Index Redirect Listing

[3alloosh]

I am using a content management system for one of my sites, so the homepage is a php file instead of the standard index. Will there be any trouble with just using javascript to redirect to my php intended homepage in terms of Google (as I am doing now)?If there is a better way to get what is intended done, please do advise and thanks in advance.I would think this will cause all kinds of problems ...Search engines don't read Javascript so in effect you are presenting a blank page for your home page.With no text to index or cache this page is likely to be dropped. There are several ways to redirect that are search engine friendly ... do a search for "302 redirect".From what I've read about 302's, they seem to be frowned upon. Are you sure Google would not ban a site after the spider's problem has been fixed. Is there an easier way to do what I want, such as just placing a link in the body of my index.html to http://www.overflux.com/parkour/news.php, and keeping the javascript. That way Googlebot will follow the link, but users wil be redirected. Or is this considered terms for being banned also?[Edit]I just deleted the index.html and edited the .htaccess so it redirects to my intended http://www.overflux.com/parkour/news.php viaCode: [ Select ]302 is a temporary redirect ... 301 is a permanent redirect.Probably a much better solution As I said there are several acceptable methods of redirecting ...What I would do is instead of just having that Javascript code on your main page. Take the page's content that you're redirecting to and as much of that as you can on the homepage. Even though noone will see it you'll still have a lot of content on the original page. If you have php on your server I'd suggest using php's header() function to redirect instead of using Javascript. Users that don't have javascript or those that have it turned off will still see the homepage and have no means to redirect with. If you don't have a server side language installed on your server, try doing a meta refresh. Though I've heard that Meta Refresh's can do harm to your se ranking as well.EDIT: Or do the 302/301 redirect (should've read the entire thread).Seems to be working just fine ...Found an online tool you can use to check redirects http://www.webconfs.com/redirect-check.phpMy bot shows Return Code: 301Looks good now ... Thanks for that seo redirect checking link. According to that site "301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. It's not that hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings for that particular page. If you have to change file names or move pages around, it's the safest option. The code "301" is interpreted as "moved permanently"."Sounds good, thanks again After using the 301 direct, I searched and found my site on Google today. However, later (now) I tried again and my site is not indexed anymore...any idea why this would happen (no new spiders have come since then and now)?Quote:Can't you just tell your web server to use the intended php page as the site entrance. There should be something in your control panel to tell the server what page to look for as the default. I don't think that the page needs to have a name like index or default to be the actual default page.Sorry about bringing back this old post, but phaugh was right. We took away the 301 redirect and added this "DirectoryIndex /news.php" to substitute it for the default index.html