Hi,
I have a FAQ, but need some additional info I haven't been able to find. I'm trying to process links Google has indicated are 404s that never really ever existed on our site.
I have an htaccess file I'm Including with my main apache config that only contains RewriteConds. This file is processed before any of the other htaccess files that contain standard RewriteRules. This is what I'm using to strip off any trailing slashes in URLs:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [R=301,L]
I just want to confirm that this means none of the RewriteRules that follow should contain a trailing slash or they will not match, correct?
Some of my existing RewriteRules that were created before I realized I should be stripping off the trailing slash actually contain a trailing slash.
Perhaps I should instead be using '/?' instead of just '/' at the end of URLs?
Thanks,
Dave
If the following rules look for a trailing slash and you remove it prior, in theory it won't match. However, remember that .htaccess files will be parsed over and over until it stops matching, so you are likely to create a rewrite loop.Oh, good info. I didn't realize that.
What is the rationale for removing trailing slashes here?
Because apparently Google considers it duplicated content when it sees one version with a slash and one version without. Here's a few articles that discuss the issues.
https://authenticdigital.nz/blog/trailing-slashes-and-seo/
https://ahrefs.com/blog/trailing-slash/
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5948659/when-should-i-use-a-trailing-slash-in-my-url
Also, I learned my RewriteCond above to strip off the trailing slash doesn't work with URLs involving query strings.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [R=301,L]I believe it also has the potential to add a duplicate slash in the beginning if $1 already has a slash in it, but using just $1 alone doesn't fix the problem with losing query strings. Even ahrefs uses the above example in their blog post without considering query strings or the potential for creating duplicate slashes.
Ideas greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave
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