The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4. Confusing 301 / Canonical Redirect Issue - Wizard Needed

    Confusing 301 / Canonical Redirect Issue - Wizard Needed

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    2 2 318
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • 4Buck
      4Buck last edited by

      I had two pages on my site with identical content. What I did was 301 redirect one page to the other. I also added canonical redirect code to the page that held the 301 code.  Here is what I have:

      www.careersinmusic.com/music-colleges.aspx - this page was a duplicate and I needed it to resolve to:
      www.careersinmusic.com/music-schools.aspx

      Here is the code I used:

      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

      music-colleges.aspx
      <%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="music-colleges.aspx.vb" Inherits="music_colleges" %>
      http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
      http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

      http://www.careersinmusic.com/music-schools.aspx"/>

      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
      music-colleges.aspx.vb
      Partial Class music_colleges
      Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
      Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
      Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently"
      Response.AddHeader("Location", "http://www.careersinmusic.com/music-schools.aspx")
      End Sub
      End Class

      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

      The problem:
      For some reason, when the search “music colleges” is done in Google, I am #7. When the term “music schools” is done, I am around 119. I MUST be getting a penalty for some reason, I just cannot figure the reason. When perform well for one term and terrible for the next? All I can come up with is a duplicate content penalty or something along those lines.

      Also, music-colleges.aspx seems to still be in Googles index, even though the above 301 happened months ago. Thoughts?

      site:www.careersinmusic.com/music-colleges.aspx

      Any insight into this would be GREATLY appreciated.

      Many Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • AlanMosley
        AlanMosley last edited by

        Rather than a penalty, they will choose one to rank over the other.

        You dont need a 301 and a canonical, you have one or the other, the difference being that a canonical does not redirect the user to the other page, iot just tells the search engine to give credit to the other page.

        It takes time for the search engine to fix tis, if you are ranking for both pages, then II would suggest you have not waited long enouth, when all is finalized, you will only find one page in the index.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • 1 / 1
        • First post
          Last post
        • I've got duplicate pages. For example, blog/page/2 is the same as author/admin/page/2\. Is this something I should just ignore, or should I create the author/admin/page2 and then 301 redirect?
          BeanstalkIM
          BeanstalkIM
          0
          5
          414

        • Should /node/ URLs be 301 redirect to Clean URLs
          MargaritaS
          MargaritaS
          0
          3
          172

        • 301 Redirect To Another 301 Redirect
          cbielich
          cbielich
          0
          5
          247

        • Do my redirects on my homepage need to be 301?
          EcommerceSite
          EcommerceSite
          0
          8
          322

        • Redirect 301 or Canonical.
          Matt-Williamson
          Matt-Williamson
          0
          6
          246

        • Help with setting up 301 redirects from /default.aspx to the "/" in ASP.NET using MasterPages?
          BrianCrouch
          BrianCrouch
          0
          2
          595

        • Do I need to use canonical tags if I'm 301 redirecting pages?
          RobertFisher
          RobertFisher
          0
          2
          423

        • Canonical or 301 redirect, that is the question?
          X-com
          X-com
          0
          8
          546

        Get started with Moz Pro!

        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

        Start my free trial
        Products
        • Moz Pro
        • Moz Local
        • Moz API
        • Moz Data
        • STAT
        • Product Updates
        Moz Solutions
        • SMB Solutions
        • Agency Solutions
        • Enterprise Solutions
        • Digital Marketers
        Free SEO Tools
        • Domain Authority Checker
        • Link Explorer
        • Keyword Explorer
        • Competitive Research
        • Brand Authority Checker
        • Local Citation Checker
        • MozBar Extension
        • MozCast
        Resources
        • Blog
        • SEO Learning Center
        • Help Hub
        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
        • How-to Guides
        • Moz Academy
        • API Docs
        About Moz
        • About
        • Team
        • Careers
        • Contact
        Why Moz
        • Case Studies
        • Testimonials
        Get Involved
        • Become an Affiliate
        • MozCon
        • Webinars
        • Practical Marketer Series
        • MozPod
        Connect with us

        Contact the Help team

        Join our newsletter
        Moz logo
        © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
        • Accessibility
        • Terms of Use
        • Privacy