What Is a 301 Redirect? + How They Affect SEO

Jan 14, 2025 05:44 PM - 1 month ago 38892

What Is a 301 Redirect?

A 301 redirect is an HTTP position codification that sends users from the requested URL to a different URL and signals to hunt engines that the move is permanent.

If /old-page/ has a 301 redirect to /replacement-page/, past anyone who attempts to sojourn /old-page/ automatically ends up connected /replacement-page/.

A 301 redirect points from an aged page to a replacement page.

The official name for the HTTP 301 position codification is 301 Moved Permanently.

Why Are 301 Redirects Important successful SEO?

301 redirects are important successful SEO because they thief your tract support its hunt visibility by transferring hunt motor rankings and ranking signals from aged pages to replacement pages.

Importantly, 301s transportation PageRank.

PageRank is simply a strategy Google uses to measurement a webpage’s value based chiefly connected its backlinks (links it gets from different websites). 

These backlinks supply varying levels of value, known arsenic nexus equity.

When a 301 redirect is successful place, Google tin reassign nexus equity to the replacement page. Which tin thief the replacement page execute amended successful hunt results.

Links walk nexus equity to a page, contributing to the page’s PageRank. A 301 redirect transfers this PageRank to different page.

301 redirects besides guarantee users scope the correct pages alternatively of surgery aliases suboptimal pages.

This intends users are much apt to prosecute positively pinch your site—which is bully for SEO and trading successful general.

Use Cases for 301 Redirects

These are the astir communal usage cases for 301 redirects:

Deleting a Page That Has a Replacement

When you delete a page, you tin adhd a 301 redirect from the deleted page to a replacement page to perchance walk connected rankings and traffic.

But you should only redirect to an balanced aliases near-equivalent page that’s apt to fulfill the aforesaid needs arsenic the unwanted page. 

For example, you tin sphere rankings and postulation by adding 301 redirects from:

  • Discontinued merchandise pages to replacement merchandise pages
  • Old blog posts to caller blog posts connected akin topics
  • Niche work accusation pages to broader work accusation pages

Don’t adhd a 301 redirect to an irrelevant page (e.g., from an aged blog station to your homepage). Because these kinds of redirects tin confuse users and hunt engines.

If you want to delete a page that has nary bully replacement, you should mostly usage the 404 Page Not Found error. To show users and hunt engines that the page is nary longer available.

Semrush’s 404 correction page looks for illustration this:

The page says "We sewage lost. It looks for illustration this page doesn't exist. Try going backmost aliases click the fastener beneath and we'll return you home."

Migrating Your Site to a New Domain

Implementing 301 redirects is an important portion of immoderate website migration task (e.g., if you’re switching to a caller domain sanction arsenic portion of a rebrand).

  • If you’re keeping the aforesaid website structure connected your caller domain, you tin instrumentality a wide redirect to nonstop visitors from the aged domain to the corresponding way connected the caller domain
  • If you’re changing your website structure, you’ll request to create a redirect representation that matches up each aged URL pinch its replacement URL

Changing URL Slugs

If you alteration a URL slug (unique page identifier), adhd a 301 redirect from the aged URL to the caller URL. 

For example, you mightiness want to hole a typo successful the URL slug. Like this:

  • Redirect from: https://www.semrush.com/blog/031-redirect/
  • Redirect to: https://www.semrush.com/blog/301-redirect/

Or make your URL slugs shorter and much descriptive. Like this:

  • Redirect from: https://www.semrush.com/blog/h25j-kb3t2b2t-po9/
  • Redirect to: https://www.semrush.com/blog/301-redirects/

Moving a Page to Different URL Path

If you move a page to a different URL path, adhd a 301 redirect from the aged URL to the caller URL.

For example, if you present a caller merchandise class and move existing products to this category, you mightiness group up redirects for illustration this:

  • Old URL: https://www.example.com/old-category-name/product-name
  • New URL: https://www.example.com/new-category-name/product-name

Consolidating Duplicate aliases Similar Pages

You tin usage 301 redirects to consolidate copy aliases akin pages connected your website.

This allows you to forestall disorder for users and hunt engines, harvester the ranking powerfulness of aggregate pages, and streamline website maintenance.

Duplicate pages are mostly caused by:

  • WWW and non-WWW URLs (e.g., www.example.com and example.com)
  • HTTP and HTTPS URLs (e.g., http://www.example.com and https://www.example.com)
  • Trailing slash and non-trailing slash URLs (e.g., example.com/ and example.com)
  • Case sensitivity (e.g., example.com/blog/ and example.com/Blog/)
  • Session IDs aliases parameters (e.g., example.com/page?sid=123 and example.com/page)
  • Index files (e.g., example.com/page and example.com/page/index.html)
  • Multiple paths to the aforesaid page (e.g., example.com/page and example.com/category/page)

It’s besides smart to consolidate pages that service very akin purposes for users.

