htaccess redirect with special ? character for php string mod_rewrite in apache

Question

I need to redirect URL's with a keyword string used in our AdWords campaign back to my home page using an htaccess rewrite rule. This is what I have already tried...

RewriteRule ^/?keyword=(.*)$ http://{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301]

example: Looking to make /?keyword=carrots redirect to my home page.

Answer 1

In order to handle redirects involving Query Strings , you will need to use a

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING}

in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.+)
RewriteRule ^$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}/%1/? [NC,L,R=301]