How to check/configure redirect of root domain??

fabthi

Hi all
I'm not sure I have put the question in title the right way, so I'll clear it better.
I purchased my domain name at GoDaddy and set it up as custom domain here at SmugMug.
I've heard and read that a website should be better reachable using both www. and non-www. URLs but I know this feature should be correctly configured at the hosting provider to avoid possible issues of duplicate content with Google which would result in ranking penalties.
Therefore my questions are:
1 - how can I check whether this redirect configuration is already properly set up or not
2 - If it isn't, how should I configure the redirecting set up?
Thanks to all for the help
Fabio

Lille Ulven

To check: enter your root domain without the www (like this: fabiothian.com) into the URL bar of your browser. Does it go to the www.URL -> good for you. Now take some subdirectory from your URL and enter it without the www in your browser's URL bar like this: fabiothian.com/Fashion/ does it redirect -> You win.
In your case: you win (I did the test) – and yes there is somewhere a documentation on how to do it, I think it should be included in here: http://help.smugmug.com/customer/en/portal/articles/93340-use-a-custom-domain .

Have a nice weekend

Lille Ulven

fabthi

Thanks Lille for your help!
Only, I tested as you suggest and while fabiothian.com sends to the www.URL, subdirectories like URL/People and URL/Venice don't go to correspondent www.URL/subdirectory. I tried them with Chrome on Invisible Hidden Browsing

Lille Ulven

Strange, it seemed to work when I first tested it earlier today, but now it is no longer working.
Since I had some trouble with this a while ago I am certain that I gave you the correct link (simply because it is the one I got from the smug mug heroes myself ).

But since you are on goDaddy (I am not)... I had a look around and this page should help you out:
https://ca.godaddy.com/help/connect-your-domain-to-smugmug-16290
Notice however that they state that any change might take 48 hours to take effect...which might explain why it is not working for you right now.

Good luck

Lille Ulven

fabthi

Well, I'm with GoDaddy and SmugMug since a long time and the custom domain setup as it is now has been done, maybe, 2-3 years ago and I haven't changed anything since then

Lille Ulven

There we have your problem
Smug mug changed something – I think this fall, at least in terms of my emails – which means you know have to set up the redirection differently than 2-3 years ago.
So let me see there was a thread about it on Dgrin here: https://dgrin.com/discussion/comment/2043970#Comment_2043970 and looking for @leftquark 's comment from September 13th he said it was done with the help of what GoDaddy calls "Match Path" and is described here: https://godaddy.com/help/redirect-urls-with-your-hosting-account-5120#4gh

Hope this helps

Lille Ulven

Allen

It seems they have deleted the archive of old posts were it talked about this.

redirecting domain...use A frame or CNAME? [Sitemap] - Digital ...
www.dgrin.com › Digital Grin Photography Forum › Support › SmugMug Support
Jan 5, 2009 - 5 posts - ‎3 authors
I am trying to get my registrar to redirect to my SM. They will be glad to do so but replied back "
Another thing to note is that we'd be better off ...

Lille Ulven

Well goDaddy has the explanation of how to do it on the link I have given (https://godaddy.com/help/redirect-urls-with-your-hosting-account-5120#4gh), just scroll up a little bit and open what is below this header: Web/Classic (Hosting Control Panel)

Good luck

Lille Ulven

fabthi

Since the domain root fabiothian.com already points at www.fabiothian.com, should I redirect only the subdirectories?
Also, in the Redirect menu in GoDaddy there's an option for selecting between "Forwarding only" and "Forwarding with Masking"? Which one is better/safer especially from a SEO point of view?

denisegoldberg

I don't believe forwarding should be used for your folders / pages.

Did you check the "match path" option on the GoDaddy setup page at the URL Lille referenced above (https://www.godaddy.com/help/redirect-urls-with-your-hosting-account-5120#4gh)? I didn't see it at first because the URL opened at the bottom of the article, I had to scroll up plus open the section Web/Classic (Hosting Control Panel). Here is the text for the "match path" option:

Select your content redirect option. This option decides the behavior of your Site Redirect when a visitor goes to a content path of your domain name, such as http://coolexample.com/path.

Match path redirects visitors to the same content path of the target domain name. For example, when a visitor goes to http://coolexample.com/path, they are redirected to http://mycoolestdomains.com/path.

fabthi

@denisegoldberg said:
Did you check the "match path" option on the GoDaddy setup page at the URL Lille referenced above (https://www.godaddy.com/help/redirect-urls-with-your-hosting-account-5120#4gh)? I didn't see it at first because the URL opened at the bottom of the article, I had to scroll up plus open the section Web/Classic (Hosting Control Panel). Here is the text for the "match path" option:

I have a Linux Web Hosting plan

shouldn't I fall into the Linux (cPanel) configuration panel rather than in the Web/Classic one?
If yes, I have no choices to go to Domains>Redirects as described in the help page
On the other side, if I try to manage the redirect from the Domains section, there isn't any "match path" option available, ony a choice between "Forwarding only" and "Forwarding with Masking"

denisegoldberg

I think the next step may be to contact the SmugMug help desk - http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/emails/new. I believe they have folks very familiar with setting up these configurations.

fabthi

@denisegoldberg said:
I think the next step may be to contact the SmugMug help desk - http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/emails/new. I believe they have folks very familiar with setting up these configurations.

I wll Denise, thanks to you and to the other folks who tried to help me

fabthi

If, instead of Hosting management, I go to the Domains management, I can find there the option to forward my domain.
If I click on the Add Forwarding for the selected domain, a message is telling me there is not a Forwarding option in place at the moment.

Isn't this the area where I should setup the forwarding?

fabthi

The response from SmugMug help is that the forwarding appears correctly setup as is now as the root domain redirects to the www.URL homepage , but they added that redirecting subdirectories might not be always possible.
I'm not competent in this field, anybody know if this is correct?