Link redirects..
 

I'm trying to set my network up so it's easier to later edit links. I'm not a server guru so I'm wondering if there is anything wrong with this method.

What I want to do is link to a specific url, then redirect that url to the paysite. This way any place I want to link to a specific program I can instead link to the one single url. This will make it easy to later edit or change the link if I need to at one place rather than hundreds of pages.

So I want to link to a url like this.. www.myurl.com/paysite1.php

That link would then redirect to using code like this.

<?php
ob_start();
echo "Test";
header("Location: http://www.paysiteurl.com");
ob_flush();
?>

I'm wondering if this would cause any problems? or if it could possiable get me banned in the SE's for redirects.

You don't want to do it that way. Nothing can be done before the header; the ob_start() only makes it put things in proper order. It's a 301 redirect, though, so it's safe.

You should do mod_rewrite, instead. Less server tax and more configurable; anything after .php ?code=foo will be passed to the paysite as so:

RewriteRule ^paysite1\.php(.*)$ http://www.paysite.com/$1 [R=301,L]

why are you using the output buffer? Just use header location redirect line.

Yeah you will be penalized by the SE's for the redirect unless you cheat which isn't really worth it.

Definitely use mod_rewrite to change links

there is no penalty for a 301 redirect, but that indicates to the crawlers that this is a permanent redirect and they should drop the old link and now use the new link. Now whether or not they stick to that rule is up to the crawler.

I've had pretty shitty luck with Google ever changing 301s to different sites for me after, oh, 5 years. Yahoo, as well. MSN, however, did.

From an SE point of view there's no difference between a redirect using php or a redirect using mod_rewrite.

and the problem is....?

Nothing wrong with the redirect. The problem is that it bypasses what Crockett was originally trying to accomplish by using the redirects.

I usually do a
Redirect /out/paysite/ http://www.example.com

in the .htaccess

Setting "nofollow" on all Your redirecting links doesn't hurt in these scenarios:
(Unless You NEED to "cast a vote" for the destination of course.... I only do that sometimes, and only for VERY special reasons.)