Remove .html Extension from URLs in cPanel

Having clean and user-friendly URLs is essential for improving website aesthetics, user experience, and SEO. If your website pages end with .html (e.g., example.com/about.html), you can remove the .html extension and access the page simply as example.com/about without affecting the functionality. This guide explains how to achieve this using .htaccess in cPanel.

Step-by-Step Guide to Removing .html Extensions in cPanel

Step 1: Log in to cPanel

1. Open your web browser and go to yourdomain.com/cpanel.
2. Enter your username and password.
3. Click Login to access the cPanel dashboard.

Step 2: Open File Manager

1. In cPanel, navigate to the Files section.
2. Click on File Manager.
3. Open the public_html folder (or the folder where your website is stored).

Step 3: Enable Hidden Files

1. Click on the Settings button (top-right corner).
2. Check Show Hidden Files (dotfiles).
3. Click Save to display all hidden files, including .htaccess.

Step 4: Locate or Create .htaccess File

1. Look for a file named .htaccess inside public_html.
2. If the file exists, right-click on it and choose Edit.
3. If the file doesn’t exist:
   • Click + File (top-left corner).
   • Name the file .htaccess (include the dot at the beginning).
   • Click Create.

Step 5: Add Rewrite Rules to .htaccess

Open the .htaccess file and add the following lines at the bottom:

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

Step 6: Save the Changes

1. Click Save Changes.
2. Close the editor.

Step 7: Test Your Website

1. Open your browser and try accessing your pages without .html. For example:

   https://yourdomain.com/about
   

   instead of:

   https://yourdomain.com/about.html
   

2. If everything works correctly, your .html pages should now load without the extension.

Step 8: Redirect Old .html URLs (Optional)

If you want to redirect old .html URLs to their new format (so about.html redirects to /about automatically), add this extra rule in .htaccess:

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \s([^.]+)\.html [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R=301,L]

By following this guide, you’ve successfully removed the .html extension from your URLs, making them cleaner and more SEO-friendly. If you face any issues, clear your browser cache or test using Incognito mode.

Let me know in the comments if this guide helped you or if you have any questions!