Question

I have the following code in my .htaccess:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

My pretty-link converting is done on my index.php. If the user is looking for something that doesn’t exist, a 404 Header is produced, otherwise content is show.

That is all fine and dandy, however when a crawler or something tries to view the HTML, they are getting a 404 error.

For example:

http://www.jasonleodurbin.com/portfolio
That link should work fine.

If you try to validate it at an HTML validator, it doesn’t work. The crawler says it is getting a 404. I am getting the same for Facebook share.

I’ve tried removing the 404 error header, and I am still getting the same problem.

What is the deal? Any suggestions?

EDIT:

New .htaccess:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^jasonleodurbin\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.jasonleodurbin.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)/$ index.php?go=$1&app=1 [NC,L,QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)?success=true index.php?go=$1&success=1 [NC,L,QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+) index.php?go=$1 [NC,L,QSA]

Processing:

globals.php

if(!isset($_GET['go']) || $_GET['go'] == "") $_GET['go'] = "home";

header.php

if(isset($_GET['go']) && !@fopen(strtolower($_GET['go']).".php",'r')){
    //header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
    define("FAIL",true);
    $_GET['go'] = "error";
}
else {
    define("FAIL",false);
Header('HTTP/1.1 200');
}
if(FAIL) define("GOSUB",DIR);
if(isset($_GET['app'])) define("GOSUB","../");
else define("GOSUB","");

I’ve also tried this for the index.php:

<?Header('HTTP/1.1 200 OK');?>
<? require_once("header.php");?>
<? require_once(strtolower($_GET['go'].".php"));?>

    </div>
</div>
<?
    if(!defined("FOOTER"))define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
    define("FOOTER",true);
    include("blog/index.php");
?>
<!--[if IE]>
<a href='http://www.google.com/chrome' title='Get Google Chrome : A Better Way To Browse' class='noie sprite-1'>IE Sucks</a>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if lt IE 7]>
<div style='position:absolute;top:60px;left:0px;'><b>IE 6</b>?! Dude, upgrade. <br>Click the link above to get Google Chrome.</div>
<![endif]-->
</body>
</html>

Something is sending the 404 before I can even send 200.

Answer 1

You are seemingly using WordPress. WordPress sets any page that it does not find as 404.

Also you may be interested in plugin Link Juice Keeper. It redirects all 404 pages to front page using 301 redirect. And here are WordPress 404 tips and tricks.