301 or 302 Redirects: What Are They and When to Use Them for Better SEO?

If you are confused between 301 or 302 redirects and looking for a simple tutorial, you are in the right place.

A 301 redirect is a PERMANENT redirect, meaning the page has permanently moved to a new location. It conveys FULL link juice or ranking power.

A 302 redirect is a TEMPORARY redirect, meaning the page is temporarily unavailable. It does NOT pass link juice.

Want a simpler explanation with a real-world example? 

Imagine you are moving to a new house:

• 301 redirect: it’s like leaving a permanent sign in your old house that says, “Moved to [new address].” Everyone knows you will always be in the new house.
• 302 redirect: it’s like leaving a temporary note that says, “Going on vacation, back in [number of days].” Everyone knows you'll be back in the old house soon.

In this guide, you will learn when and how to use 301 or 301 redirects correctly.

Are you ready ? Let's get to the details.

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301 or 302 Redirects for SEO: Beginner’s Guide

301 redirect: when and how to use it?

Objective: use it when the original URL is permanently unavailable so you can transfer the link juice from the old page to the new page.

When to use a 301 redirect?

• When a page has been permanently moved to a new location.
• When you delete a page but want to retain its SEO value.
• When you want to merge several URLs into one (especially in the case of keyword cannibalization ).
• When you want to improve the SEO of your website.
• When you change the domain of your website.

Benefits of 301 redirects:

• People and search engines are automatically directed to your website's new location.
• Passes all the “link juice” (ranking power) to the new page, helping it rank better in search results.
• Prevents a drop in traffic by directing users to the new location, avoiding 404 Not Found errors and broken links.
• It provides a better user experience as users land on the relevant page instead of the broken page.

How to do a 301 redirect?

While there are several ways to perform a 301 redirect (like editing the .htaccess file), using a plugin or tool is the easiest way to implement 301 redirects.

Here are some of the popular plugins you can use:

Redirection : It is the most popular plugin used by over 2 million users for over 10 years. 

If you want to create and manage redirects quickly and easily without needing Apache or Nginx knowledge, install this plugin.

Once the plugin is installed, go to the plugin settings and you can add a new redirect by entering your source URL and target URL. 

This is what it looks like;

Rank Math : Rank Math is another popular option for creating redirects. If you are looking for an SEO plugin that helps you do multiple things including redirects, optimization, sitemaps, etc., install this plugin.

Here is the official Rank Math video on setting up 301 or 302 redirects.

Here are some of the articles we redirected (301 redirects) using the Rank Math plugin;

Please note: After implementing your redirect, don’t forget to test it! Simply visit the old URL in your browser. You're ready if it seamlessly takes you to a new destination. But if you run into a problem, review your redirect setup and make sure everything is going in the right direction.

302 Redirect: When and how to use it?

Objective: use it when the original URL is temporarily unavailable.

When to use a 302 redirect?

• When a page is temporarily unavailable and you want people to go to another page.
• When you're doing A/B testing and want to redirect users to different versions of a page.
• When you migrate your website to a new domain.
• When a page is temporarily unavailable due to maintenance.

Benefits of 302 redirects:

• People are temporarily redirected to the new page on your website.
• Does not affect the ranking of the original page.
• You can easily change the destination of a 302 redirect without affecting the original page.
• Prevents “404 Not Found” errors.
• You can redirect your website users to seasonal content (such as Black Friday posts, time-based event pages, etc.) without creating permanent links.
• It can be used in situations where a 301 redirect is not ideal.

How to do a 302 redirect?

The process for implementing a 302 redirect is the same (as 301).

If you're comfortable with code, using the .htaccess file provides the most control.

Otherwise, you can install the following plugins to perform 302 redirects;

• Rank Math
• Redirection
• 301 Redirects 

All of these plugins help you create 301, 302, and 307 redirects. Whether you want to create permanent or temporary redirects, these plugins are useful (and free).

If you're using Cloudflare, here's a quick way to perform 302 or 301 redirects:

Enter the URL pattern you want to redirect to 301 (or 302). Click the drop-down list and choose URL Redirection.

Next, select your status code from the drop-down list. Enter the destination and save it.

Here's what it looks like on Cloudflare;

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How do I test my redirects?

So how to check if the redirection was done correctly or not?

You can directly visit the old URL in your browser and see if it redirects to the new URL.

You can also use free online tools like Redirect-Checker.org to check 301 and 302 redirects.

For example, we redirected one of our posts using Redirect-Checker.org (which is a free tool).

As you can see above, the redirect is set correctly and everything is fine.

Likewise, whenever you do a 301 or 302 redirect, make sure to check using the tool above if the redirect is working properly.

Best practices: 301 or 302 redirects

Here are some best practices for using 301 and 302 redirects.

• Use descriptive URLs for your redirected pages. Include relevant keywords in URLs.
• Monitor your redirects regularly for broken links. You can use tools like Broken Link Checker, Xenu’s Link Sleuth, etc., to check for broken links on your site.
• Use a 301 redirect for any permanent page changes. If you want to avoid issues with duplicate content or keyword cannibalization, use 301 redirects because you can redirect multiple URLs to a single preferred version.
• Use a 302 redirect for temporary website (or page) changes, such as maintenance downtime, A/B testing, website staging, holiday promotions such as posts of Black Friday or whenever a page is temporarily unavailable.
• Choose the correct redirect type (301 or 302) depending on whether the move is permanent or temporary.
• Make sure to update any internal links pointing to the page's old location.
• Minimize redirect chains (e.g. redirect A to B, then B to C) to avoid any penalties or technical issues from Google. Additionally, long redirect chains can slow down page load times and confuse search engines. So, implement a direct redirect from the old URL to the new one (if possible).
• Use plugins or redirect tools (such as 301 redirects) to manage all redirects in one place.
• It's always best to keep track of ALL your 301 and 302 redirects for future reference and maintenance.

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FAQs | 301 and 302 redirects

Here are some frequently asked questions around 301 and 302 redirects in SEO.

Resources related SEO:

• What is an H1 Tag: The Beginner's Guide with Best Practices
• Voice Search SEO: How to Optimize Your Website for Voice Search Like a PRO?
• Bing SEO: A simple and practical guide for beginners
• Business SEO Strategy: How to Optimize Large Business Websites
• Organic SEO: 6 Best Strategies to Improve Organic Search Rankings

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Latest Thoughts 

You need to learn how to effectively implement redirects within your website. For what ? Because you will change your URLs, migrate to new domains, or redirect users to temporary landing pages for specific campaigns.

Once you know when to use 301 or 302 redirects correctly, you unlock a better way to manage your links.

So, what do you think about 301 or 302 redirects? Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments.