What is index.html?

index.html is the default landing page that web servers (like Apache or Nginx) load when a visitor accesses a directory without specifying a file.

Clean URLs = better SEO, smoother UX, and a more professional web presence.

If your links look like this:
https://example.com/index.html
—it’s time to modernize.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to properly remove index.html from your URLs to improve user experience, avoid duplicate content in search engines, and present a cleaner structure.

Why Remove index.html?

  • Cleaner, more readable URLs: example.com/ instead of example.com/index.html
  • Better for user experience
  • Avoids SEO duplication issues (Google may treat /index.html and / as different pages)
  • Easier to share and remember links

Method 1: Remove index.html from Internal Links

Start by fixing all hardcoded links on your website.
Replace this:

<a href="/index.html">Home</a>

with:

<a href="/">Home</a>

This ensures users see the cleaner version of your URLs.

Method 2: Apache + .htaccess

If your website runs on Apache (common for shared hosting and supported by AVA.hosting), you can redirect requests using .htaccess.

Redirect /index.html to /

Add this to your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s/index\.html [NC]
RewriteRule ^index\.html$ / [R=301,L]

This creates a permanent (301) redirect from index.html to /.

Optional: Remove .html from All URLs

To make example.com/about serve about.html, add this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.html -f
RewriteRule ^([^\.]+)$ $1.html [NC,L]

This helps make URLs shorter and more user-friendly.

Method 3: Nginx Configuration

If your site is hosted on a VPS or dedicated server using Nginx, add the following to your server config:

location = /index.html {
    return 301 /;
}
location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
}

This will redirect index.html to / while still loading it as the default page.

 Method 4: Use Folder-Based Structure

For static websites, a simple but effective method is to restructure your files:

Instead of:

/about.html

Use:

/about/index.html

Now your visitors will see:
https://example.com/about/
without any .html in sight.

Final Thoughts

Removing index.html from your URLs:

  • Improves readability
  • Helps with SEO
  • Looks cleaner and more modern
  • Enhances the user journey

AVA.hosting supports all the tools you need to implement clean, optimized URLs — whether you’re running a static site, CMS, or custom project.

Need help applying this on your server? Just contact our support team — we’re here to help you do it right.