Page is redirecting to one that no longer exists
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Maybe I've screwed things up with multiple URLs and aliases, but I don't understand what's happening. I had a page that was a child of another and I created an additional URL that would go from the root (so someone wouldn't have to type a long path).
At one point I had several duplicate pages and/or aliases (because I'd done something wrong before ... thought that was my fault, but now I'm beginning to doubt that).
I've deleted all duplicate pages and aliases and even removed them from the trash - but when I attempt to go to the additional URL, it redirects to a page that no longer exists!
I've cleared all my history and tried multiple devices, I really can't understand what's going on.
Next I tried moving the page to the root instead and removing the additional URL. It still redirects to a non-existent page.
I've played around with renaming the page and had some mixed results as well - again, redirecting to a page that isn't there, but at least it's got the content I want.
I'm not sure how else to explain it, does anyone know why this is happening and how I can fix it?
At one point I had several duplicate pages and/or aliases (because I'd done something wrong before ... thought that was my fault, but now I'm beginning to doubt that).
I've deleted all duplicate pages and aliases and even removed them from the trash - but when I attempt to go to the additional URL, it redirects to a page that no longer exists!
I've cleared all my history and tried multiple devices, I really can't understand what's going on.
Next I tried moving the page to the root instead and removing the additional URL. It still redirects to a non-existent page.
I've played around with renaming the page and had some mixed results as well - again, redirecting to a page that isn't there, but at least it's got the content I want.
I'm not sure how else to explain it, does anyone know why this is happening and how I can fix it?
Thank you for the quick response!
I think I do understand that and that's what I tried (both methods), but my problem is (or now was) that no matter what I did, the URL would redirect to a page that isn't there any more. I tried it in multiple browsers and multiple devices.
Here's what ended up fixing it (sort of) ...
I was typing the URL without WWW. in front and it redirected to the no-longer-existing page. Once I added WWW., it goes to the right place. Now if I try again, it adds the WWW. for me and works just fine in at least one browser, but not all.
Any idea how to fix that?
I think I do understand that and that's what I tried (both methods), but my problem is (or now was) that no matter what I did, the URL would redirect to a page that isn't there any more. I tried it in multiple browsers and multiple devices.
Here's what ended up fixing it (sort of) ...
I was typing the URL without WWW. in front and it redirected to the no-longer-existing page. Once I added WWW., it goes to the right place. Now if I try again, it adds the WWW. for me and works just fine in at least one browser, but not all.
Any idea how to fix that?
Here's the URL in case that helps:
rocksolidmn.com/quote
(redirects to a page that no longer exists)
http://www.rocksolidmn.com/quote
(goes where it should)
rocksolidmn.com/quote
(redirects to a page that no longer exists)
http://www.rocksolidmn.com/quote
(goes where it should)
Okay, I figured it out. I dug around in the dashboard and found "Clear Cache" in System Settings. That seems to have done the trick. I had no idea I needed to do that on the back end, I thought browsers are what cache the pages.
Method 1: Concrete
Add an additional URL to the list in the "Page Paths and Location" tab. The Canonical URL is the main page location, while "More URLs" would include the duplicate addresses. For instance, the canonical URL could be "http://www.example.com/firstpage" , while the additional URL is "/otherurl". The latter would then redirect to the former.
Method 2: .htaccess:
Another, slightly tricker option, is a 301 permanent redirect. Open the .htaccess file for editing through a file manager. Then add a line in this format to the bottom:
Redirect 301 /otherurl http://www.example.com/firstpage...
It will do the same thing as the above solution.
The same process applies if it's a file instead of a directory, such as "/otherurl/page.php". By the way, use the first method to create shorter URLs. Aliases are better if you want a page to appear in two different sections.