GoDaddy's 301 redirect/forwarding has some weird random middleman URL, kills link juice?

Question

I'm trying to use GoDaddy's 301 redirect, which is named as domain forwarding. I set up forwarding DomainA.example to DomainB.example as 301 "type".

I noticed DomainA.example is still indexed in Google after ~6 months, and it has a title in SERP of DomainB.example. When I click it on Google or visit in the browser, it redirects to DomainB.example, so everything is fine from UX perspective.

I've inspected DomainA.example with the http://www.webconfs.com/redirect-check.php tool and found out, that http://DomainA.example/ actually redirects to http://DomainA.example/MmSWZ/. And then this URL supposedly redirects to DomainB.example. What is that?

If I check again a few minutes later on the same tool, I see http://DomainA.example/ redirects to http://DomainA.example/MpppZ/, so it's a unique random middle-man URL every single time it seems!

I'm sure it's bad for SEO. How do I fix it?

Answer 1

I had this problem occur on several different domains controled by GoDaddy. I attempted several times to contact GoDaddy support to resolve the issue with no luck. Ultimately I decided to solve the problem myself because GoDaddy seems clueless to their problem.

Here is my solution: Add this PHP code to the top of your 404 error page. For WordPress, add this your theme's 404.php file:

<?php 
/* GoDaddy 404 Redirects FIX - by Daniel Chase - https://riseofweb.com */
$currURL = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$CheckRedirectError1 = substr($currURL, -6);
$CheckRedirectError2 = substr($currURL, 0, 7);
$CheckRedirectError = false;
if (preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z]{5}\/$/",$CheckRedirectError1)){
    $CheckRedirectError = $CheckRedirectError1;
}else if (preg_match("/^\/[a-zA-Z]{5}\/$/",$CheckRedirectError2)){
    $CheckRedirectError = substr($CheckRedirectError2, 1);
}
if($CheckRedirectError){
    $protocol = (!empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] !== 'off' || $_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] == 443) ? "https://" : "http://";
    $redirectTo = str_replace($CheckRedirectError, '', $currURL);
    header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
    header("Location: " . $protocol . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $redirectTo);
    exit();
}
?>

The script checks for the random characters and removes them, and then redirects to the proper page. You may need to add some exceptions or modify the script to fit your needs.

Answer 2

In order to do a 301 redirect, there needs to be a server at the specified location to reply to the browser's request for content with a location like:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://domainb.example

This is necessary because the server has to reply to the browser over HTTP with a response. This kind of redirect cannot be done with DNS because that is not the purpose of DNS.

You might consider setting a CNAME record for DomainA.example with DomainB.example as the value. Your DNS zone might look something like:

NAME                    TYPE   VALUE
--------------------------------------------------
www.domaina.example.    CNAME  www.domainb.example.
www.domainb.example.    A      192.0.2.23

You would also have to ensure that any MX records (tells mail servers where to send email for a domain) for DomainA.example are updated to point to the host at DomainB.example so email can be routed accordingly (if necessary).