301 Redirect

[Wirenut]

I am just wondering about a 301 redirect.

I often saw it done like this:

"Redirect 301 /about.htm http://www.website.com/about.php"

That works, but so does this:

"Redirect 301 /about.htm /about.php"

Does it matter how it's done?  I am just wondering why I also saw it the first way with the full URL?

[Guest]

You really only need to include the full or "Absolute" URL if you're redirecting to a new domain; otherwise, the "Relative" path is assumed on your existing domain.

See: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_alias.html#Redirect

# Redirect to a URL on a different host
Redirect "/service" "http://foo2.example.com/service"

# Redirect to a URL on the same host
Redirect "/one" "/two"

I suspect that a lot of folks assume that by including the Absolute URL they're gaining an SEO advantage, but that's not true - Apache, for example automatically adds the Base URL if it's not included. 

It's for this same reason that it's always better to use relative URL's everywhere on your site rather than Absolute ones - they simply assume the "Base" URL and it's automatically included. 

[Wirenut]

Thanks, that makes sense, but it also brings up another question.  Do you need quotes?  All of my redirects contain no quotes around the URL.

Should I go and put quotes around all of them?  Or does it not matter?

Redirect 301 /about.htm /about.php

or

Redirect 301 "/about.htm" "/about.php"

 

[Guest]

Nah, quotes don't matter anymore - so it's up to you. There's no particular advantage either way, so if it's working, I'd just leave it as it is. 

[Wirenut]

Thanks for the help Big Mike.