What is the difference between 301 and 302 redirection?
Redirects 301 and 302 are HTTP status codes which send users from one URL to another – the difference is, a 301 signal to search for engines and navigators that movement is permanentWhile a 302 signals the move temporary.
Here is a quick comparison of the Redirection 301 against 302:
Redirect users from one page to another | Redirect users from one page to another |
Used for permanent redirection | Used for temporary redirection |
Used on the pages you want retire | Used on the pages you want restore later |
Often Transfer the search engines | Rarely Transfer the search engines |
Often Cache by navigators | Rarely Cache by navigators |
Generally used for website migration, pages relocating and pages consolidation projects | Generally used for website tests, website maintenance and temporary promotions |
Using the right type of redirection guarantees a fluid user experience on your website. And help you maintain or improve your Search engines classification.
Let’s explore 301 vs 302 redirect more in depth.
How Redirections 301 and 302 affect SEO
301 and 302 redirect Optimization of search engines (SEO) Because they can affect how search engines indexed and classify your affected pages.
301 Permanent redirection encourage Search engines to transfer rankings and classification signals from the source page to the destination page.
For example, Google can pass PageRank (classification power won via links) via 301 redirection.
This means that the destination URL can inherit the classification power of the source page. And finally replace the source page in search results.
302 Temporary redirection deter Ranking transfer engines and classification signals of the source page on the destination page.
This means that you can protect the classification capacity of your source page – ready for catering later.
How Redirections 301 and 302 affect the navigator chatting
Redirects 301 and 302 affect the cache of the browser differently, which can have an impact on users who revisit your source pages.
If you use a permanent redirection 301The browsers will probably store redirection in the user’s cache.
Thus, if the user revisits the old URL, his browser will send them to the destination URL without a revenge for the server.
This makes redirection faster but more difficult to come back.
If you use a temporary redirection 302The browsers will probably not store redirection in the user’s cache.
Thus, the navigator will probably revive the server on any revisit. And will only redirect the user if the redirection is still in place.
This makes redirection slower but easier to come back.
When to choose a permanent redirection 301
Choose a 301 redirection when you want to permanently redirect users, search engines and browsers from an unwanted page to a replacement page.
Here are some specific use cases for 301 permanent redirects:
- Deletion of a page that has a direct replacement: For example, you may want to delete an abandoned product page and redirect visitors to the latest version of the product
- Migrate your site to a new area: If you are Migration of your websiteMake sure that the old URL 301 redirect to the corresponding URLs on the new domain
- Change URL slugs: If you change the URL slug On a established page (for example, to repair a typing fault), add a 301 redirection from the old URL to the new URL
- Move one page to another URL path: For example, if you move a product to another category, you may need to configure a 301 redirection from the old URL to the new URL
- Consolidate similar pages: If you have several pages that serve a similar lens, you can use 301 redirects to consolidate them. It is a form of content pruning.
- Consolidate the double pages: If you have several URLs that host double content (for example, an HTTPS and HTTP version of the same URL), consider using 301 redirections to consolidate them
You can implement 301 redirects using redirection settings in the publisher of your website, using an appropriate website plugin or to get a web developer.
After implementing a 301 redirection, update all the references to the Source URL to reference the destination URL instead.
For example, you may have to update internal links and your XML sitemap.
When to choose a temporary redirection 302
Choose a 302 redirection when you need to temporarily redirect users, search engines and browsers from a page you want to keep.
Here are some specific use cases for 302 temporary redirects:
- Maintenance or redesign of the website: Temporarily redirect users to another page of your site during a page under construction
- Shared tests: If you perform a sharingUse the Redirects on the 302 server side to send part of your users to the test page. This allows you to protect SEO performance from the main page.
- Temporary promotional pages: For example, you can create a version of black friday on your product category page and redirect users to this version while promotion is running
- Live tests: Use 302 redirection to test the performance of a new flow, a new feature with all your users. If the new version works better, you can make it permanent.
You can implement 302 redirects using redirection settings in the publisher of your website, using an appropriate website plugin or to get a web developer help.
When you implement temporary redirection instead of a permanent redirection, you do not need to update the references to the Source page. You can leave your internal links, site plan, etc. as they are.
Test and monitor your redirects
It is easy to make mistakes with redirects 301 and 302, so you must test them and monitor their impact on the performance of your website.
In Google research consoleYou can see if you have redirection errors, including:
- Redirect too long channels (for example, page A> Page B> Page C (…))
- Redirect loops (for example, page A> page B> Page A)
- Redirect the URLs which exceed the maximum length of the URL
- Bad or empty URL in the redirection chain
The report “pages with redirection” shows which pages redirect not Indexed by Google. If you find pages that must be indexed (that is to say eligible to appear in the search results), you may need to delete redirection.
In Semrush Site audit Tool, you can see all URLs with 301 or 302 redirects on your website.
This tool can also identify current redirect errors, provide advice on how and reason to repair them and help you create tasks for your team.
The site audit also helps you find and solve dozens of other referencing problems. And you can use it to crawl 100 pages per month for free.
