Skip to content
WebAuditOS
Start free audit

Test your website now

Free, no card. We read only public pages.

Run free audit →

Technical SEO

What is a 301 redirect, and when should you use it?

A 301 permanently moves a URL and carries its search signals to the new one. When to use 301, 302, 307 or 308, and how to avoid chains and redirect mistakes.

A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently to a new URL. Google treats it as a strong signal to index the new address and transfers the old page's signals to it. Use 301 for permanent moves, keep it for at least a year, and point it straight at the final URL.

Published · Last updated

By Michal Měřínský. Audit methodology.

What a 301 redirect is

A 301 is a response that says the resource has moved permanently and gives the new address in a Location header. Browsers follow it automatically and remember it. Search engines update their index to the new URL and consolidate the old page's signals into it.

The redirect family, by intent:

  • 301 Moved Permanently - the standard permanent move.
  • 308 Permanent Redirect - permanent, and the request method and body must not change. Useful for APIs and form posts.
  • 302 Found and 307 Temporary Redirect - temporary. The original URL stays the one to index.

When to use a 301

  • You changed a page's URL or slug.
  • You merged two pages into one.
  • You moved from HTTP to HTTPS, or chose www over the bare domain, or the reverse.
  • You moved to a new domain.
  • You removed a page that has a close replacement. Use a 302 or 307 for genuinely temporary situations, such as a short campaign or an A/B test. Use 404 or 410 when nothing replaces the page.

How to add one

Redirect at the server or platform level rather than with JavaScript or a meta refresh, which are slower and weaker signals. Most hosts have a simple rules file. On Netlify, for example, a _redirects file line looks like this:

/old-pricing  /pricing  301

On Vercel the same rule goes in vercel.json under redirects, with permanent set to true. Then verify the result:

curl -sI https://example.com/old-pricing

The response should show 301 and the new location.

Mistakes that cost the most

  • Chains. Old URL to newer URL to newest URL. Every hop slows the page. Update old redirects to point straight at the final address.
  • Redirecting everything to the homepage. Google treats irrelevant redirects as soft 404s, so the old page's value is lost anyway.
  • Removing redirects too early. Links and bookmarks keep arriving for years.
  • Internal links that still point at old URLs. Update them, so your own site does not depend on redirects.
  • Using 302 for a permanent move. Google may eventually treat it as permanent, but you lose time and clarity.

Browsers cache 301s aggressively. Test new rules in a private window, and avoid 301 for anything you might want to undo soon.

Google says permanent redirects, 301 and 308, are a strong signal that the target should be the canonical URL. It recommends keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least a year, so signals and links have time to transfer. Googlebot follows a limited number of hops in a chain, so long chains risk the final page not being reached at all.

What a scan can and cannot tell you

WebAuditOS warns on two to five followed HTTP redirects; longer chains and loops are ungraded by that check, checks that HTTP redirects to HTTPS, and checks that pages declare a canonical URL. The presence check does not validate that destination.

It cannot know which old URLs existed before, so it cannot find old pages that should redirect but now return 404. Compare your old sitemap or analytics landing pages with the new site to find those.

A redirect map is the one document that decides how much a site migration costs in search. Write it before the move, not after.

Short answers

Does a 301 pass SEO value? Yes. Google consolidates signals to the target.

301 or 308? Both are permanent. 308 also preserves the request method, which matters for APIs and forms.

How long should I keep a 301? At least a year, and longer if old links still bring visitors.

Can I chain 301s? Avoid it. Point every old URL straight at the final one.

In the product

The checks this maps to

Every check named here runs on every scan, on every plan - what a plan changes is how many pages are crawled, how long the history is kept and what you can do with the result. These are the ids the findings carry, so you can match a line in a report to the explanation above.

HTTP errors

Why does my site say too many redirects, and how do you fix it?

ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS means pages redirect in a loop. The usual causes, including CDN SSL settings and conflicting www rules, and how to trace the chain.

HTTP errors

What does 404 Not Found mean, and how do you fix it?

A 404 means the server has nothing at that address. Why it happens, when it is the correct answer, and how to stop broken links costing you visitors.

Technical SEO

What is a canonical tag, and when should you use one?

A canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the main version of a page. When you need one, how to write it, and the mistakes that send signals elsewhere.