The Ultimate Guide to Redirects: 301 and 302

Introductions:

301 and 302 Redirects are two different forms of redirect, as presented to the site users from one URL or the webpage to another. There is always a difference between 301 and 302 redirects. The redirect 301 is that the page has permanently moved to the new location. On the other hand, the 302 redirect states that the page has been moved to that new location, but only for a temporary time being.

Updated on: 12.16.2022

Name: Redirect

Referred to as: URL redirection, URL forwarding

Category: SEO

Correct Use: n/a

Redirects: 301 / 302
Redirects: 301 / 302

Description:

Redirections are known to work pretty much in the same way as search engines. They are ready to send the search engines from one chosen URL to another one. The website owners are known to set up redirects for the pages, which remain broken or might have duplicated content. Redirect links are also presented when the pages are moved to the new URLs. It helps search engines and users to access the relevant or current page.

The very first URL over here is the one that the user clicked, typed in, or requested otherwise. The second one is the new URL destination to follow. These redirections are noted to work in the same way as the search engines. They will send the search engines from one chosen URL to another.

Website owners will mostly set up the redirects for the pages, which remain broken or might have duplicated content. It is a good option for the user experience and will prevent any further SEO issues from taking place. 

On the other hand, these redirect links will help your website to rank at a higher scale. Right now, there is a growing demand for redirects these days, and understanding those points is crucial before making the next move noticed.

Our take:

There are different growing reasons behind the popularity of redirects these days. Understanding the points is really important before you get to make a move. 

  • Thanks to the redirect links, now you are able to forward traffic from one URL to another one when the old URL fails to exist anymore.
  • Furthermore, the redirect will further help in forwarding the authority whenever the backlinks will point to the page which has been moved.
  • Overall, with the help of redirect links, you get the chance to improve the current user experience. It does that by ensuring that visitors will not land on any duplicated or broken pages.

In case you ever forget to add the redirects, chances are high that you will be losing out on the needed search engine rankings and will further end up with unhappy users now. 

The right time to use redirect links:

There are times when you have to use the power of redirect links. Some of those scenarios are mentioned below for reference.

  • When you delete any page
  • When you move the URL of any website from point 1 to point 2
  • You end up adding parent pages or category tags that will affect the URLs
  • You get to move the website to another new domain
  • You are working on your website and trying to maintain it
  • You are planning to merge two or even more duplicate web pages
  • You are migrating from the site from HTTP to HTTPS

If you want, you can work on adding a redirect to a single URL or even a group of URLs. If the need arises, you can redirect a whole domain to another name.

Extra reading

Do:

  • Make sure to use only one redirect type in a chain
  • There should not be penalties on the number of redirects on any domain
  • Limit the list by using the rules
  • Use the 301 redirects for redirecting old URLs with SEO value to the new ones during canonicalization
  • Only use the Redirect 302 on the domain or between the sub-domains on a domain
  • Remember that 301 redirects will be forever so you better keep controlling them
  • Work on smaller redirect chunks in case you are planning to move the page structure

Don’t:

  • Over 5 redirects in a chain
  • Over 3 redirects in a chain
  • Mixing up the 301 and 302 or 307 redirects
  • Longer redirect chains with some useless hubs
  • Bigger lists of the redirect rules
  • Redirecting URLs without focusing on SEO value
  • Using 302 cross domains
  • Using 302 redirects or analog 307 redirects
  • Using 303 redirects
  • using 307 redirects with HTTP/1.0

Tip:

It is important to know that redirect helps you to forward the visitors of a specified URL to another page of the website. One tip is that in Site Tools, you can add redirects by doing to Domain and then choosing “Redirects.”

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