Directory URL structure last / in the url

[DavidS-282061]

Ok,

So my site's urls works like this   www.site.com/widgets/

If you go to www.site.com/widgets  (without the last / )  you get a 404.

My site did no used to require the last / to load the page but it has over the last year and my rankings have dropped on those pages...

But Yahoo and BING still indexes all my pages without the last / and it some how still loads the page if you go to it from yahoo or bing, but it looks like this in the address bar once you arrive from bing or yahoo.

http://www.site.com/404.asp?404;http://site.com:80/widgets/

How do I fix this?

Should'nt all the engines see those pages the same way with the last / included?

What is the best structure for SEO?

[eyepaq]

You should do a 301 redirect from the non "/" version at the end to the www.site.com/widget/ version.

I've posted a "similar" questions a few days ago and someone posted the htaccess code that can work for you too.. you just need to change the domain names and urls there:

http://www.seomoz.org/q/301-redirect-www-domain-com-index-to-www-domain-com

[DavidKauzlaric]

Matt Cutts said in a video with Rand that you could use either way, but he recommends choosing one way and sticking with it. He said using a trailing forward slash was preferred and is the more technical way. So, I would use that way, since you seem to be using that anyway.

What you need to do is setup server-side 301 redirects so if someone goes to www.mysite.com/blog it will automatically redirect them to mysite.com/blog/ --- using a 301 perm redirect will eventually clear out any bad indexed pages and willl get you going on the right track.

[DavidS-282061]

Thanks Guys,

David - do you agree that I should use the code linked to in the post above?

Do I understand right that I should use ONLY the /widgets/ pages?  and redirect the /widgets pages?

SEE Your PM for an example.

[Getz.pro]

having a slash or not should not matter as far as accessing the page, nor really for SEO. Structurally you should keep to one (preferably the /) rather than switching. However, both links are broke, so I presume you have changed something.

I see not reason for a redirect as you may fall into an infinite loop.

[DavidS-282061]

Richard,

Are you saying I should redirect to pages like this /name/

vs

/name