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#5212 – Priorities "Similar URL plugin" over URL Alias

Posted in ‘sh404SEF’

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Wednesday, 19 September 2018 06:50 UTC

dickjohnsson

I have a pretty big problem with URLs at this site: xxxx.com
And I have narrowed it down to the "similar URL plugin".

The problem:
URL:s like https://xxxx.com/se/om-exova-metech/mio-instrument-organiser
redirects to: https://xxxx.com/dk/om/metech-instrument-organiser-mio

It should redirect to: https://xxxx.com/se/mio
I have already set up an alias: se/om-exova-metech/mio-instrument-organiser

So it seems that Similar URL plugin is prioritized over the Alias? But when I disable the similar URL plugin I get a 404 page instead. So Alias doesn’t seem to work at all.

What am I missing? (This has worked excellent before... The only real change that I can think of is some changes in HTACCESS and updated server)

———
301 redirect from Joomla SEF to sh404SEF - disabled
SH404sef version: 4.15.1.3863
Joomla version: 3.8.9 (I’m in the process to update to 3.8.12 to see if this solves the problem. But I don’t see how.)

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 07:16 UTC

wb_weeblr

So it seems that Similar URL plugin is prioritised over the Alias?

It's not. The similar URL plugin is only used when a 404 has been declared which means:

- we could not find any alias (alias is first)
- we could not find any shURL for the request
- we could not find the requested URL in the database
- Optionally, the Joomla router could not route that URL either.

So it seems that Similar URL plugin is prioritised over the Alias? But when I disable the similar URL plugin I get a 404 page instead. So Alias doesn’t seem to work at all.

That is the actual problem.

The only real change that I can think of is some changes in HTACCESS and updated server)

Updating server is unlikely to affect this. Changing htaccess content could totally does that depending on what changes you made.

Can you show me exactly how you created that alias? screenshot for instance?

Best regards

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 10:45 UTC

dickjohnsson

Attachment #1:

The URL: se/mio
is setup as an SEF URL

I've done it two ways:
1. Deleted every URL. Changed the "automatic" url that was created to se/mio and setup the automatic URL:s as well as the old URL alias directly in SEF URL window.

2. Created the automatic URL and changed this to se/mio. Disabled Similar URL plugin. Then I visited the old URL (404) and went through "404 request" and used the function "redirect to a SEF URL".

Neither worked.

--------

Attachment #2:

Note that Changing a SEF URL "destroys" the old URL which tries to find a similar URL instead. I changed "se/careers/karriar/" to "se/karriar/"
Now the old url "se/careers/karriar/" relinks to "de/careers/karriere/" instead.

It is like Alias isn't even considered.

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 10:58 UTC

wb_weeblr

Note that Changing a SEF URL "destroys" the old URL which tries to find a similar URL instead

No, it does not. Changing a URL will:

- of course remove the old URL from the SEF URL list, that's what you're trying to do
- then add this old URL as an alias to the new. You do not have to do that manually. Which is why "...as well as the old URL alias directly in SEF URL window." worries me a bit.

It is like Alias isn't even considered.

This would suggest to me that maybe you have either enabled "301 redirect from Joomla SEF to sh404SEF", or have one of your components set to "Use Joomla router". That will often break aliases.

So the first thing to do is set "Try to autoredirect 404" to "No" under the "Error page" tab of sh404SEF configuration (there's no need to disable the "Similar URL plugin"). We need to be sure you do get a 404.

As I can see that "/se/om-exova-metech/mio-instrument-organiser"' is redirected to "/dk/om/metech-instrument-organiser-mio", there's still some redirect happening. We need clean 404s to see if aliases are indeed used or not. It is also strange that the redirects happens to another language. This introduces another variable. Is this Joomla native multilingual implementation?

Best regards

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 12:27 UTC

dickjohnsson

Yes. Joomla native language.

I've purged the 404-requests now.

The htaccess file is a standard Joomla htaccess-file.

I tried your settings (see attached images 1-3) (the only thing that I needed to chang was "try to autodirect 404")

The new SEF URLs works fine. It's the old URLs that doesn't seem to work.
For example: "se/careers/karriar/" don't work even though it is an alias. (Attachment 4)

I also tried a couple of random Aliases and most of them shows a 404-page. Only found one that was working:
- dk/kontakt?view=locations (should redirect to dk/kontakt but stays on alias url )

Could there be some server settings that is messing it up? (Because I've had som server issues in that I get the "Ajax loading error" when trying to update Joomla core)

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 12:28 UTC

wb_weeblr

HI

Could you please provide us with superadmin credentials to your website. You can create a temporary account, and delete it afterward, but it must have superuser level.

Thanks and regards

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 12:33 UTC

dickjohnsson

url to backend: https://xxxx.com/administrator/index.php?exile=exlogin

user: xxxx
pass: xxxx

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 13:33 UTC

wb_weeblr

Hi

I have no idea. I tried to create an akeeba backup and install that locally to see if the problem would appear on another machine, but that fails. I mean the backup is created fine but Akeeba cannot restore it. As soon as you start loading the akeeba restore page, you get a fatal error:

That's pretty strange but I'm not sure it's related. Have you successfully restored one of your akeeba backups on another machine?

The only thing that's not "standard" is that you are running a fairly old Joomla version so maybe it's worth updating, at least we'll know the problem is not coming from that. I can then maybe try to download a new backup if that does not solve the issue.

Best regards

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 14:17 UTC

dickjohnsson

Yes, I've created a copy at: xxxx.se

In the copy version I can change SEF URL:s as usual. And Alias works as a charm.

I suspect it must be some server settings that differs. I've been in contact with the hosting company and will try that angle for now. Thank you for your help this far. I will let you know if I solve it on the server side.

Wednesday, 19 September 2018 15:07 UTC

wb_weeblr

Hi

Hmm, pretty strange things happening here. Don't see why Akeeba would not want to operate, we do that daily with many sites. Anyway, I will leave this ticket open in case you need to add something. It will automatically close in 2 weeks if no further comment is made.

Best regards

Monday, 24 September 2018 14:37 UTC

dickjohnsson

The hosting company removed a PHP.ini file in the root-folder ("conflicting php.ini file placed in website root directory. This file was removed and allowed php to load from it's actual configuration file.") and that was it... Now everything seems to be working again... Thank you for your help!

Monday, 24 September 2018 17:07 UTC

wb_weeblr

Hi

Ah, glad to hear that. I was pretty puzzled. Closing this ticket now, feel free to open a new one as needed. If you do so, please mention this ticket number in the new one.

If you created any superadmin account for us, be sure to delete or block it now to avoid unnecessary risk in the future.

Be sure to also check out wbAMP, our new Accelerated Mobiles pages plugin for Joomla - the next big thing is SEO, direct from Google themselves!

Best regards

This ticket is closed, therefore read-only. You can no longer reply to it. If you need to provide more information, please open a new ticket and mention this ticket's number.