A redirect is a note left at an old address telling visitors — and search engines — where you’ve moved. The HTTP status code is the difference between “I moved permanently” and “I’ll be right back.”
301 — moved permanently
The browser (or search engine) should replace the old URL with the new one and transfer the ranking signals — links, authority, age. Use it when a page is gone for good:
- Moving domains
- Changing URL structure (
/about-us.php→/about/) - Deleting pages that had traffic
- Merging duplicate pages into one canonical version
302 — found (temporarily)
The old URL is still the real address; you’re just parked somewhere else temporarily. Search engines keep indexing the old URL and pass nothing to the new one. Use it for:
- Seasonal pages (“store closed for holidays”)
- A/B testing temporary variants
- Maintenance mode screens that last a day or two
The mistake that quietly kills rankings
Switching URLs but leaving 302s on everything. Google keeps serving the old URLs, the new pages never build authority, and six months later you’re wondering why traffic dropped when you “moved the site.” We see this constantly in technical SEO audits.
The other mistakes we fix
| Mistake | What happens |
|---|---|
| Redirect chains (A→B→C) | Diluted signals, slower loads |
| Redirect loops (A→B→A) | Page simply fails to load |
| Redirecting everything to the homepage | All deep links lose their value |
| Forgetting old URLs after redesigns | Broken links + dead backlinks |
Disallow in robots.txt instead of a redirect | Page is just… gone |
A redirect is not cleanup
Redirects are maintenance. Every site change creates a small list of old URLs that need to live on. Sites on a maintenance plan get this handled as part of every update; sites without it quietly accumulate dead ends.
If you’re not sure whether your old URLs redirect properly, run a free audit — we’ll check your redirect map and flag anything that’s losing you rankings.