Trailing slash 301 redirect code

[jamesjackson]

Hi,

I have code for redirecting trailing slash to non-trailing slash, which works fine:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^.yourdomain.co.uk$ [NC]RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

(got code from http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/to-slash-or-not-to-slash.html)

But I cant find a code for redirecting to the trailing slash version anywhere, and I cant modify the above code myself.

Can someone help resolve this issue please, or point me to a resource.

Thanks very much

James

[ReneReinholdt]

I could probably be of service but since I'm Danish You'll have to give me an example of a "trailing" slash.. A guess it's a slash that tips the left? eg: "" or is it this one: "/"

if you help me understand what you mean I might be able to help you

[seoug_2005]

If a URL has trailing slash ( / ), and a user types the URL without trailing slash, would an 404 error will be shown ?

[ReneReinholdt]

In my experience no

[seoug_2005]

Then why it is suggested to have one version - with or without trailing slash ?

[ReneReinholdt]

the reson is: Back in the day (I do not know if it still does this, havent tested it or had cause to do so.) google indexed example.com/page/ and example.com/page as two different pages.

The quick fix is to make a RegEx that "tests for the excistense of a trailing slash at the end ofg the url" and then use that in your .htaccess to redirect all urls without to an url with. In other words add a trailing slash. (makes sence I hope.)

You could do the same thing with rel=canonical (even easier imo. since you can use php and do it in the relevant templates)

Here is Matts word on trailing slashes: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-url-canonicalization/#comment-8260

[jamesjackson]

Hi Rene,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. It's this one "/".

I'm not in favour of using the canonical tag as it's not a directive, so I want ideally a 301 redirect code for it

thanks

[jamesjackson]

no, google can (and often does) index both pages as separate URL's

[KeriMorgret]

I use Wordpress and Thesis and have them do all the work for me, so I'm not a hands-on expert and can't verify the accuracy of the following URLs, but it looks like they may address your questions. Let us know if one of these works for you.

http://enarion.net/web/htaccess/trailing-slash/

http://soulpass.com/2008/01/11/htaccess-add-trailing-slash-to-url/ (be sure to read whole post)

[jamesjackson]

Hi Keri,

Thanks for the suggested solution. The enarion solution works for my regular URL's but then causes me issues with some of the more complicated javascript/ajax functionality on the site. No idea why, (bit over my head to be honest) but my developer suggested that it wasnt a good idea to it anyway (again ,for reasons I dont fully understand!)