What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?

A 301 redirect is permanent, whereas a 302 redirect is only temporary. The 301 redirect transfers the SEO value (link juice) of the old URL to the new one, which is not the case with a 302 redirect.

Can too many redirects harm my website?

Yes, too many or faulty redirects can negatively affect the page load time and slow down the crawling by search engines. This can have a negative impact on SEO.

What happens if I don't use redirects?

If you don't use redirects, you may end up with 404 error pages, which worsens the user experience and causes search engines to lose rankings for non-existent pages.

How do redirects affect SEO?

Redirects can have a direct impact on your site's SEO performance, both positively and negatively, depending on how they are implemented. A well-planned redirect can help maintain or even improve your rankings, while a flawed redirect structure can lead to ranking losses and a poor user experience.

Redirects: Optimise the user-friendliness of your website

Q: What are redirects and why are they important?

Redirects (also known as forwards) are used to guide users and search engines from one URL to another. They are used when URLs change, content is deleted or moved, or when merging several websites. A correctly implemented redirect ensures that both users and search engines can access the correct content without interruption.

Q: What types of redirect are there?

Redirects fall into two main categories: server-side and client-side. These have different use cases and can affect your site's SEO performance in different ways.

Redirects are an essential tool in online marketing, especially when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO). They help to redirect users, bots and crawlers from one URL to another when content changes or websites are restructured. There are different types of redirects, which can be implemented either on the server side or on the client side, for example. In this article, you will learn what they are, how they work and what advantages they offer for your SEO strategy.

What are redirects and why are they important?

Redirects (also known as forwards) are used to direct users and search engines from one URL to another. They are used when URLs change, content is deleted or moved, or when multiple websites are merged. A correctly implemented redirect ensures that both users and search engines can access the correct content without interruption.

Missing or faulty redirects often lead to 404 error pages (‘page not found’), which has a negative impact on the user experience and SEO rankings. Search engines interpret such errors negatively and could downgrade the rankings of the affected pages.

The most common reasons for redirects:

Changing the URL structure: When a website is restructured or rebuilt.
Changing the domain: To redirect visitors from an old domain to a new one.
Merging content: When several pages are merged into a single one. This avoids duplicate content.
Deleting pages: To redirect users who access a deleted page to a relevant alternative.

Different types of redirect

Redirects fall into two main categories: server-side and client-side. These have different use cases and can affect your site’s SEO performance in different ways.

Server-side redirects

Server-side redirects are set up directly on the web server and are among the most common and SEO-friendly types of redirect. They are efficient because they are carried out before the page loads. The main types of server-side redirect are:

301 redirect (permanent redirect)

A 301 redirect indicates that a page has been permanently redirected from one URL to another, making it the best option</strong> when pages are permanently removed or moved to a new URL. This redirect sends a clear signal to search engines that the old URL has been replaced by the new one and usually transfers almost all of the old URL’s link juice (ranking power) to the new one.

One important use case is redirecting a URL ‘without www.’ to the corresponding page ‘with www.’, which avoids duplicate content. This can be implemented, for example, with the following code:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^beispiel.de [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.beispiel.de/$1 [R=301,NC]

Equally important and a common use case is redirecting ‘http://’ to ‘https://’, which can be implemented with the following code, for example:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

302 Redirect (temporary redirect)

A 302 redirect is used when a URL is redirected to another URL only temporarily. This is useful when you take a page offline for a period of time or switch on a maintenance page. Search engines keep the old URL in their index because they assume that the redirect is only temporary.

307 Redirect (HTTP/1.1 Temporary Redirect)

The 307 redirect is part of the HTTP/1.1 protocol and is considered to be ‘clearer’ than a 302 redirect because it explicitly retains the original HTTP method (e.g. GET or POST) during the redirect. This clearly signals to the browser that the redirect is temporary. In most cases, however, a classic 302 redirect is perfectly adequate.

The image shows a graphic of redirect options in online marketing. If the page is to be changed permanently, a 301 redirect applies; if this is not the case, a 302 or 307 redirect is needed.

Figure 1: Overview of the different types of redirects
source: eology

Advantages of the different redirects

301 Redirect (Permanent Redirect)	302 Redirect (Temporärer Redirect)	307 Redirect (HTTP/1.1 Temporary Redirect)
– Transfers the authority or link juice of the old page to the new page. – Prevents 404 error pages, which improves the user experience. – Search engines update their indexing to the new URL.	– Retains the original URL in the search engine index. – Useful for temporary changes.	– Clarity in search engines and browsers. – Preservation of methods in special cases, such as form entries, is helpful.

Table 1: Overview of the advantages of server-side redirects

Client-side redirects

Client-side redirects are performed in the browser of the user, usually with the help of JavaScript or HTML. They are less efficient than server-side redirects and rarely recommended from an SEO perspective. Two commonly used client-side redirects are:

Meta refresh

A meta refresh redirect is executed via HTML code within the page and redirects the user to a new URL after a specified period of time (e.g. 5 seconds). Meta refreshes are often considered to be slower and less user friendly.

JavaScript redirect

A JavaScript redirect works by running a script on the page to redirect visitors to a different URL. While this is functional, it depends on the browser execution of the JavaScript, making it slower and less reliable than server-side redirects. JavaScript redirects can be problematic for SEO because search engines may not interpret them effectively like server-side redirects.

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Meta Refresh	– Easy to implement. – Can be used as a ‘last resort’ in certain cases.	– Often rated as inefficient and user-unfriendly by search engines. – Can lead to a poor user experience if the redirect takes too long.
JavaScript-Redirect		– Slower and less reliable. – Search engine bots may ignore JavaScript redirects, interpret them incorrectly or even interpret them as an attempt at manipulation.

Table 2: Overview of the advantages and disadvantages of client-side redirects

How redirects affect SEO

Redirects have a direct impact on your site’s SEO performance, both positively and negatively, depending on how they are implemented. A well-planned redirect can help you maintain or even improve your rankings, while a flawed redirect structure can lead to ranking losses and a poorer user experience.

Advantages of redirects for SEO:

1. Avoiding 404 error pages: A properly set redirect prevents users and search engines from encountering non-existent pages, resulting in a better user experience and better crawling efficiency.

2. Preserving link juice: By using 301 redirects, the authority of the old page can be transferred to the new URL, preserving the SEO value of the website.

3. Continuous crawling and indexing: Redirects help search engines to quickly recognise changes to the website and update the index accordingly.

Mistakes to avoid with redirects:

Chains of redirects: If a URL is redirected multiple times (e.g. from URL A to B and then to C), this can lead to slower loading times and poorer crawling performance.
Unnecessary 302 redirects: If a page has permanently moved, a 301 redirect should be used, not a 302 redirect. Otherwise, you risk the new URL not being indexed correctly.
Incorrect redirect destinations: Make sure that redirects always lead to relevant pages. Do not redirect a page via a redirect to irrelevant or less important content.

Using redirects as an SEO tool

Redirects are a powerful SEO tool when used correctly. They allow you to make changes to your website without negatively affecting your rankings. Always decide whether to use a server-side or client-side redirect based on the specific use case, and use them carefully to avoid SEO losses.

A brief checklist for using redirects:

Use 301 redirects for permanent changes.
Use 302 redirects only for temporary redirects.
Avoid chain redirects that affect loading time and crawl efficiency.
Only implement client-side redirects in an emergency or for special requirements.
After redirects or a URL changeover, you should check whether the internal and external links are correctly redirected. If this is not the case, it should be successively adjusted.