What is a 301 redirect?
Short answer
A 301 redirect is a permanent forwarding instruction on your website. When a person or Google asks for an old page address, the server sends them to the new one automatically. It keeps old links working and tells Google the new address has replaced the old one, so the old page's standing can carry over.
When a page’s address changes, a 301 redirect is the permanent forwarding instruction that sends anyone who asks for the old address, including Google, straight to the new one. It works like a change of address filed with the post office. The number is the status code a web server sends back along with the instruction, and 301 means “moved permanently”. A visitor never sees the code. They click an old link and land on the new page.
What a 301 redirect does for search
It tells Google that the new address has replaced the old one and should take its place. Over time Google swaps the old address for the new one in its results, and Google has said that the signals the old page earned, such as links from other websites, are passed along. “Over time” matters. Google has to revisit the old address before it notices the redirect, so the swap is gradual and rankings can move around while it happens.
A redirect also protects everything outside Google. Links in old emails, directory listings, a supplier’s website and a customer’s bookmarks all keep working.
When you need one
Any page that people or Google already know about needs a redirect if its address changes or the page goes away. For a home-service company the usual cases are:
- You rename a page, for example /ac-repair/ becomes /air-conditioning-repair/.
- You merge two thin pages into one better page.
- You drop a service and remove its page. Forward it to the closest remaining service, if there’s one.
- You rebuild the site and the page addresses change.
- The business moves to a new domain name.
The last two carry the most risk, because every address changes at once. That’s the main danger in a website redesign and in site migrations generally.
301 and 302 compared
A 301 is permanent and a 302 is temporary, and Google treats them differently.
| Comparison | 301 | 302 |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Moved permanently | Moved for now |
| What Google generally does | Shows the new address in results | Keeps the old address, expecting it to return |
| Use it for | Renamed, merged or moved pages | A short-term swap, such as a seasonal offer page |
The common mistake is a 302 used for a permanent move. Google may work out the intent eventually, but there’s no reason to make it guess.
Mistakes that waste a redirect
Pointing every old page at the home page is the most common way to waste one. A redirect carries value when the new page answers the same need as the old one. Say a hypothetical Escondido roofer rebuilds its site and forwards the old tile roof repair page to the home page. Google is likely to treat that much like a missing page, and a visitor who wanted tile repair has to start over. The old tile repair page should go to the new tile repair page.
A chain is page A forwarding to B, which forwards to C. Each hop slows the visitor down, and Google stops following a chain that runs too long, so point A straight at C. A loop is worse: A forwards to B and B forwards back to A, and the page never loads.
Removing a redirect too early is another mistake. Links to an old address don’t expire, so keep each redirect in place for as long as you can. Your own menu and in-page links are a different matter. Point them directly at the new address so they don’t rely on the redirect.
How to check a redirect
Type the old address into a browser and see where you land. That shows the redirect works, but not which type it is. For the type, ask whoever manages the site to confirm the status code. Google Search Console also helps here: its page indexing report lists the addresses Google found that forward somewhere else, alongside the ones that return “not found”. The second list is the one to read closely after any change to the site. I check redirects as a routine part of technical SEO work, because a missing one costs far more to ignore than to fix.