Question

We’re working on a URL shortener project in PHP. We’re using 301 HTTP redirection and naturally track our links visits. but there is something strange :

After we shorten a URL and go through it by a browser, only the first visit is tracked, and it seems that no other request is sent to our server and it directly goes to the destination URL.(I think this is a browser cache after one try). But :

When trying with a similar service like bitly , it has different treat. some of the same requests on the same browsers are tracked in bitly visit tracking (In fact more than one of them, and I don’t understand why, I don’t see any logic) while they also use 301 redirection.(at left bottom of browser window sometimes writes “waiting for bit.ly…” and sometimes not , in fact randomly).

Are any tricks included here? What this different treat happens?

Answer 1

Read the HTTP specification. A 301 response tells the browser that the requested resource has permanantly moved to the new URL that is being redirected to, and should not use the original URL anymore:

10.3.2 301 Moved Permanently

The requested resource has been assigned a new permanent URI and
any future references to this resource SHOULD use one of the
returned URIs. Clients with link editing capabilities ought to
automatically re-link references to the Request-URI to one or more
of the new references returned by the server, where possible. This
response is cacheable unless indicated otherwise.

The new permanent URI SHOULD be given by the Location field in the
response. Unless the request method was HEAD, the entity of the
response SHOULD contain a short hypertext note with a hyperlink to
the new URI(s).

If the 301 status code is received in response to a request other
than GET or HEAD, the user agent MUST NOT automatically redirect the
request unless it can be confirmed by the user, since this might
change the conditions under which the request was issued.

  Note: When automatically redirecting a POST request after
  receiving a 301 status code, some existing HTTP/1.0 user agents
  will erroneously change it into a GET request.

For what you are attempting, try using 302, 303, or 307 instead.

10.3.3 302 Found

The requested resource resides temporarily under a different URI.
Since the redirection might be altered on occasion, the client SHOULD
continue to use the Request-URI for future requests. This response
is only cacheable if indicated by a Cache-Control or Expires header
field.

The temporary URI SHOULD be given by the Location field in the
response. Unless the request method was HEAD, the entity of the
response SHOULD contain a short hypertext note with a hyperlink to
the new URI(s).

If the 302 status code is received in response to a request other
than GET or HEAD, the user agent MUST NOT automatically redirect the
request unless it can be confirmed by the user, since this might
change the conditions under which the request was issued.

  Note: RFC 1945 and RFC 2068 specify that the client is not allowed
  to change the method on the redirected request.  However, most
  existing user agent implementations treat 302 as if it were a 303
  response, performing a GET on the Location field-value regardless
  of the original request method. The status codes 303 and 307 have
  been added for servers that wish to make unambiguously clear which
  kind of reaction is expected of the client.

.

10.3.4 303 See Other

The response to the request can be found under a different URI and
SHOULD be retrieved using a GET method on that resource. This method
exists primarily to allow the output of a POST-activated script to
redirect the user agent to a selected resource. The new URI is not a
substitute reference for the originally requested resource. The 303
response MUST NOT be cached, but the response to the second
(redirected) request might be cacheable.

The different URI SHOULD be given by the Location field in the
response. Unless the request method was HEAD, the entity of the
response SHOULD contain a short hypertext note with a hyperlink to
the new URI(s).

  Note: Many pre-HTTP/1.1 user agents do not understand the 303
  status. When interoperability with such clients is a concern, the
  302 status code may be used instead, since most user agents react
  to a 302 response as described here for 303.

.

10.3.8 307 Temporary Redirect

The requested resource resides temporarily under a different URI.
Since the redirection MAY be altered on occasion, the client SHOULD
continue to use the Request-URI for future requests. This response
is only cacheable if indicated by a Cache-Control or Expires header
field.

The temporary URI SHOULD be given by the Location field in the
response. Unless the request method was HEAD, the entity of the
response SHOULD contain a short hypertext note with a hyperlink to
the new URI(s) , since many pre-HTTP/1.1 user agents do not
understand the 307 status. Therefore, the note SHOULD contain the
information necessary for a user to repeat the original request on
the new URI.

If the 307 status code is received in response to a request other
than GET or HEAD, the user agent MUST NOT automatically redirect the
request unless it can be confirmed by the user, since this might
change the conditions under which the request was issued.