📊 Redirect Types & Comparison

Understanding All HTTP Redirect Methods

📊 Redirect Types & Comparison

📚 Table of Contents

🔄 HTTP Redirect Types

Code Name Type SEO Impact Best Use Case
301 Moved Permanently Permanent ✅ Transfers 90-99% link equity URL changes, domain moves, content consolidation
302 Found Temporary ⚠️ Minimal link equity transfer Temporary maintenance, A/B testing
303 See Other Temporary ❌ No link equity transfer Form submissions, POST to GET redirects
307 Temporary Redirect Temporary ⚠️ Similar to 302 Strict temporary redirects (preserves method)
308 Permanent Redirect Permanent ✅ Like 301 but preserves method API redirects, method-specific moves
Pro Tip: For SEO purposes, 301 is almost always the correct choice for permanent moves. Use 302 only when you genuinely plan to restore the original URL later.

📋 Detailed Comparison: 301 vs Other Methods

Method When to Use SEO Impact User Experience Technical Complexity
301 Redirect Permanent moves ✅ Transfers most link equity ✅ Seamless, immediate 🟡 Moderate
302 Redirect Temporary moves ⚠️ Doesn't transfer full equity ✅ Seamless, immediate 🟡 Moderate
Meta Refresh Client-side redirects ❌ Not SEO-friendly ❌ Delay, visible to users 🟢 Simple
JavaScript Redirect Last resort only ❌ Poor SEO support ⚠️ Depends on JS execution 🟡 Moderate
Canonical Tag Duplicate content, not redirects ✅ Helps with duplicates ❌ No redirect occurs 🟢 Simple
# HTTP status code examples # 301 Permanent Redirect HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently Location: https://newsite.com/new-page Cache-Control: max-age=31536000 # 302 Temporary Redirect HTTP/1.1 302 Found Location: https://maintenance.site.com Cache-Control: no-cache # 307 Temporary Redirect (preserves method) HTTP/1.1 307 Temporary Redirect Location: https://temporary.site.com Cache-Control: no-cache

🎯 When to Use Each Redirect Type

✅ Use 301 When:

  • Moving domains permanently
  • Changing URL structure
  • Consolidating content
  • HTTP to HTTPS migration
  • Removing old pages
  • Fixing duplicate content
  • Site redesign with new URLs

⚠️ Use 302 When:

  • Temporary maintenance
  • A/B testing pages
  • Seasonal redirects
  • Short-term promotions
  • Testing new page versions
  • Geographic redirects
  • Mobile version redirects

🚫 Avoid Meta Refresh For:

  • SEO-important pages
  • User-facing redirects
  • Search engine indexing
  • Professional websites
  • Mobile optimization
  • Accessibility compliance
Common Mistake: Using 302 redirects when you mean permanent changes. This prevents link equity transfer and can hurt SEO. When in doubt, use 301 for permanent changes.
# When to use each redirect type # 301 - Permanent moves old-domain.com → new-domain.com ✅ /old-page → /new-page ✅ http:// → https:// ✅ # 302 - Temporary situations site.com → maintenance.com (during maintenance) ✅ /page → /holiday-version (seasonal) ✅ desktop-site.com → mobile.site.com (device-based) ✅ # 307 - Strict temporary (preserves HTTP method) POST /old-api → POST /new-api ✅ PUT /old-endpoint → PUT /new-endpoint ✅

🔀 301 Redirects vs Canonical Tags

Key Difference: 301 redirects physically move users to a new URL, while canonical tags just tell search engines which version to prefer without redirecting users.
Aspect 301 Redirect Canonical Tag
User Experience Users are redirected to new URL Users stay on original URL
Search Engine Behavior Indexes the destination URL Indexes canonical URL, may still crawl others
Link Equity Transfers to destination URL Consolidates to canonical URL
Content Accessibility Original URL becomes inaccessible All URLs remain accessible
Best For Permanent moves, URL changes Similar content on multiple URLs

🎯 Decision Framework

  • Use 301 Redirect when: The old URL should no longer be accessible and you want all traffic to go to the new URL
  • Use Canonical Tag when: You need multiple URLs accessible but want search engines to prefer one version
  • Example 301 Use Case: Changing product URLs from /products/123 to /products/premium-widget
  • Example Canonical Use Case: Same product accessible via category pages and direct URL
    • # 301 Redirect Example # Old URL is no longer accessible GET /old-product-page Response: 301 Redirect to /new-product-page # Canonical Tag Example # Both URLs remain accessible URL 1: /products/widget (canonical) URL 2: /category/tools/widget (has canonical tag pointing to URL 1) <link rel="canonical" href="/products/widget">

    ⚙️ Implementation Methods Overview

    Method Server Type Difficulty Performance Flexibility
    .htaccess Apache 🟡 Medium ⚡ Fast 🎯 High
    Nginx Config Nginx 🔴 Hard ⚡⚡ Very Fast 🎯 High
    PHP Header Any with PHP 🟢 Easy 🟡 Medium 🎯 High
    WordPress Plugin WordPress 🟢 Very Easy 🟡 Medium 🟡 Medium
    cPanel Interface cPanel Hosting 🟢 Very Easy ⚡ Fast 🟡 Limited

    📊 Performance Comparison

    ⚡ Fastest Methods

    1. Server-level (Nginx/Apache)
    2. Load balancer redirects
    3. CDN edge redirects
    4. .htaccess redirects

    🎯 Most Flexible

    1. Application-level (PHP/Python)
    2. Database-driven systems
    3. .htaccess with regex
    4. Custom redirect handlers

    🟢 Easiest to Implement

    1. WordPress plugins
    2. cPanel redirects
    3. Cloudflare page rules
    4. Simple .htaccess rules
    # Quick comparison of implementation methods # 1. .htaccess (Apache) Redirect 301 /old-page /new-page # 2. Nginx location /old-page { return 301 /new-page; } # 3. PHP header('Location: /new-page', true, 301); # 4. Meta Refresh (avoid for SEO) <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=/new-page"> # 5. JavaScript (avoid for SEO) window.location.replace('/new-page');

    🎯 Best Practices Summary

    ✅ Golden Rules for Redirect Types

    • Use 301 for permanent changes - When you never want the old URL to be used again
    • Use 302 for temporary situations - When you plan to restore the original URL
    • Avoid Meta Refresh and JavaScript - These don't pass SEO value effectively
    • Use canonical tags for duplicate content - When multiple URLs should remain accessible
    • Choose server-level when possible - Fastest performance and best SEO
    • Test thoroughly before implementing - Wrong redirect types can hurt SEO

    🚨 Common Mistakes to Avoid

    • Using 302 instead of 301 for permanent moves
    • Redirect chains (A→B→C instead of A→C)
    • Mixing redirect methods inconsistently
    • Not testing redirect behavior before going live
    • Using JavaScript redirects for SEO-critical pages

    🎯 Ready to Plan Your Redirects?

    Now that you understand the types, let's plan your implementation!

    📋 Start Planning ⚙️ Jump to Implementation