Google has indexed index.php as a folder?

Checking through my Google results I found that there is an entry for the following URL.

dragonninja.co.uk/index.php/ - note the trailing slash - it appears as a folder.

This shows the portal (vBa) page, but does not redirect to the domain root. index.php without the trailing slash redirects to root as expected - I added 'index.php/' to the setting in the vBSEO ACP but it does not work.

How did this happen?

How do I fix it?

Thanks!

Hello Matthew ,

Google sometimes makes mistakes also. Probably it followed a link over the net and indexed the page because the page doesn't give a 404 error. I suggest you to prepare a custom 404 error page. Here is an easy tutorial Create a Custom vBulletin "404 Page Not Found" Page, and direct vBSEO to use it.

Thanks you Mert! I was thinking about 404 pages prveiously, I would like to get implimented... Thanks for the info.

I previously had the setting enabled to diretc all 404 to domain root - I disabled it because Google Webmaster required me to use Meta authentication with this enabled - I did not want to add extra info to my Meta as I wish to keep it as relevant as possible.

Thanks.

Please try to modify your .htaccess:
FIND:

Code:

RewriteRule ^(.*\.php)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1 [L,QSA]

REPLACE WITH:

Code:

RewriteRule ^(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1 [L,QSA]

I was just returning to the thread to report that adding the 404 page didn't work. I am glad to have one set up now though!

Your solution fixed the problem perfectly Oleg.

Thanks for your help, both!

Hi Oleg, this seems to have caused a further problem. If I visit a URL without a trailing slash '/' I get a 404 error.

Any ideas?

Do you mean this URL?

Code:

http://www.dragonninja.co.uk/index.php

it works for me (it's redirected).

No Oleg, this one;

Code:

http://www.dragonninja.co.uk/index.php/

Is not working as it should - which was fixed with your above post.

As far as my latest issue is concerned, any URL without a following slash/ show as file not found.

E.g in my tags, with slash;
the unsung Threads - Forum Tags by Zoints
The same URL without the slash;
http://www.dragonninja.co.uk/tags/the-unsung

On further testing it seems this issue is only present with Zoints Thread Tags, but I believe did not exist prior to now.

This only seemed to happen after applying the above fix - or possibly after adding the 404 page as per your tutorial. Could it be a clash with something in my .htaccess? Should I post it here?

Thanks.

On further testing it seems this issue is only present with Zoints Thread Tags, but I believe did not exist prior to now.

Please try to revert the changes and see if that helps.

OK I have undone the changes. The issue with my index.php/ URL is back, so your fix worked, and did not cause my issue with Tags. But it must be vBSEO (I assume) causing the problem with Tags... Do you wish me to start a new thread? Or do you have any idea what's up?

Please try to temporarily remove (or empty) .htaccess to make sure that it's related to vBSEO.

I did so, and you are indeed right - it has nothing to do with vBSEO. Sorry for implying that it did! I Googled to find some other sites using Zoints Tags and it appears this issue indeed affects ALL installations, as part of their default package. It may be a known issue, but I never heard of it before.

Thanks as always Oleg, for your great support.

Oh and on a side note, I believe a vBSEO Thread Tags would be an amazing addition to this fine SEO product. I'll wish upon a star.

No problem