fb_xd_fragment and sms_ss

How to Fix the Facebook fb_xd_fragment “like” button bug and the Add This sms_ss  problem. First if you are not already aware of the issue with the Facebook “like” button please see:


http://forum.developers.facebook.net/viewtopic.php?id=60571&p=3

http://www.searchmarketingman.com/2010/09/how-to-fix-like-button-bug.html

http://ben-collins.blogspot.com/2010/09/facebook-like-button-pita-fbxdfragment.html

I am using the 301 redirect to address this issue. After checking my stats I realize now that I was loosing most of the traffic to my sites from Facebook due to this bug. After I implemented the 301 Redirect my traffic has gone way up and my site’s like buttons and backlinks from Facebook are working properly now and providing traffic. The 301 redirect that works for me is:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^fb_xd_fragment
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.travel-quintanaroo.com\/$1? [R=301,L]

HOWEVER! I was checking my stats and found a new URL from Facebook that was also referring my visitors to a page with a blank screen.

HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS IN THE URL?:    sms_ss

I believe it is caused by the Add This version of the like button I am using on that site.
sms_ss was in the URL where the fb_xd_fragment was appearing, with the fb_xd_fragment appearing further along in the URL. Consequently the above 301 Redirect did not work in that situation.
I tried this and it works… I included this additional 301 redirect:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^sms_ss
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.travel-quintanaroo.com\/$1? [R=301,L]

I’m watching my stats now for anything else in the URL’s that cause me to loose visitors. It looks like more than half of my visitors from facebook were getting the blank screen… maybe its because I have many like buttons on my sites for example see: Bay Islands or Osa Peninsula or Nicoya Peninsula or Quintana Roo those sites get “like” or “Recommend” button traffic.

Now with the 301 Redirects everything seems to work and I can see visitors come in and surf around instead of just bounce after 10 seconds. I’m interested though in something better than this solution, as the 301 redirect is processor intensive.

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