new URL and not the old structure." That's not a disaster. Generally speaking, redirects are processed in order – topmost to bottommost. If you're doing this with a plugin, then you may have the ability to re-order the redirect commands. If you're doing this through a config file or an htaccess file, you'll have to edit the file and move the redirect you want to take precedence above the other. Use a tool to check the HTTP headers on one of your redirected Posts to see if you've got the order of precedence set up correctly. https://httpheadercheck.com/ HTTP / HTTPS Header Check
Karin ✍️ » Micha Thank you! I'm not doing it via htaccess although we could… is there a reason we would do one over another? I like the plugin because 1 its simple, but 2 their web team can also use it no problem… and if they delete a page it reminds them to fix it. Micha » Karin You'll have to figure out which plugin does the job you want. There are several ways to search for them. Here's one way: https://WordPress.org/plugins/search/wildcard+redirects/ Search Results for "wildcard redirects" | WordPress.org
Sorina Use conditions to differentiate. The logic will be: IF (any of the 300 posts) REDIRECT to (your new post) ELSE REDIRECT (using format %category%/%postname%) you will need to adapt this to your server. For example in Apache mode_rewrite you have the RewriteCond directive.
Ammon 🎓 If you are deleting posts, what are you redirecting them to, and why? When the precise resource asked for cannot be provided, the correct response is usually a 404 or 410. Now, it is fine practice to have a custom 404 page that explains that what they asked for no longer exists, and shows them lots of alternatives. But a redirect doesn't mean that. A redirect LITERALLY and SPECIFICALLY states that what they asked for still exists and has moved to this new address. If that explicit statement is not true, that can cause some trust issues with the site, and can look a lot like spammy redirects.
Karin ✍️ » Ammon I know what it means and i also know how Google treats it. These posts are off brand, or cannibalizing a better post, or just grossly underperforming. Ammon 🎓 » Karin Then you should also know how Google regard a redirect that is done for PageRank purposes, and doesn't lead to an actual exactly equivalent page – they treat it as a penalty level offense. The off-brand URLs should be 404'd or 410'd. Without question. Cannibalization is a terrible term and simply means you optimized the wrong page, or that where you want people to be isn't what actually matches what content they want. The two choices that don't risk any penalty are either to improve the value and ranking of the page you want to rank, if necessary incorporating additional content from the page that will then be deleted and 301'd, or to adjust both pages, either so that people click from one to the other, or to de-optimize the page you don't want to rank, choosing different words for it to capture a previously untapped segment. There is absolutely no 'if' factor in whether Google can detect redirects done for link manipulation. Google's basis was in full-text indexing, and they went way beyond that to having a fully cached version of the page *as* the indexed version. So there is absolutely no doubt that they have everything needed to side by side compare old and new versions to see what changed – or whether a redirect really is a substantially similar content document or not. Now, whether Google ritually do so, or only when some other signal gives them a reason to investigate, is not at all certain. The fact remains however that it is a risk, and one you don't necessarily have to take. You should always think very hard about whether the reward you envision is worth taking any such risk. Put it this way, a page that ranks higher for the term than the one you view it as 'cannibalizing', currently links to other pages in the site and lifts them all for relevancy. And you want to remove that page. Whatever lift you expect that to give in one manner, is likely negated by that other manner. For the underperforming pages, rewriting to keep the traffic and have better conversions is the ideal, although of course that's not always feasible on the timelines and resources available. However, if you kill them, kill them. Don't redirect to a page that is not substantively identical in content and intent. Same reason as above. A risk you don't need to take. Custom 404 page with inviting, converting links is best. This is just free advice and consultation from someone who's been doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for 26 years, and repeatedly rated as one of the top folks in the field. You are completely at liberty to ignore it.
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