Can’t use a specific custom URL (slug)?

Question

I’m having some problems understanding an error I’m getting. I have a page which is called “pitch” and as such the URL and the slug should be “pitch” as well, so: www.my-domain.com/pitch/

But when I enter “pitch” it not only gives me a 404-Error, my host (Bluehost) itself makes a redirect to their “splash screen”.

I really can’t figure out why there is a problem specific with that word “pitch” or if there is an explanation about what is happening. If I change the name to for example pitch1 or this_pitch it has no problem rewriting. But the problem is that I already have created some printed posters with the address www.my-domain.com/pitch/ without giving it any though that this keyword could not be used in Wordpress and/or Bluehost.

I’ve looked at the rewrite rules in the database and as far as I can see there is no error or incorrectness neither in there nor in any other option-based tables.

Does anyone have some kind of explanation, solution or suggestions to what the problem is and how I can help it?

Any help is appreciated.

Sincere
- Mestika

Answer 1

The easiest explanation I can think of is that you have a file or directory in your site's directory named "pitch" (such as public_html/pitch or public_html/my-domain/pitch). This can easily be caused by creating the folder for some reason and forgetting about it later or setting up a subdomain such as pitch.my-domain.com which typically will create a directory with the same name as the subdomain.

If this is the cause, your options are:

1. Use a different slug (as you've already noted).
2. Remove or rename the directory. If the directory is connected to a subdomain, you may need to rename the directory to a temporary name, remove the subdomain in your control panel, recreate the subdomain and point it to a directory that doesn't match the subdomain name (this may or may not be possible with your host), and move all the files from the temporarily renamed directory to the new subdomain directory.
3. Create a modification of your .htaccess rewrite rules that causes it to ignore this directory.

Does this sound like it applies in your case?