RedirectIQ

The Complete Guide to 301 Redirects for SEO

·4 min read

If you have ever moved a website, changed a URL structure, or consolidated multiple domains, you have encountered the high-stakes world of 301 redirects. Get them right and your organic traffic survives the transition. Get them wrong and you can wipe out years of ranking authority in a matter of weeks.

What is a 301 redirect?

A 301 redirect is an HTTP response that tells browsers and search engines: "This page has permanently moved to a new location." The number 301 refers to the HTTP status code. When a browser requests a URL that returns a 301 response, it automatically follows the Location header to the destination URL.

From a user perspective, the redirect is invisible — they just land on the new page. From an SEO perspective, it is crucial: the 301 status tells search engines to transfer the ranking signals (link equity, also called PageRank) from the old URL to the new one.

How much link equity does a 301 pass?

Google has officially stated that 301 redirects pass "the full PageRank" — or very close to it. In practice, SEOs have observed a small signal loss in some cases, but it is minimal. What matters more is:

1. Setting up the redirects promptly — the longer a URL returns 404, the more ranking signals decay.

2. Pointing to the most relevant destination — redirecting to a closely related page preserves more equity than redirecting to the homepage.

3. Avoiding redirect chains — each hop in a chain can dilute the equity transfer. Go directly from old URL to final destination where possible.

301 vs 302 redirects: which to use?

  • 301 (Permanent): Use when a URL has moved permanently and will not return to the original location. This is the correct choice for domain migrations, CMS migrations, and URL restructuring.
  • 302 (Temporary): Use only when a page is temporarily unavailable (e.g., a product out of stock, or an A/B test). Search engines will not transfer ranking signals for 302 redirects.
  • 307 / 308: These preserve the HTTP method (POST requests stay POST). Use them when handling form submissions or API endpoints that redirect. 307 is temporary; 308 is permanent.

In practice, if you are unsure, use 301. The majority of redirects in SEO contexts should be 301s.

Common mistakes that destroy link equity

1. Redirecting everything to the homepage. If you migrate a blog from /2021/01/my-post to /blog/my-post, redirect to the new blog post — not to the homepage. A homepage redirect signals a 404 to Google and passes no path-specific equity.

2. Creating redirect chains. If A redirects to B and B redirects to C, link equity arriving at A takes two hops to reach C. Compress chains whenever possible: update A to redirect directly to C.

3. Using 302 instead of 301 for permanent moves. Always audit your redirects with a tool after deployment. A misconfigured server can accidentally serve 302s where you intended 301s.

4. Waiting too long. Google recrawls pages on a schedule. If your old URLs return 404s for weeks before you add redirects, the equity begins to decay. Set up redirects before the old URLs go offline.

5. Not redirecting HTTP to HTTPS. If your site moved to HTTPS, every HTTP URL should 301 to its HTTPS equivalent. This is table stakes in 2026.

How to verify your redirects are working

After implementing redirects, always verify them:

1. Use a redirect checker tool to confirm each URL returns 301 (not 302, 200, or 404).

2. Check the Location header to confirm the destination URL is correct.

3. Analyze the full chain — make sure there are no intermediate hops you were not aware of.

4. Submit updated sitemaps to Google Search Console after the migration.

5. Monitor Search Console for coverage errors on the old URLs in the weeks following the migration.

A single tool can save you hours of manual URL-by-URL checking. Try our free redirect checker to verify any URL instantly.

How long should you keep redirects in place?

Google recommends keeping redirects active for at least one year after a migration. In practice, many SEOs keep them running indefinitely, since the cost is minimal and the risk of removing them (losing any remaining referral traffic or bookmarks) is not worth the savings.

For domain migrations specifically, plan to keep the old domain registered and the redirects active for at least two years.