What is a 301 redirect?

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one web address (URL) to another. It’s like visiting example.com/page-1 (old location) and end up viewing example.com/page-2 (new location) without doing anything in between.

Below is how it affects ones browsing experience:

1. It’s an Instruction: It’s an instruction given by a web server to a browser or search engine crawler (like Googlebot).
2. The Instruction: The instruction says, “The content you are looking for has permanently moved to this new location.”
3. Status Code: “301” is the specific HTTP status code for “Moved Permanently”.
4. Automatic: When a browser receives a 301 redirect response from the server for an old URL, it automatically requests the new URL specified in the redirect. Users usually don’t even notice it happening, they just land on the correct new page.
5. Search Engines: This is crucial for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A 301 redirect tells search engines like Google:
   • The old page no longer exists at its original location.
   • The new page should replace the old one in their index.
   • Most importantly, the ranking signals (like link equity or “link juice”) that the old page had accumulated should be passed on to the new page. This helps the new page maintain the search rankings the old page had.

Why Use a 301 Redirect?

You would use a 301 redirect in several common scenarios:

• Changing Domain Names: You move your entire website from olddomain.com to newdomain.com.
• Website Restructure: You change the URL structure of your site (e.g., mysite.com/blog/old-post-name becomes mysite.com/articles/new-post-name).
• HTTPS Migration: You switch your site from HTTP (http://www.example.com) to HTTPS (https://www.example.com).
• Canonicalization: You want to ensure only one version of a URL is indexed (e.g., redirecting example.com to www.example.com, or vice versa).
• Deleting a Page: You remove a page but have a similar, relevant page you want users and search engines to find instead.
• Merging Content: You combine two pages into one and want to redirect the old one(s) to the new combined page.

Key Difference from a 302 Redirect:

• 301 = Permanent: Use this when the move is forever. It passes link equity.
• 302 = Temporary: Use this when the move is temporary (e.g., for A/B testing, maintenance, or geo-targeting where the original URL will eventually be used again). It generally does not pass link equity in the same way and tells search engines to keep the original URL indexed.