Redirect SEO Guide: 301 vs 302 and How to Do It Right

You renamed a URL, merged two pages, or moved to a new domain — and now you're staring at a wall of old links pointing at pages that no longer exist. Do nothing, and every one of those links becomes a 404, along with the rankings and traffic they were sending you.

The fix is a redirect, and it's a lot less risky than most people assume. The real skill isn't writing the rule itself — it's knowing which redirect type to use, when to use it, and how to avoid the handful of mistakes that actually cost you rankings.

What is a redirect, in SEO terms?

A redirect is an instruction, sent by the server, that automatically sends a visitor (and a search engine crawler) from one URL to another. In SEO, the type of redirect you choose is a signal about intent — it tells Google whether the old URL is gone for good or just temporarily unavailable.

• 301 (Permanent). The standard choice for page moves, URL renames, and domain migrations. It tells search engines to transfer ranking signals — and, over time, replace the old URL in the index with the new one.
• 302 (Temporary / Found). Signals the move is short-term. The original URL stays indexed and keeps most of its ranking signals, which makes 302s the right call for tests, seasonal pages, or maintenance windows.
• 307 / 308. Stricter versions of 302 and 301 that also preserve the original request method (like a form submission), which matters more for application behavior than for SEO.
• Meta refresh / JavaScript redirects. Client-side alternatives that work in a browser but are slower and less reliably followed by crawlers — a last resort, not a first choice, for SEO purposes.

The practical takeaway: pick the redirect type based on whether the old URL is gone forever or just temporarily out of commission — everything else about SEO-friendly redirects follows from that one decision.

Why redirects matter for rankings and traffic

Skipping redirects, or setting them up carelessly, has consequences that compound over time:

• Unredirected pages become dead ends. Every inbound link, bookmark, and search listing pointing at a removed URL turns into a 404, and the ranking value that page built up simply evaporates.
• Correct redirects preserve equity. A clean 301 lets a moved page keep most of its ranking strength at the new address instead of starting from zero.
• Crawl budget gets wasted on errors. Search engines that repeatedly hit 404s or broken redirect chains on your site spend less time discovering and re-crawling the pages that matter.
• User trust takes a hit. Visitors who land on a dead link or a slow chain of redirects are more likely to bounce before ever reaching the content they wanted.

Step-by-step: setting up an SEO-friendly redirect

1. List every URL that's changing. Before touching any config, write down each old URL and the new URL it should map to — this becomes your redirect map.
2. Match old URLs to their closest new equivalent. Redirect a page to the new page that replaces it, not to your homepage — a mismatched destination is treated as a weak or irrelevant redirect.
3. Choose 301 for permanent moves. Use a 301 for renamed pages, merged content, and domain or URL-structure migrations — anything that isn't coming back.
4. Generate or write the redirect rule. Use your CMS's redirect manager, an SEO plugin, or a redirect generator to produce the rule for your platform (.htaccess, Nginx, or a hosting-specific config).
5. Update internal links to the new URL. Point navigation menus, buttons, and in-content links directly at the new address instead of relying on the redirect to catch them.
6. Test the redirect before and after publishing. Confirm it returns the correct status code and lands on the intended page, with no extra hops in between.
7. Monitor for errors after launch. Check Search Console for crawl errors or unexpected drops in the days and weeks after a migration, and fix any redirects that didn't behave as planned.

Common redirect mistakes that hurt SEO

1. Redirecting everything to the homepage

It's tempting to point every removed URL at the homepage, but search engines read this as a low-relevance redirect. Visitors also land somewhere unrelated to what they clicked, which drives up bounce rate.

2. Building redirect chains

Redirecting A → B, then later B → C, leaves A chained through two hops instead of pointing straight at C. Each extra hop adds latency and can dilute the ranking signal passed along — chains should be flattened to a single, direct redirect.

3. Creating redirect loops

A loop happens when a chain eventually redirects back to its own starting point, which traps both browsers and crawlers in a cycle that never resolves — these need to be found and broken immediately.

4. Using 302s for permanent moves

A 302 tells search engines the old URL is still the "real" one, so ranking signals aren't fully transferred. Using it for a permanent page move slows down how quickly the new URL can take over in search results.

5. Leaving internal links pointed at the old URL

Even with a working redirect in place, internal links that still point at the old address add an unnecessary hop on every single click and signal to crawlers that the old URL is still actively in use.

Real-world examples

How different situations call for different redirect strategies:

In each case, the redirect type and destination were chosen based on whether the change was permanent and what the closest matching page actually was — not applied as a one-size-fits-all rule.

Redirect types compared

A quick reference for choosing the right redirect type for the situation.

Generate your redirect rules right now — free

The Rebrixe Redirect Generator maps old URLs to new ones and produces clean, ready-to-use redirect rules for the most common platforms. No account, no watermark, and nothing to write by hand — just enter your URLs and copy the result.

Frequently asked questions