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Rule · Hosts and URLs

Host and protocol variants redirect to the preferred origin

SEO-URL-01C2 Recommended· w4

Class
C2 Recommended
Weight
4
Severity on fail
major
Applies to
Google and Bing

Test this rule on a live site with the canonical tag checker or the redirect checker. Free, no account needed.

Scope and evidence

Evaluated on site. The book marks this requirement DOCUMENTED RECOMMENDATION.

Variants that do not resolve in DNS are not_applicable. Certificate failures on variants belong to SEO-HTTP-07. Variant probes are excluded from SEO-REDIR-03 so the same chain is not scored twice.

Fail conditions

Each condition has a stable code and a reason template. The evaluator fills the placeholders from observed values only; no sentence in a report is generated.

  • variant_serves_content

    {variant_url} returns 200 instead of redirecting to {expected}, so the same content is available at two addresses. Google treats a redirect as a strong signal that its target should become canonical, and Bing recommends 301 redirects to consolidate variants into a single preferred URL.

  • variant_temporary_redirect

    {variant_url} redirects to {target} with {status}, a temporary redirect. Variants should consolidate to the preferred URL with a permanent 301 or 308.

  • variant_wrong_target

    {variant_url} redirects to {target}, not to {expected}. The path and query should be preserved so each variant lands on its exact preferred equivalent.

  • variant_multi_hop

    {variant_url} reaches {expected} only after {hops} redirects ({chain}). Google advises redirecting to the final destination directly.

The documented fix

Configure one edge rule that sends every variant (scheme and host) to the preferred origin in a single 301 or 308, preserving path and query.

Sources, quoted

These are the passages the rule rests on, stored once in the knowledge base and emitted exactly as written. A citation marked for specific conditions appears only on findings with those codes.