A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one page of a website to another page of a website. Unlike a 302 redirect, which is temporary, a 301 redirect signals to search engines that the new page URL should be indexed and the old page is out of date. Search engines may use this information to crawl and index the new URL (although a 301 redirect does not necessarily guarantee that this will happen).
301 redirects should be implemented any time an existing website page is removed in favor of a website page with a different URL. 301 redirects are common after the migration from one CMS (content management system) to another is completed. They are also common when older, out of date pages need to be removed.
It is best practice to redirect a removed page to a page that is likely to answer the website visitor’s question. If a one-to-one redirect strategy is not possible, many websites will redirect a removed page back to the home page.
Why are 301 redirects important?
301 redirects help send users to a new location where content has been moved to. It also helps avoid 404 errors, and can be used to pass important equity to new pages for SEO purposes.
How do I do a 301 redirect?
Some redirects can be done on-site via plugins and website themes. Others can be done at the server level, often via code added to the .htaccess file.
Why is my 301 redirect not working?
Often, 301 redirects will appear to be broken, but are functioning properly.
To quickly troubleshoot 301 redirects that are not working:
- Try clearing your browser cache.
- Remove your 301 redirects from their location and add them in again.