Redirects. Redirecting URL's Advertising Methods

Redirecting URL's are links that you request should link to a different web page. Or even for a completely different web site address.

You would usually only need to do this if a web page, or web site, is moved to another place.

When this is done, if a users still discovers your old web page or web site then they will be redirected to the correct new web page or web site.

There are a number of ways to make request for redirects to a new web page from an old web page. This may also be done if a blank page is found or an error 404 exist is because that web site page name has been entered incorrectly.

The 404 or Not Found error message ( Wikipedia ), is an HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server, but the server could not find what was requested. 404 errors should not be confused with "server not found" or similar errors, in which a connection to the destination server could not be made at all. A 404 error indicates that the requested resource may be available again in the future. The 404 status is one of a number of Server Status Codes.

To implement a redirect you could:-

Use a peace of code in your web page head section. e.g.

Redirect Example for use within a web page:-

The content="1; is a time in seconds before the redirection takes place. This can be useful if you require the person visiting the page to see a message first such as: "This page has moved to, you will be redirected to the new page soon.".

Use htaccess or Apache open-source software and Apache Servers. Mod Rewrite, as well as other methods, may also be used to create redirects.

Check Redirects and Server Header HTTP Status Codes

URL Response Header & Redirect Checker :-

Ensuring your web site responds to requests correctly can be very important. Especially with SEO and the way you redirect requests to a new page.

This tool checks the responses you are sending so you can make sure you're doing the right thing. It will recursively follow redirects to find out the final destination of a request. It also detects html refresh code and redirects on that.

Typically, for SEO, you want your pages to return:

• 200 OK Response for valid pages
• 301 Permanent Redirect on old pages that link to new pages
• 404 Missing Page Error if a page does not exist (don't redirect before a 404!)

301 Permanent Redirects work very well with Search Engines. It is a signal for them to update their index data to the new location. You should use this whenever you upgrade your web site or have changed the URLs of any pages. Other forms of redirect do cause index updates.

Advice: You will have to consider using redirects if you need to move a web page or change your Domain Name.

It is not usually recommended that you redirect for RSS feeds, as such redirects may fails for those sites that embed your RSS feeds and you could lose visitors because of this.

Redirects are usually recommended for a 404 Not Found error pages, (if the user types in an incorrect web page name for example), so that the user is redirected to your main page or a help page on your web site..

As well as 404 Not Found, other Server Status Codes may be implemented such as 301, Moved Permanently.

Remember to update any Sitemap's to link to the new web pages.

Redirects should only be used if needed. It is usually better to use a standard redirect that search engines will understand easier, than say using some code they may not.

Do not use redirects to try to fool users of search engines as this will be treat as a Black Hat method that could get your web site removed from search engine listings. Also you will lose reputation with real users and any good Word of Mouth.

For more information about creating redirects see .htaccess or Apache open-source software and Apache Servers. Mod Rewrite, Mod Rewrite are usually used for a permanent redirect.

You may find that Short Domain Names. Short URL's, Shortened Domain Names are helpful.

How to Help Dynamic Websites Get Indexed

Also view Canonicalization, Supplemental Listing, Google Breadcrumbs, Sitemap, Domain Names. URL's, Uniform Resource Locator, Short Domain Names. Short URL's, Shortened Domain Names, RSS feeds, Duplicate Content, Black Hat, Credibility and Word of Mouth.