Htaccess Hell - BrightonSEO 2016
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The document discusses the critical importance of website migration and the management of redirects during this process. It outlines a systematic approach for identifying, prioritizing, and mapping redirects, along with tips for testing and organization. The presenter emphasizes the need for thorough preparation, collaboration with developers, and consistent testing to ensure a successful migration.
![@chrisgreen87
@StrategiQ
#BrightonSEO
2nd September 2016
In .htaccess for example:
RewriteRule ^old-blog/(.*)$ /new-blog/$1 [R=301,NC,L]
www.domain.com/old-blog/best-post-evar
301s to
www.domain.com/new-blog/best-post-evar](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/htaccesshellchrisgreen-brighton2016slides-160831192458/85/Htaccess-Hell-BrightonSEO-2016-38-320.jpg)
Htaccess Hell - BrightonSEO 2016
- 1. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ .htaccess Hell Managing a Migration When There’s No Easy Answer
- 2. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 A site migration Possibly the most important moment in a website’s life-cycle
- 3. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 A site migration Possibly the most important moment in a website’s life-cycle
- 4. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Done well, a new site can launch without hitch
- 5. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Done badly, all your hard work will go down the
- 7. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 On small sites this can be really easy
- 8. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 On small sites this can be really easy On large sites... ?
- 10. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 That doesn’t mean you can just shrug it off (don’t be lazy)
- 11. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 It’s make or break for your new website (I really mean it, don’t be lazy)
- 12. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 In this presentation I’ll show you
- 13. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 How to scope the size of the redirect challenge
- 14. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 How to prioritise redirects
- 15. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Tactics to help map them (less painfully - at least)
- 16. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 “Best-case” matching when there’s no exact
- 17. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Testing redirects pre & post launch
- 19. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Scoping the size of the redirect trouble
- 20. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Crawl your website
- 21. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Crawl your website
- 22. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 2) Crawl any sitemaps
- 23. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 3) Export landing page URLs from GA
- 24. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 If the 5,000 row limit is too much of a pain - try http://bit.ly/analytics-edge
- 25. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 4) Extract URLs from logs
- 26. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 4) Extract URLs from logs
- 27. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Or maybe you can be adventurous and use command line This resource rocks, thanks Oliver Mason!-> http://bit.ly/log-command-line
- 28. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 5) Scrape Google (but be nice)
- 29. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 “But wait, this sounds a right faff!” (I thought I told you not to be lazy)
- 31. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Common-sense - top level pages
- 32. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 2) Top-ranking pages
- 33. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 3) Top trafficked pages
- 34. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 4) Most crawled pages (from log files)
- 35. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 5) … and if possible everything else
- 37. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Directory rewrites
- 38. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 In .htaccess for example: RewriteRule ^old-blog/(.*)$ /new-blog/$1 [R=301,NC,L] www.domain.com/old-blog/best-post-evar 301s to www.domain.com/new-blog/best-post-evar
- 39. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Some more handy .htaccess rules? http://bit.ly/aleyda-htaccess
- 40. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 That’s the easy part over and done with!
- 41. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 2) Old-to-new post/ product matching
- 42. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Can be done in many different ways - depends on commonalities: - Post/Product ID - Post/Product Name - Post/Product Title - URL Key Matching etc...
- 43. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 For example: http://bit.ly/ecom-redirect-drive
- 44. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Make friends with a developer (Seriously - buy them a drink and everything!)
- 45. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 But that’s not a get out of jail free card!
- 46. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 3) Manually match them
- 48. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 This is up to you to do the hard work… Filters are your friend too
- 49. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Filter your URLs, look for: - Specific keywords - Directories - Parameters
- 50. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 “Best case” matching
- 51. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Don’t just over-redirect to the homepage or top-level categories (This leads into soft 404s!)
- 52. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Don’t just take my word for it Ask Glenn Gabe http://bit.ly/soft-404s
- 53. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 2) Match to the closest available example
- 54. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 3) If there’s no suitable alternative, don’t be afraid to let it drop (if it’s important and there’s no alternative, you’re doing it wrong!)
- 55. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Redirect implementation? Assuming that you’re using apache - http://bit.ly/htaccess-for-seos
- 57. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Modify redirects to “work” on staging/dev
- 58. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Change the hostname to dev/staging (change back before launch though!)
- 59. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 2) Crawl, crawl & crawl again!
- 60. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Change host on your old list of redirects & crawl
- 61. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Pro tip: Just because there’s a 301 response, doesn’t mean it’s the right destination!
- 62. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 3) Test again after launch
- 63. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Make sure nothing breaks after!
- 65. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 1) Excel/google docs is your friend
- 66. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 2) Include 301 mapping into your sitemap - start early! http://bit.ly/sitemap-redirect-template
- 67. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 3) Learn to Vlookup! http://bit.ly/vlookup-beginners
- 68. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 4) Save often, split your workbook if things get too heavy
- 70. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 It takes time but it’s worth it!
- 71. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Properly scope the size of the problem
- 72. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Prioritise - more is better, but it has to stop somewhere
- 73. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Map redirects intelligently - pattern or directory match where you can
- 74. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Make friends with a developer!
- 75. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Test, test & test again
- 76. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Download this, it’ll help http://bit.ly/sitemap-redirect-template
- 77. @chrisgreen87 @StrategiQ #BrightonSEO 2nd September 2016 Thank you. @chrisgreen87 http://bit.ly/htaccess-hell