First off, here is the .htaccess file

redirect 301 /index.shtml http://www.airandaqua.com/sunshop
redirect 301 /shower.shtml http://airandaqua.com/shower%20water%20filters.shtml
redirect 301 /aqq-4100%20shower%20water%20filters.shtml http://www.airandaqua.com/shower_water_filter.shtml
redirect 301 /shower%20water%20filters.shtml http://www.airandaqua.com/benefits_s...r_filter.shtml
redirect 301 /water%20contamination%20hazards.shtml http://www.airandaqua.com/whats_in_your_water.shtml
redirect 301 /sunshop/html/AQ-4100-Aquasana-Shower-Filter.html http://www.airandaqua.com/sunshop/ht...er-Filter.html
redirect 301 /aquasana%20water%20filters%20catalog.shtml http://www.airandaqua.com/water_puri..._systems.shtml
redirect 301 /doesnotexist.html http://airandaqua.com/info.shtml


What is happening is that any of the URL's that include the %20 will not redirect.... I have no clue why... all of the other URL's will redirect but if the URL has the %20 in it it will not attempt a redirect!

Any clue as to why this is happening or how I can overcome this problem?


to test it, go to (redirect 301 /doesnotexist.html http://airandaqua.com/info.shtml) airandaqua.com/doesnotexist.html and it WILL redirect to info.shtml - however (redirect 301 /aqq-4100%20shower%20water%20filters.shtml http://www.airandaqua.com/shower_water_filter.shtml) airandaqua.com/aqq-4100%20shower%20water%20filters.shtml won't redirect to http://www.airandaqua.com/shower_water_filter.shtml !????

Rename your files and fix your .htaccess' code. The spaces between file names is not the best think you can do. Try to replace the "%20" with "-" or "_".

What is the purpose of your redirects James?

Originally Posted by nimonogi

Rename your files and fix your .htaccess' code. The spaces between file names is not the best think you can do. Try to replace the "%20" with "-" or "_".

I don't think they will even work with spaces. At least I never could get them to.

%20 means there was a space.

An EX co-worker decided to change all my filenames one day for the purpose of SEO... the guy didn't know much about SEO (I am not a pro but I know a bit more than him about it now...) and also didn't realise that without setting redirects the links to those pages from the search engines would hit 404's.... getting us wiped from google also...

Anyways I am wanting to change the filenames for SEO purposes, I have heard having the keyword IN the filename can also be beneficial? I will try to get the 301's working with - or _ but I don't think it will work as those are recognized characters. Right now I HAVE to try anything as it has been almost a week now that the redirects arent working and I really dont need anymore penalization from google! eek

have a read a the SEO forums.

It's only a self inflicted "penalty" but it will take several months to rectify now.

so called "friendly" URLs are NOT what they are made out to be. They are only of any value in ONE and only ONE situation. That is when any one links to the page using the pagename as anchor text. Other than that the disruption to an existing site is simply not worth the trouble.

AirandAqua,

Change the names back! It is unequivically not true, not true, not true, not true...!!!

Keywords in your url will not, I repeat, will (no matter what anyone tells you,) do nothing for the search engines.

They look at the content on the page. They look at your title tag. They look at the text you use for linking to your pages.

If your pages are already doing fairly well, or if nothing else they are already in Google (and other se) index, by all means keep them there. Revert back to the old names, forget about the 301 redirects...

Please, please, please...

There are a lot of legends out there. Keywords in domain name or in file names do not help at all in the serp's

~Chip