Duplicate content fix index.html vs / (slash only)

Web Hosting Articles » A simple guide to .htaccess » Duplicate content fix index.html vs / (slash only)

This similar to the www vs non-www version of your site work-around.

As you might now you, by default you can access your site as http://www.domain.com/ and http://www.domain.com/index.html with some setups it can be index.php or index.asp or default.aps, etc.

Unfortunately, this creates a risk of duplicate content from the search engine point of view. To avoid this, you can use the following ModRewrite rules in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on 
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index\.html\ HTTP/ 
RewriteRule ^index\.html$ http://www.domain.com/ [R=301,L]

The file should be located in your website main folder (web root).

The rules above will tell the browser or the search engine both that all requests to index.html should be directed to the "/" (slash only).

Comments 13 >>

Vacation Rentals Said,

Mar 06, 2008 @ 23:44

I see a lot of people telling how to do this fix & then also the www vs non www workaround, but not many people show how to combine both. Could you show an example of the htaccess file with both rules combined?

Would you mind emailing me if you update this?

Craig

Art Village Said,

Mar 05, 2009 @ 05:19

What if you want the result to be index.html and never have a url ending in just a slash?

"DirectoryIndex index.html" does not work.

Peace,

RSQ Said,

Jul 20, 2009 @ 10:53

gr8 article its working
thanks

Wedding Magician - Roger Lapin Said,

May 25, 2010 @ 16:12

Thanks for the tip I have been looking at my site and it has both / and index.html in googles index - i will get to fix this now.

Thanks

Roger

Funny Man Said,

Jul 06, 2010 @ 14:06

I have seen this fix a number of places but need the reverse fix.

Does anyone know how to code the .htaccess to force /index.html to show?

I figure I can set a different default file with an embedded redirect to /index.html but would like this to be handled at .htaccess level

It's a long story why I need this instead of the other version, but I am sure this is the only way to fix my problem

vincent Said,

Jul 06, 2010 @ 14:44

The reverse can be done using:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^$ http://www.domain.com/index.html [R=301,L]

vince Said,

Jul 06, 2010 @ 14:48

@Vacation Rentals

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.your_domain.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.your_domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index\.html\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^index\.html$ http://www.your_domain.com/ [R=301,L]

don tata Said,

Jul 25, 2010 @ 18:13

Excellent guide, been looking for this for a week because google indexed my site as site.com/index.html instead of site.com I also want to thanks Vince for posting the combined code.

rod Said,

Sep 30, 2010 @ 01:45

If you want a shorter method mention by vince try my method which i was experimented and learn from others.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index\.html\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.html$ http://www.your_domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Louise Said,

Oct 14, 2010 @ 07:38

Hi, let me know what need to do for fix problem with slash of the end query string for html page. For exampl. site.com/h.html/ need 301 redirect to site.com/h.html

Thanks

Lora Said,

Oct 04, 2011 @ 23:19

I need a bit of help in here. I have 2 index.html on my site, and both end with a slash
Example: http://mysite.com/ and the other
http://www.mysite.com/, how to avoid the slash and use only one index.Thank you in advance, any help would be really appreciated.

Kim Said,

Feb 06, 2012 @ 21:05

Sorry,
Just read it above.
Thanks

magician london Said,

May 04, 2012 @ 18:07

Ah thank you for such a great article this has really helped!