Redirection and htaccess

#57119
  • Resolved Marcus Downey

    3 years, 11 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi

    I have done a site-wide 301 redirect using regex because of a recent permalink change I made, (dropped dates).

    It seems to be working fine and plenty of hits are being registered against it. However, the so-called passing of the link juice to the new URL for Google seems to have passed me by. In short, a drop in rankings. Not sure why and I hope only temporary.

    Also, I have 150 out of 1100 URLs submitted seen as duplicates. Not sure why they are being seen as duplicates but they are very old URLs going back to 2012 to 2015.

    I have a few questions based on the change. The first is the .htaccess file – should the redirect created in your module not be reflected in the .htaccess? I cannot find it. I generated the backup and its in the sensitive data section. This is not in the .htaccess file on our server. Should it be or is it entirely managed in your module?

    Second is, why would I be losing ranking at the same time? I have been using sites like Ubersuggest and Semrush to track keywords and suddenly SERP links have been dropped for these words for our site. When I check the SERP backlinks they point to the old address – should this not be retained with a 301?

    Thanks

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Michael Davis

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hello,

    Thank you for contacting Rank Math and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.

    Duplicate page might be as a result of some URLs not being redirected and similar pages appearing as duplicates.

    To add the redirects in the htaccess, you can use the export to htaccess option in Rank math then add the rewrite rules exported in your htaccess.
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    If the back-links are are still not updated, it might be a caching issue on your site/server. You should also check to confirm you have set up the redirection fro those links well.

    Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.

    ​​​​​​​

    Marcus Downey

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Pls back read again and check the sensitive data in my original email you will see I have done what you just told me to do.

    My question is do I need it to be explicit in the htaccess or is the rank math module handling this?

    When I mentioned backlinks I mean backlinks to my site not coming out of my site. Google is not picking up backlinks to my site because of the URL change but that shouldn’t be the case. The redirects are working.

    Todd

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi Marcus,

    In short, a drop in rankings. Not sure why and I hope only temporary.

    Doing a 301 almost always results in a drop in rankings temporarily. The rankings will return with time. This is why we never recommend changing permalinks on an already established website. Too much downside and not much upside.

    Also, I have 150 out of 1100 URLs submitted seen as duplicates.

    Did you redirect those?

    The first is the .htaccess file – should the redirect created in your module not be reflected in the .htaccess?

    No, we do not add the redirects to the .htaccess file. We add them in the database tables.

    Second is, why would I be losing ranking at the same time?

    Because of redirects. It will take time for Google to give you back the rankings you used to feature.

    Hope that helps and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.

    Marcus Downey

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi Todd

    thanks for the reply.

    Yes it is a sitewide redirect – there are 1194 posts and 15 pages.

    So there is no need then to add the redirect in the htaccess?

    We changed the permalink structure as the old one is using dates. The new one is a clean URL with no dates so a few steps back to go many steps forward – I hope Google catches up in time.

    Alberto

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Rank Math business

    Hello,

    No, you don’t need to add the redirect in the .htaccess file meanwhile you use our Redirections module. We have the option to export them in case you have troubles / need to disable the plugin but usually, the best option is just to use the Redirections module.

    Looking forward to help you.

    RankBot

    3 years, 10 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 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The ticket ‘Redirection and htaccess’ is closed to new replies.