no 301 but canonical with remove prefix

#9639
  • Resolved bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    copied from facebook, because advised to ask it here for more support:

    I asked:
    To make things more clear for already indexed (in google, bing etc.) woocommerce shops i have a few important questions. In rankmath there is the option to get rid of the product-category prefix and the product prefix, which i would love to use. If you enable that the pages with prefix get a canonical tag with the url of the one without prefix. That’s it.

    Why is there the choice for a canonical tag and not a 301 redirect? As i know 301 is for a permanent redirect, which this is i think, and also needed if you want to let google know that the ranking of a certain page (the page with prefix) should be moved to the new one (without prefix). With the canonical tag you only tell google that the new url is the main one, but not to move the ranking of the old url to the new one. I hope for a clear answer on this.
    For the removal of the product category prefix there will be no big problems, but the removal is the product prefix has always been an still is not advised because of url structure problems, slowing down the site and also because other plugins could get problems because of no product prefix. What are your thoughts about that?
    I hope you can really clear my thoughts about this option, because i really like to use only clean urls, but not if i loose ranking because of using this option.

    Thanks a lot.

    rankmath answered:

    1. The redirect is automatic. The URLs with prefix will redirect to the URLs without prefix automatically. If that isn’t working for you, we will need to check further.
    2. We have not heard of anyone having issues with that. Do give it a shot and see how it goes.

    I answered:
    1. There is no redirect, no 301. Just a canonical tag. And do you agree that is should be 301 redirect to get the ranking from the old url to the new one?
    Please check https://www.ramfightinggear.nl/product/ram-o-staande-bokszak/
    You can see only the canonical has changed, but no redirection to https://www.ramfightinggear.nl/ram-o-staande-bokszak/
    2. I want to give it a shot, but must be sure that point 1 is solved.

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Todd

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    Thanks a lot for your query and we are so sorry about the trouble this must have caused.

    1. Can you please share the full URL that isn’t redirecting? Seems like the URL got trimmed.

    2. Are there links on your website that aren’t redirecting? On which page can we see these?

    bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    1. i edited the url now in the above message. so works ok now

    2. not sure what you mean? removing the product prefix en product category prefix with rankmath does not make any redirect at all from the urls with prefix. So all already indexed in google with /product and /categorie prefix do not 301 to without prefix but only get canonical tag.

    Michael Davis

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hi there,

    Thanks for the follow up.

    I have been able to replicate the issue on your site but this is quite unexpected.
    Please perform the steps described on this page to check whether there is a conflict that is causing this issue: https://rankmath.com/kb/check-plugin-conflicts/

    Let us know how this goes. Thank you.

    bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hi,

    did as you told. disabled all plugins and standard theme. problem still the same.
    You can try at the sensitive data i gave and check this url for example:
    https://woocommerce-216033-912168.cloudwaysapps.com/product/ram-c-staande-bokszak/
    no redirect to:
    https://woocommerce-216033-912168.cloudwaysapps.com/ram-c-staande-bokszak/

    You can try everything in the admin, as it is just a clone.

    Thanks

    Michael Davis

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hi there,

    Thanks for the follow up.

    This works as expected for me. Can you please test by clicking on any product link from the admin product edit UI?

    Let me know how this goes. Thank you.

    bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hi,

    I’m beginning to think that you are missing the point?
    Of course when i click on a link of the product in the admin i go directly to the url without prefix. But that is not what i/m talking about.
    The point is that there are no 301’s from the old url to the new one.
    So if i go to:
    https://woocommerce-216033-912168.cloudwaysapps.com/product/ram-c-staande-bokszak/
    the url stays the same, it does not redirect to the new url without product prefix.
    So in google search the already indexed url with prefix will not change and will not give ranking to the new url without prefix. Because that is only done with a 301.

    I really do not understand your answer. That has got nothing to do with my question.
    I hope it is more clear now.

    Thanks.

    Michael Davis

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    HI there,

    Apologies for the delay.

    I have been able to replicate the missing redirections on your site and this has been submitted to our dev team for closer investigation.

    We will be getting back to you in a short while. Thank you.

    bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    But should it be 301 or not? Thanks.

    Todd

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi Brablo,

    Just heard back from the dev. team.

    We are not redirecting old URL to the new ones when “remove base” option is enabled.

    A new rewrite rule is created, so basically, a new URL is created and the existing one is not changed. All the product links on the site will redirect to this new URL. And as far as SE crawling is concerned, they will check canonical URL which points to the new URL.

    So basically, your users will always land on the new product URL and the search engines will only see the new URLs. If you aren’t hard-coding product link to your website, this should not be an issue.

    bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hi,

    Thanks, but the canonical tag will not transfer ranking to the new url. And the old url will remain indexed in the search engines.
    The only way to give ranking to new url and get the new one properly indexed is to give the old urls 301’s.
    All permalink manager plugins use 301’s after removing product and prouct category slug, why rankmath doesn’t?
    For a seo plugin it is a strange to use only the canonical tag for changing the url structure, because 301’s are always advised then. Canonical tags are mainly used to prevent duplicate content, not for change of url structure.

    Please read this:
    https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/19204/canonical-urls-seo/

    Please advise.

    Todd

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi,

    Yes, it should redirect.

    We have logged this as an issue we are actively working on it on.

    We will have a fixed version ready for you very soon.

    Appreciate your feedback and patience in this matter.

    bram van der Schaaf

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    ok thanks, any news on the fixed version?

    Michael Davis

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    HI Brablo,

    Thanks for the follow up.

    Kindly allow me to check the status on this from our dev team and I will be in touch shortly.

    We appreciate your patience. Thank you.

    Rank Math

    4 years, 9 months ago

    Hello,

    We just moved the issue up in the queue and you should expect to see a changed behavior of this option in one of the upcoming updates within a couple of weeks (expected sooner).

    We seek your patience and understanding in this matter.

    In the meantime, if you need any assistance, please feel free to let us know. We are here to help.

    Thank you.

    RankBot

    4 years, 8 months ago

    Hello,

    Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.

    If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.

    Thank you.

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

The ticket ‘no 301 but canonical with remove prefix’ is closed to new replies.