Support for custom .htaccess/redirection of any file type Webflow sites

Is it possible to edit the .htaccess of a site thats hosted on webflow?

So if for example we’re migrating a site to webflow that already has a strong back link profile with URLs that need to change, how could we manage the 301’s if we hosted with webflow?

Lol thanks @bartekkustra

So basically if I had a website that had a decent backlink profile I couldn’t shift it over to webflow without sacrificing the entire profile?

Within Webflow you cannot redirect (301) to another link since jQuery is client-side and 301 redirections are server-side. You can - undoubtly - redirect from webflow to another site using jQUery but that will not be 301-redirection.

How do you guys think this kind of access should be implemented?

CC @brryant

I don’t think it should be implemented… htaccess is a powerful tool that shouldn’t be allowed to everyone. Users can redirect using window.location.replace("http://bartekkustra.eu"); in dashboard custom section.

1 Like

Agreed, this is the preferred approach. (using javascript). If you host with us, we don’t offer any custom HTTP customization at the moment.

Yeah… Though I’m sure some of us would know what we were doing with our .htaccess file - most would royally screw something up, that would then force you (webflow staff) to spend time fixing it… which would in turn keep you from developing new features.

Therefore I choose new features over having control of the server environment.

I do sympathize with the SEO ramifications of not doing 301s if you’re changing things around - in theory however you could spend the time naming the new (webflow) pages exactly the same and in theory, nothing would change? Though ultimately googles not going to like the IP change - looks phishy ya know… so. well. guess you’re still up a creek @grandtheftpixel


JSB

Thanks guys. I agree that direct .htaccess isn’t for everyone but its necessary, well at least 301’s are. There’s some major downside to not being able to control redirects, especially in a scenario when an established site is being ported over to webflow or when webflow becomes the redesign tool of choice etc (the latter could be a very real possibility for you guys).

How would redirecting via javascript affect link value though? I.e. if it’s happening at a level further up from the .htaccess level?

@grandtheftpixel Effect of Client Side Redirects on Analytics and SEO: Meta Refresh and JavaScript - Joseph D. Purcell

How about blocking unwanted bots from your website using .htaccess?
Bots and other tools that crawl your site for info.

That’s a security/privacy feature that starts becoming necessary im guessing.

Sorry for joining the conversation 480 late :smile:

Hi @nir, you can instruct crawler bots to not crawl the webflow site, by using the Robots.txt panel in the SEO tab of your site settings. Is that what you were referring to?

You can add this:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

But be careful, once you tell search engines to stop crawling your site, it can take some time for them to start crawling it again if you change your mind.

Cheers,
Dave

i would be happy if i can set redirects in site administration. like setting scripts or similar forms.
i currently want to block referrer spam… this is really annoying. my forum post:

to have some access to simple
.htaccess mechanism would be nice feature for hosting websites with webflow.