include both domain root and index
« on: October 01, 2011, 01:22:07 AM »
i see that this sitemap generator lists both the root domain ([ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]) as well as the index ([ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]).
will search engines view these as duplicate pages?
to prevent duplicate pages, should i manually delete the home page entry?

thanks!
Re: include both domain root and index
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2011, 10:23:42 AM »
Hello,

you can remove one of those URLs from sitemap, but search engines will still be able to find them when crawling your site. I would recommend you to setup a 301 redirect from domain.com/index.php to domain.com URL.
Re: include both domain root and index
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2011, 06:32:49 PM »
thanks for your reply.

i have another quick question -- though it is not particularly about the sitemap but rather it is about redirecting index.php to the root domain, as you suggest.

i have anchor links to sections in my home page and when i 301 redirect the index.html to the root (using RewriteRule ^index.php?$ /? [R=301] in the htaccess file), all of those anchor links within the home page break (you just land at the top of the home page).

those links from other pages in my site to certain sections on the home page look similar to this...
http ://www.domain.com/index.php#section1

is it ok (as far as SEO) if i change those internal links to look like this?...
http ://www.domain.com/#section1

as far as the visitors' experience, i tested it and anchor links with absolute addresses without the index.php typed in the address work fine when i use that 301 redirect of the index page.

many thanks
« Last Edit: October 01, 2011, 06:40:10 PM by joeinfo »