Web Page Redirects and Truwex
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Server side or HTTP redirect
Server side redirects are triggered by a web server. A web server responds on a user URL request returning another URL and redirect response code in the HTTP header. Server side redirect codes are defined in the HTTP protocol. The most popular codes are:- 301, a web page is moved permanently
- 302, a web page is moved temporarily
- “Redirect” is a command to Apache web server
- “301″ redirect HTTP code
- “/” is a path on the local web server to forward. In our case “/” means all files on the truwex.com will be redirected. This parameter could be a file name. “/index.html”, for inctance
- “http://www.erigami.com/truwex/” is a full target URL
Client side or browser redirect
Client side redirect is triggered in a user browser. The most popular methods are: meta refresh redirect and JavaScript redirect. Meta refresh example: <meta http-equiv=”Refresh” content=”0; url=http://www.target-url.com/” /> The browser redirects are often used by black-hut SEOs (Search Engine Optimizers). This technique is known as doorway. A web page with a set of keywords is placed on a domain with high authority, sometimes by using hacker methods. A search engine shows this web page high in rankings. When a user visits this page, it is automatically redirected to another site. The doorways do not live long now, because search engines detect and remove them from index. However they can damage reputation of good websites. Client side redirects can not be recommended for corporate content websites. However they may be used in web applications.How Redirects improve a Web Site
Easy to remember URLs for marketing
For example, http://microsoft.com/sqlserver/ is easy to remember and relates to the SQL Server product. Many users type it in their browsers to visit SQL Server website. Microsoft redirects this URL to the actual SQL Server home page.
Integrate several domains into one website
This situation is common after company merges and acquisitions. An acquired website domain is a very important asset and should be integrated into a corporate web presence. If a company plans websites integration, the acquired domain should be 301 redirected to a sub-domain or to a folder of a corporate website. It is a good idea to keep the original domain name as a sub-domain or a folder name. The domain web pages should be moved to a corporate server. The search engine will notice the domain redirection and forward web traffic to a new location.Keep external links for search engines
Every incoming link from external website is an asset. If a web page with many incoming links is deleted, the power of external links just dies with the page. The correct way is to 301-redirect it to another page with similar content.Avoid broken links from partner websites and user bookmarks.
The corporate websites link to each other. For example, resellers link to vendors’ product pages. When a product is discontinued by a vendor, a website administrator may remove a product web page. It may produce a number of broken links not only on own website, but also on the partner sites. The correct approach is setting a permanent 301 redirect to an alternative web page or to a home page of discontinued products every time when a valuable page is deleted from a website.Avoid duplicated web pages.
Duplicated web pages is major issue related to search engines. If a web site contains two pages with the same content, a search engine must choose one in a response to a user search request. Many pages with the same content reduce a website value for search engines. A good solution is using 301 redirects to forward web page copies to the original page. For example, if a website home page exists in two forms: http://www.homepage.com/ and www.homepage.com/main.html, it is reasonable to 301-redirect one URL to another.Redirect issues
- Redirect to a third party website may be an issue. In this case the redirect works as a hidden hyperlink, but it is more difficult to track.
- Client side redirects are not honored by search engines.
- A user can disable a client side redirection in a browser.
- Multi-step redirects. One redirect may point to another, in this case a user request will be redirected several times to reach the target page. A missing chain in this redirect sequence leads to a broken link. The multi-step redirects should be avoided to simplify website management.
How Truwex tracks redirects
Truwex loads web pages to Internet Explorer browser instance. If a final web page URL is different from the original one, a web page was redirected. Truwex tracks HTTP headers and records status codes for a web page. 301, 302 and other 3xx codes mean server side redirect. Truwex also tracks IE BeforeNavigate browser event. In case this event is detected, Truwex records a client side redirect. Truwex reports redirects on a web page level as server side, client side, and multi-step redirects. It also builds a table with a list of all redirects on a website.
Other interesting reading on redirects
The article with many redirect methods explained: http://www.stevenhargrove.com/redirect-web-pages/ Wikipedia article on redirects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_redirectionEntry Filed under: Website compliance and QA