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Tag Archives: htaccess redirects
Can Technical SEO Issues Trigger HCU Penalties? Here’s What You Should Know
When Google rolls out a major algorithm update like the Helpful Content Update (HCU), many websites see fluctuations in their rankings. While HCU is mostly designed to reward content that is written for humans, not for search engines, some technical SEO issues can inadvertently make your site look less helpful to users - and that could get you caught in the crossfire.
After analyzing several SEO case studies and forums, and from personal experience fixing penalized sites,
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Posted in Ask David!, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Tagged .htaccess, 301 redirect, 404 errors, broken pages, core web vitals, crawl, crawl errors, crawl traps, crawlability, defer js, duplicate content, fast loading times, free ssl, hcu, hcu penalties, helpful content update, high-quality content, htaccess, htaccess redirects, internal links, javascript, meta robots, mobile-friendly test, noindex, outbound links, redirect loops, rich results test, robots.txt, screaming frog, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, seo, seo issues, speed, ssl, technical seo, thin content, trust, user experience, webp, webp converter
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When do you use a 301 redirect vs 410 redirect?
Choose a 301 Redirect when:
- The content has moved permanently: You've simply relocated the page to a new URL.
- You want to preserve SEO value: 301 redirects pass most of the link equity and ranking signals from the old URL to the new one.
- A relevant replacement exists: The old page has a clear and related counterpart on your website.
Choose a 410 Response when:
- The content is permanently gone: The page has been deleted and will never return.
- No