Website Redirection

Russinating · 29 Oct 2008 at 10:24

It's quite simple - I want to redirect users from "www.rghjones.co.uk/hire" to "www.rghjones.co.uk/?a=hire", just so there's a simpler URL to type/read/follow.

I know you can mod-rewrite but I don't know much about that and also heard it was 'disapproved' of by Google. So I created a folder called hire, stuck in a fairly blank index.html with the code:

Code:

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0; url=http://www.rghjones.co.uk/?a=hire">

To put it bluntly, it doesn't work. Somehow it gets the content from the index.php on the next folder level down and tries to display my site as normal (like this). Firstly can someone explain how/why it's doing that, and secondly how can I fix it/redirect with another method?

Russinating · 29 Oct 2008 at 10:38

Nevermind, fixed with a mod rewrite. Anyone know why the /hire/ folder was somehow fetching content from the root folders index.php though?

Reebro · 29 Oct 2008 at 10:41

Have a read here: http://www.stevenhargrove.com/redirect-web-pages/ I wouldn't use HTML redirection myself, so the link should give you an understanding of different ways to do it.

Reebro · 29 Oct 2008 at 10:41

Possibly a htaccess issue or that you didn't clear your cache?

RickST · 29 Oct 2008 at 23:49

mod rewrite is the right way to go about it, you will find that nearly all large sites with friendly urls will be using it in one form of another (isapi rewrite). google certainly has no problem with it

Dano · 30 Oct 2008 at 10:30

Wow, I really need to update my knowledge, sorry for supplying you with a duff method rghjones

Van Hellseek · 30 Oct 2008 at 14:33

I take the easy way out and use a PHP file to redirect people. maybe not as 'professional', but the results are exactly the same (and a lot less hassle than the mod rewrite/htaccess methods).

Dj_Jestar · 30 Oct 2008 at 16:10

Contrary to Reebro's post (and possibly link, I haven't read it) meta tag redirect is more reliable than a straight header redirect with older browsers (really old.. like Netscape 3 old.)

RickST · 30 Oct 2008 at 18:01

depending on site content (target market) it really isnt worth considering "really old" browsers.

mod rewrite provides the cleanest user interaction, not to mention that what we are talking about here isnt really a standard redirect as in from an old url to a new url, it is being used to provide a human and search engine friendly url.