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Runway Rewrite Rules for SEO

Hi,

I am trying to achieve three goals with my htaccess rules.

  1. Force https://
  2. Force either https://www.sitename.co.uk or https://sitename.co.uk (doesn't matter which, just as long as one has a preference
  3. Force a trailing slash on urls, for example, https://sitename.co.uk/

Currently, my htaccess file looks like this:

# Perch Runway
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/deliberately-removed
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule .* /deliberately-removed/core/runway/start.php [L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} !https
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

Forcing https seems sucessful with this rule.

https://moz.com/blog/htaccess-file-snippets-for-seos recommends the following for forcing www and adding a trailing slash

# Ensure www on all URLs.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^website-url.co.uk [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.website-url.co.uk/$1 [L,R=301]

# Ensure all URLs have a trailing slash.
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.website-url.co.uk/$1/ [L,R=301]

However, adding these seems to result in the site just being redirected to https://transition-creative.co.uk/ouvrir/core/runway/start.php, obviously not the desired result.

Some pointers on resolving the above would be very much appreciated.
Grant Smith

Grant Smith 0 points

  • 2 years ago
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

2 years ago

I think you probably want your 301 redirects to happen first. Put the default rewrite to start.php at the end of the process.
Grant Smith

Grant Smith 0 points

2 years ago

Thanks Drew,

This was pretty successful apart from one error. As you suggested I changed the order to the following:

# Force https
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} !https
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

# Ensure www on all URLs.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^website-url.co.uk [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.website-url.co.uk/$1 [L,R=301]

# Ensure all URLs have a trailing slash.
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.website-url.co.uk/$1/ [L,R=301]

# Perch Runway
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/deliberately-removed
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule .* /deliberately-removed/core/runway/start.php [L]

This works as disired until I request https://transition-creative.co.uk, this is forced to https://transition-creative.co.uk/ouvrir/core/runway/start.php
Grant Smith

Grant Smith 0 points

2 years ago

Hi all,

I thought I had the above working, but it has a rather nasty side effect. As a result of the above. No forms can be submitted and shop items cannot be purchased?

So I've had to revert to the original until I can find an alternative.
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

2 years ago

Check the action attribute on the forms and make sure that they're posting to a URL that isn't redirected. If a redirect occurs after the post, the post data will be lost.
Grant Smith

Grant Smith 0 points

2 years ago

Thanks Drew, I'll look into it.