1. Birgit Oberlerchner

    Web project / programme manager at na

    09 January 2008 14:45pm

    Birgit Oberlerchner

    The new CMS we are using links to internal pages by creating a redirect link (eg. /redirect.aspx), ie loses the URL that would otherwise comprise the meaningful page name (eg. xxx.com/aboutus/contactus.html). Apparently this is to avoid broken links in case pages are removed and the reference links get forgotten. Has anyone come across this before? And how does this impact the webstats if the /redirect.aspx is a top 3 page with over 2000 visits??

  2. Bob Browning

    Retired at Retired

    09 January 2008 18:25pm

    Bob Browning

    I can see a couple of problems with this:

    • None of the links may be counting towards page rank of the internal pages in Google. 
    • In fact the internal pages may not get spidered at all.
    • Potentially this could disable the back button. 

    It is hard to say without looking at the site.  Do you want to tell us where it is?

    We use a special protocol for internal links that we have coded as a custom button in FCKEditor.  In our CMS we remove links to non-existing pages when we generate the page.   

    Bob
    Textor

  3. Birgit Oberlerchner

    Web project / programme manager at na

    10 January 2008 11:30am

    Birgit Oberlerchner

    Many thanks!! I think the pages are spidered as they count towards a top 3 page on our stats called ../redirect, however as you say I doubt it these pages are counting towards the ranking of the internal pages themselves. I don't understand what you mean by 'could disable the back button' though?

    As an example, if you go to http://www.alternativenetworks.com/Services/Hot-topics.html and then click on "Linking mobiles..." in the body text rather than the left hand nav, it looks like the route it is taking is different in both cases. Any ideas? Really appreciate your input. Many thanks

  4. Colin Watson

    Director at Watson Hall Ltd

    15 January 2008 17:02pm

    Colin Watson

    I was going to look at this page to see if the redirect correctly sends a 'permanent redirect' header, since this will affect how Google and other search engines view the link.

    But I tried the website today, and it all seems to have gone.  Even the home page address is returning a server error message on screen.  By the way, everyone should trap these types of messages and render a more user-friendly page since they give away information about the web site, which could be used by someone maliciously.

    Note that redirect scripts can sometimes introduce unforeseen security problems, especially if they allow redirecting to a different website.  You may want to check whether this is possible.

    Any analysis of the web stats should take these redirects into account - whether your analysis does or not, would require more information.

    Colin Watson
    Technical Director
    Watson Hall Ltd information security

  5. Deri Jones

    CEO at SciVisum.co.uk

    17 January 2008 12:44pm

    Deri Jones

    www.alternativenetworks.com  is still down...

    think they have bigger customer experience problems than the redirects right now...

    Deri
    scivisum.co.uk

    On 17:02:28 15 January 2008 WebSecurity wrote:

    I was going to look at this page to see if the redirect correctly sends a 'permanent redirect' header, since this will affect how Google and other search engines view the link. account - whether your analysis does or not, would require more information.

Reply to this thread

Log in to reply to this thread or join Econsultancy for free so you can post to our forums along with other benefits.