Let’s opportunity Semrush has 3 blog posts astir imperishable 301 redirects. We could harvester these posts into a single, broad guideline and adhd 301 redirects pointing from the aged URLs to the caller URL accordingly.

To find pages that mightiness beryllium worthy consolidating, usage Semrush’s Position Tracking tool.

The “Cannibalization” study shows which pages connected your tract person overlapping keyword rankings. This suggests that the pages are akin and could beryllium competing pinch each different for hunt visibility. (An rumor known arsenic keyword cannibalization.)

Cannibalization study shows affected keywords and cannibal pages.

If you find pages pinch very akin purposes, see combining them.

How to Do a 301 Redirect

To do a 301 redirect, you request to usage the redirect settings successful your website editor, usage a suitable website plugin, aliases get a web developer’s help.

For example, WordPress admins tin usage the redirects head successful the Yoast SEO plugin. Simply take the “301 Moved Permanently” option, adhd your aged URL and replacement URL, past click “Add Redirect.”

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Here are basal 301 URL redirect instructions for immoderate different contented guidance systems: 

  • Adobe Commerce: Go to “Marketing” > “SEO & Search” > “URL Rewrites” to usage the custom URL rewrites feature. You tin besides set up automatic redirects to grip merchandise aliases class URL changes.
  • Drupal: Install and usage the Redirect module
  • HubSpot: Go to “Settings” > “Content” > “Domains & URLs” > “URL Redirects” to usage the URL redirects tool
  • Joomla: Install and usage 1 of these URL redirection plugins
  • Shopify: Go to “Content” > “Menus” > “View URL Redirects” > “Create URL redirect” to usage the built-in URL redirect feature
  • Squarespace: Open the developer devices sheet and click “URL mappings” to usage the URL mappings feature
  • Webflow: Go to “Site settings” > “Publishing” > “301 redirects” to usage the built-in redirect feature
  • Wix: Go to your SEO Dashboard > “Tools and settings” > “URL Redirect Manager” to usage the URL Redirect Manager
  • WordPress: Install and usage a redirects plugin from the WordPress directory

If you request to group up 301 redirects successful bulk, it’s usually champion to get a web developer’s help.

Best Practices for 301 Redirects

Follow these champion practices to guarantee your 301 redirects activity decently and support your SEO goals:

Wherever possible, update links that constituent to a redirected URL truthful they constituent straight to the replacement URL instead.

For example, if /old-page/ redirects to /replacement-page/, find links that spell to /old-page/ and alteration those links to /replacement-page/

Avoiding unnecessary nexus redirects can:

  • Reduce load times
  • Improve crawl ratio (i.e., thief hunt engines research your site)
  • Prevent redirect chains (i.e., redirects upon redirects, which tin confuse crawlers)
  • Avoid imaginable disorder for users

Update each your internal links (links connected your ain website). And immoderate different links you control, specified arsenic those successful your societal media profiles and directory listings.

Also, cheque that the links still make consciousness aft they’re updated.

Remove Redirecting URLs from Your XML Sitemap

Remove redirecting URLs from your XML sitemap to guarantee you’re sending clear signals to hunt engines.

The XML sitemap should only see URLs you want to show successful hunt results. Because hunt engines usage the record to thief determine which pages to crawl and index.

You mightiness besides request to adhd your replacement URLs to your XML sitemap.

Only Redirect to Canonical URLs

You should only redirect to a canonical URL—i.e., the superior reside for a webpage.

Search engines take a canonical URL and disregard immoderate alternate URLs to prevention processing clip and debar plagiarism successful hunt results.

For example, if your blog is disposable via https://example.com/blog/ and https://blog.example.com/, Google will effort to prime 1 URL arsenic the canonical type that will show successful hunt results. And you should attraction your SEO efforts connected this version.

In practice, this intends you should not redirect to a URL that:

  • Has a canonical tag pointing to different URL
  • Has a 301 redirect to different URL

If you redirect to a page that has a 301 redirect successful place, you consequence creating a redirect concatenation that slows users and hunt engines down. Or creating an infinite redirect loop.

  • Redirect concatenation example: Page A > Page B > Page C
  • Redirect loop example: Page A > Page B > Page A > […]

Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality makes it easy to find 301-related issues connected your website.

Use the instrumentality to:

  • Monitor the 301 redirects, canonical tags, and impermanent redirects connected your website
  • Find soul links that constituent to redirected aliases surgery URLs
  • Identify copy contented issues
  • Check for overly agelong URLs that whitethorn request updating
  • Ensure your website prioritizes HTTPS complete HTTP
  • Look for redirect chains and loops
Crawlability study shows number of indexable vs non-indexable pages arsenic good arsenic crawl fund discarded from impermanent redirects and more.

The Site Audit instrumentality besides checks for dozens of different SEO issues and provides proposal connected really and why to hole each one. To thief you amended your hunt motor rankings.

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