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Linking Test
Click here to view or download the code for this example
Coding META and Javascript Redirects
Redirecting pages with META refresh or Javascript
Using meta refresh or javascript to redirect user agents is of little use for having search engine crawlers index the new location. The only user agents to trigger javascript events or to follow the meta action are browsers.
Update on Meta Refresh
A recent update to meta refresh came out of the Dec 2004 SES Chicago, as reported here by Ron Carnell.
A meta-refresh, coded directly in the page, can now take the place of a server-side redirect. Considering how badly meta-refreshes have been abused by spammer in the past, this is surprising news. But it's also good news, especially for the many webmasters who don't have access to server level redirects. A meta-refresh of 1 second or less will be treated as a 301, while anything longer than 1 second will be considered a 302.
META Redirect
A redirect at page level using meta refresh is a fairly simple piece of code;
<html>
<head>
<title>Redirected</title>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.domain.com">
</head>
<body>
This page has moved to
<a href="http://www.domain.com">http://www.domain.com</a>
<br>
<br>
Please update your bookmarks to suit
</body>
</html>
Javascript Redirect
At it's simplest a javascript redirect is a single line of code that will set the location of the current window to a new url as soon as the page is opened with a javascript enabled user agent.
<html>
<head>
<title>Redirected</title>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
window.location="http://www.domain.com/";
// -->
</script>
</head>
<body>
This page has moved to
<a href="http://www.domain.com">http://www.domain.com</a>
<br>
<br>
Please update your bookmarks to suit
</body>
</html>
Word of Warning
The examples above would redirect instantly to the new location. Something to be aware of is that search engines can view the use of fast meta and javascript redirects with some suspicion. It is simple enough to detect using an algorithm so could be subject to being filtered or penalised without a code review.
Delayed Javascript Redirect
The example code below is a javascript redirect with a 5 second delay before the redirect. The time is set in the onLoad event call in the <body> tag. javascript times are set in millisecond so 5000 equates to 5 seconds.
JS Delay Demo
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function redir_delay(){
document.location = "http://www.domain.com"
}
//-->
</script>
</head>
<body onLoad="setTimeout('redir_delay()', 5000)">
This page has moved to
<a href="http://www.domain.com">http://www.domain.com</a>
<br>
<br>
Please update your bookmarks to suit
</body>
</html>
Links to new location
In all cases the indexable content should be removed from the page and just a link to the new location put on the page. This will give the search engines a pointer to the new location and provide a clickable link for any visitors using agents or browsers that do not follow the redirect automatically.
