You’ve just redesigned some pages of your web site. The pages have high search engine rankings that you don’t want to lose. How can you safely redirect web site traffic from your old pages to the new pages without losing your rankings? You can do this by using a ” 301 redirect “
What is 301 redirect?
301 redirect is the best method to preserve your current search engine rankings when redirecting web pages or a web
site. The code “301″ is interpreted as “moved permanently”. After the code, the URL of the missing or renamed page is
noted, followed by a space, then followed by the new location or file name. You implement the 301 redirect by creating a .htaccess file.
What is a .htaccess file?
When a visitor/spider requests a web page, your web server checks for a .htaccess file. The .htaccess file contains specific instructions for certain requests, including security, redirection issues and how to handle certain errors.
How to implement the 301 Redirect
1. To create a .htaccess file, open notepad, name and save the file as .htaccess (there is no extension).
2. If you already have a .htaccess file on your server, download it to your desktop for editing.
3. Place this code in your .htaccess file:
redirect 301 /old/old.htm http://www.you.com/new.htm
4. If the .htaccess file already has lines of code in it, skip a line, then add the above code.
5. Save the .htaccess file
6. Upload this file to the root folder of your server. (more…)