Topic

Technical SEO, Redirects & Migrations

Domain moves, URL structure changes, and database migrations always look clean, until Google starts indexing 404s and soft-404s. Here you'll find a redirect-chain audit spanning four mechanisms, the search-replace trap that misses Gutenberg blocks, and a Next.js sitemap that never becomes a sitemapindex. For anyone responsible for keeping old URLs alive through big changes.

14 articles

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Auditing a 3-Hop 301 Redirect Chain That Was Hiding Across Four Mechanisms

One URL ran through three back-to-back 301s: /podcasts → /resources/ → /podcast → /podcast/. The owner swore it was .htaccess. It turned out the redirects were spread across four separate sources. Here's how to audit them all before touching anything.

Old URLs 301 to a 404 Even Though the Middleware Redirect Table Is Correct? `redirects()` in `next.config.ts` Runs First
September 9, 2026
Tabbed FAQ Invisible to AI Crawlers? Server-Render All Hundred Q&A into Static HTML
August 27, 2026
RSS `alternate` Link Missing on Every Page With Its Own Metadata? Next.js Replaces `alternates`, It Does Not Merge
August 22, 2026
Five Child Pages Return 404 and One Returns 200 With the Wrong Content: a CPT Rewrite Slug Swallowing an Entire Prefix
August 21, 2026
18,000 `?range=` URLs Still Getting Crawled With Correct Canonicals? Canonical Doesn't Save Crawl Budget
August 17, 2026
Wildcard 301 Redirect Across Hosts Turns Every Old URL Into a `404`? The Path Does Not Exist on the New Host
July 16, 2026
Next.js `generateSitemaps` Returns an Empty `<urlset>` Instead of a `<sitemapindex>`? The Convention Can't Emit One
July 14, 2026
Your Next.js `not-found` Page Returns HTTP 200? The Soft-404 That Won't Let Google Deindex
July 14, 2026
WAF Blocks Your `curl` Scraper With 403s and JS Challenges? Move Extraction Into the Logged-In Browser With a JSON-LD Bookmarklet
July 8, 2026
`update_option` Migration Succeeded but the Frontend Still Shows the Old Value? One Setting Stored Under Two Option Keys
July 7, 2026
Site URL Migration With Better Search Replace Misses Gutenberg Blocks, You Need the Escaped `\/` Form
July 5, 2026
Renaming Slugs + Changing URL Structure in One Deploy: Why Your Redirect 404s Instead of 301s
June 29, 2026
Importing 131 Redirects at Once: Five Automation Paths Failed, a Headerless CSV Worked
June 23, 2026

Auditing a 3-Hop 301 Redirect Chain That Was Hiding Across Four Mechanisms

Old URLs 301 to a 404 Even Though the Middleware Redirect Table Is Correct? `redirects()` in `next.config.ts` Runs First

Tabbed FAQ Invisible to AI Crawlers? Server-Render All Hundred Q&A into Static HTML

RSS `alternate` Link Missing on Every Page With Its Own Metadata? Next.js Replaces `alternates`, It Does Not Merge

Five Child Pages Return 404 and One Returns 200 With the Wrong Content: a CPT Rewrite Slug Swallowing an Entire Prefix

18,000 `?range=` URLs Still Getting Crawled With Correct Canonicals? Canonical Doesn't Save Crawl Budget

Wildcard 301 Redirect Across Hosts Turns Every Old URL Into a `404`? The Path Does Not Exist on the New Host

Next.js `generateSitemaps` Returns an Empty `<urlset>` Instead of a `<sitemapindex>`? The Convention Can't Emit One

Your Next.js `not-found` Page Returns HTTP 200? The Soft-404 That Won't Let Google Deindex

WAF Blocks Your `curl` Scraper With 403s and JS Challenges? Move Extraction Into the Logged-In Browser With a JSON-LD Bookmarklet

`update_option` Migration Succeeded but the Frontend Still Shows the Old Value? One Setting Stored Under Two Option Keys

Site URL Migration With Better Search Replace Misses Gutenberg Blocks, You Need the Escaped `\/` Form

Renaming Slugs + Changing URL Structure in One Deploy: Why Your Redirect 404s Instead of 301s

Importing 131 Redirects at Once: Five Automation Paths Failed, a Headerless CSV Worked