Redirects: When and How

🚦

HTTP redirects

"I'm like a traffic light for search robots and browsers. Old address gone? I'll tell them where to go next."

📌 Redirect — an automatic forwarding of users and search bots from one URL to another. Used when moving pages, changing domains, or removing content.

Types of Redirects and Their SEO Value

Code	Name	Link equity	When to use
301	Permanent	✅ Passes 90–99%	Page moved permanently
302	Temporary	⚠️ Does not pass equity	Temporary move, A/B test
307	Temporary (HTTP/1.1)	⚠️ Does not pass equity	Same as 302, preserves request method

Good and Bad Redirects

✅ Good redirect	❌ Bad redirect
301 to a topically similar page	Redirect chain: A→B→C→D
301 for permanent domain migration	Using 302 instead of 301 for permanent moves
Direct redirect A→B	Redirect to completely different content (soft 404)

😱

Site disaster

"After a redesign, thousands of old URLs now return 404. Traffic dropped 60% in one week. Lesson: always map URLs before a redesign and set up 301 redirects."

Site migration checklist:

☐ List all old URLs with traffic
☐ Find a new URL for each (topically similar)
☐ Set up 301 redirects
☐ Update internal links to new URLs
☐ Update the sitemap
☐ Notify Google via GSC → Change of address
☐ Monitor traffic for 2–4 weeks post-migration

💡 Tip: avoid redirect chains longer than 2 hops. Each additional hop loses some link equity and slows page loading.

🎮 Test yourself: which redirect preserves link equity for a permanent page move?

🎯

Lesson Task

Test your knowledge and earn +20 XP

← robots.txt Deep Dive

Lesson 16 of 22

Go to Task →