If you’ve been doing a lot of work on your website, you may have come across the term “301 redirect”, but what does it mean and is it important?
What is a 301 Redirect?
A 301 status code tells your browser:
- That a specific URL has been moved or changed
- Where old links should now point instead
- To ‘forget’ the old URL and replace it with the new URL
This means that when a user clicks on a link to the old page, they are automatically redirected to the new page.
How Do I Set Up 301 Redirects?
The method for setting up 301 redirects varies depending on your CMS and motivation:
- Redirecting a whole website is a different procedure than redirecting a single webpage, and should be planned accordingly
- Usually, the most efficient way to add a redirect is through the server itself, although other options are available
Keep reading to discover when you should (and shouldn’t) use 301 redirects on your website to help boost your visibility and SEO.
When Should a 301 Redirect Be Used?
Before getting into the exact process of setting up 301 redirects, it’s important that you question whether they’re the best solution for your problem.
301 redirects are the right solution for the following situations:
- Migrations
- URL changes & rebranding
- Consolidating content
- Deleting pages with a suitable replacement
This is because 301 redirects are good for these specific tasks:
- Redirect a single page (URL) to a different page
- Redirect an entire website to another
- Redirect a subfolder to a domain
- Redirect a site to a subfolder
Migrations
Website migrations are one of the most common situations when redirects are used; migration involves moving your website content from one domain to another.
It’s easy to lose ranking authority during these transitions because if there are no redirects in place, users hit a 404 and suddenly Google starts punishing that bad experience. But with thoroughly planned 301 redirects, you can take any pre-existing authority and customers with you.
URL Changes & Rebranding
URL changes are sometimes necessary, especially as a website scales or rebrands, but this can mean valuable inbound links stop working if redirects are not set up.
Consolidating Content
One of the factors that harms a website’s rankability is thin or duplicated content. So, when consolidating that weak content onto other pages, it’s also a good idea to use 301 redirects to ensure that users only see the refreshed, consolidated content.
Deleting Pages With a Suitable Replacement
Permanently broken URLs and keyword cannibalisation can be a real problem for many growing websites, and sometimes the solution is just to delete the page. In these cases, we can use 301 redirects to usher traffic away from the deleted content towards the more relevant page.
Interested in other technical SEO tasks you can complete to improve your SEO and site health? Bookmark our complete guide: Technical SEO & Site Health: How to Build a Search-Friendly Website
When NOT to Use a 301 Redirect
Now that we understand what 301 redirects are useful for, we can clearly see why they should not be used in the following situations:
- Temporary changes
- Unrelated pages
- Redirecting everything to the homepage
Temporary Changes
301 redirects are specifically used for communicating permanent changes to your website’s hierarchy, meaning a 301 status code tells search engines to forget the old address and index the new one.
Therefore, if you plan to use the original URL again, you should not use a 301 redirect as it will actively harm that URL’s visibility. In this case, you should use a 302 redirect instead.
Common situations where you may intend to reuse the original URL include:
- Running a temporary promotion
- Directing away from temporarily out-of-stock products
- Running an A/B test
- Temporarily removing a service or location page
- Fixing a temporarily broken page
Unrelated Pages
Redirects are a very powerful tool and should always align with the user’s intention. When you redirect a user to a page they didn’t expect to land on, it interrupts their journey, betrays their trust, and typically causes them to leave your site.
This is why, when setting up 301 redirects, you need to align the new destination as closely as possible with the original page so that users don’t feel deceived upon arrival.
Redirecting Everything to the Homepage
Redirecting all old or broken pages to your homepage is poor practice because it interrupts the user experience and confuses search engines. It also muddies your ability to accurately target keywords, harming your rankability and relevance in the eyes of search engines.
Why Use a 301 Redirect Instead of a 302 Redirect?
| A 301 redirect is used when you are making permanent changes to your website. When a search engine receives a 301 status code, it is told to stop indexing the old page and to start learning this new path instead. | A 302 redirect is used when you are making temporary changes to your website. When a search engine receives a 302 status code, it directs the user to the new location without making any changes to the indexing of pages. |
Simply put, you only use a 301 redirect when you have no plans to use the original URL because it makes the new URL rank in place of the original URL.
Read about all of the different situations in which you would use a 302 redirect instead of a 301 in our blog: Is a 301 or 302 Redirect Better for SEO?
Example of a Good 301 Redirect: Solving Keyword Cannibalisation
Recently, we realised that our client, Broadleaf Tree Surgery, had cannibalisation issues with the keyword ‘tree surgeon maidstone’ caused by targeting the keyword on both the homepage and an individual location page.
The location page was full of thin and duplicated content, most of which was just reiterating points made on the homepage anyway, so we decided to merge the two and use a 301 redirect from the location page to the homepage.
The plan was successful, boosting Broadleaf from position 10 up to position 3 for the keyword ‘tree surgeon maidstone’ in only a couple of weeks, where it has remained.
Insight from the Account Manager
| “For live websites, it’s essential to plan redirects before implementing them because one rogue redirect can be catastrophic for a page’s (and a business’s) commercial success.“It can be tempting to wait for proof of damage — for example, traffic drops — before implementing redirects, but this is risky because issues like keyword cannibalisation can arise and quietly kill your otherwise perfect strategy.
“You may not always even realise that there is an issue that could be resolved quickly with redirects, which is why you should regularly review your tracked keywords and backlink profile to spot oddities.” — Reiss Mason, SEO Senior Account Executive, Wildcat Digital |
Read more about redirect mapping and how to plan your 301s in our blog: What is Redirect Mapping?
What Happens If I Don’t Use a 301 Redirect?
When you don’t use a 301 to redirect traffic from URLs that have changed or permanently moved, the consequences can include:
- Broken links & 404 errors
- Increased bounce rates & worse user experience
- Dropped rankings
Broken Links & 404 Errors
If other websites feature a link to the old URL, users who follow that link will reach a “Page Not Found” or “404” screen instead of a relevant page.
Increased Bounce Rates & Worse User Experience
When a user cannot reach the information they are looking for because of a broken link, they don’t stick around hunting for it. They bounce away. This reduces the likelihood that they will return or trust your website when looking for information in the future.
Dropped Rankings
Once a search engine realises that it’s recommending high-bounce-rate, dead-end pages to users, it’ll be quick to drop those pages from rankings.
301 Redirect Common Misconception
One common misconception about 301 redirects is the notion that every deleted page should be redirected, but is there any truth to it?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Not every page that gets deleted needs to be redirected to something else. Sometimes it’s better for deleted pages to create a “hard 404” because, otherwise, search engines can get confused by unrelated dead pages pointing back to the homepage (this is called a “soft 404”).
Avoiding Redirect Chains and Loops
A redirect chain is when one link takes a user through multiple redirects. Instead of taking a user directly from an old URL to a new URL, it may instead lead from the old URL to URL A to URL B to URL C to the new URL
Redirect chains and loops are a problem because they significantly impact:
- Page performance
- Site speed
- User experience
Get Website Migration and 301 Redirect Support at Wildcat Digital
301 redirects can quickly become a tangled, technical trial of endurance, especially if you have a lot of pages to migrate. The expert SEO team at Wildcat Digital are here to help create and implement 301 redirect strategies that can support your website’s growth long into the future.
Get in touch with Wildcat Digital today, or check out our digital marketing cost calculator to get an instant quote on SEO and 301 redirect support today.
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