Before we get into the matter and learn all about 301 redirectsBecause that’s what we’re here for, right?, the most sensible thing is that it at least explains to you what the HTTP status codes are (of which the 301 is part, among many others) included within the HTTP headerswhat they are used for and how we can interpret them.
The HTTP protocol is one of the best known in the world (along with FTP perhaps) because it is the in charge of offering the contents of the web pages hosted on the servers when we type a URL in our web browser, of the type http://www.miweb.com.
Believe it or not, it was not the most used, there were news lists as a way of exchanging information, it was something much more rudimentary. It was not until 1989 that Tim Berners Lee first described the HTTP and HTML protocols and since then the revolution began.
Did you know? There is a status code that not many people know about, the 418which literally tells the client (or crawler) that the server is a kettle. Obviously this code was introduced in the standard as a joke, but there it is for everyone’s curiosity.
The 301 redirects are so common that you probably already have one on your website. If you had a domain on http and now use https, you will have one version to version. To redirect the www.domain.com version to domain.com you will also use another 301 redirection… so being so everyday, the best thing would be to get to know them better, right? So let’s start.
What is a 301 redirect
The HTTP codes like this 301 are responses that the server sends to the client in the header (along with a lot ) when making a web request, so that you can know the status at all times and act accordingly, are described in the standard RFC 2616, that you do not need to study yourself: I already tell you some of the most well-known HTTP codes and/or that have the most weight in web positioning, are the following:
- 202 – Response when everything is ok
- 301 – Content has been permanently moved elsewhere (and the server will redirect the visit)
- 302 – Content has been temporarily moved elsewhere (and the server will redirect the visit)
- 403 – Forbidden access
- 404 – Error, content not found
- 500 – Server error (generic)
The The importance of this 301 code lies in the fact that it has a fundamental value for the since the trackers when they go through our website “point” all the response codes they obtain from the HTTP headers of our domain and this has direct consequences on our positioning.
A 301 redirect tells the browser that the content of that URL has been moved to another site and redirects it.
If Google has positioned a URL that suddenly starts returning code 404 (Content not found error) It won’t take too long to get it down or out of ranking, because it wouldn’t be a good user experience to send a visit to a URL that doesn’t exist, right?
As well, as SEOs, our job in this regard is to ensure that all visitors reach a destinationand the 301 redirect will help us to do it. If that page no longer exists and we want to continue maintaining the URL, all we have to do is create a redirection (we will see four ways to create them below) to a new URL and if you want to get a job well done, you must make sure that they are of the same theme, comply with the user’s search intention, etc…
5 uses of a 301 redirect
The best way to understand and comprehend an explanation is to see a practical case, we all learned to add with apples, because when we were little, adding two numbers didn’t tell us anything, right? Well, this is a bit the same. We already know what a 301 redirect is.its importance and more below we will see several ways to create thembut now I leave you several situations that as SEO can arise and you can solve with a 301 redirect.
1. Domain migration
When a project has to migrate to a new domain, if nothing changes in the structure of the URLs the SEO will be happy. One will suffice 301 redirect from old domain to new domain.
But if, in addition to the domain, the structure of URLs is modified as SEO, you will have to deal with 301 redirects for each URL or for each pattern: you can create regular expressions that will greatly ease your work. This type of migration is usually used in the case of websites that have been denounced by the brand.
From my own experience I can assure you that this type of use for a 301 is often used; since I had set up a website at the url objecanon.es and when I received own brand complaint I was forced to do a 301 redirect to which as you can see in the ahrefs graph retained strength and soon reranked the old domain keywords in early 2018.
2.Change to friendly URLs
If you use a URL structure that is not very optimal, or not friendly (forgive me in the middle of 2020!) the best way to solve this is to create 301 redirect rules. Luckily for you, you can use patterns, so you don’t have to write one redirect for each URL.
3.Establish a primary domain
It is not uncommon to still see domains that can be accessed from www.domain,com, domain.com, www.domain.com/, domain.com/… the best way around this problem, because Google will detect each variation as duplicate content, is to do a 301 redirect to the main name you want to use.
4.Cannibalizations
When faced with cannibalization problems of , I usually opt for unify the contents in a single URL and make 301 redirects of the rest of the URLs that cannibalize the same keywords. Thus, I take advantage of the authority, links or traffic of all the URLs involved and centralize it in a single URL that will have more content, more traffic, more links and more authority.
5.Get out of a penalty
If Google has “caught” you doing things wrong (for example all the fury of Penguin has fallen on you for creating backlinks to your website) a good way to avoid the penalty is, first by fixing the current link profile you have and then you can do a 301 redirect to a new clean domain without penalizing (or even a double redirect using 3 domains intermediate) which will help to get out before the penalty.
301 VS 302
The main difference between both redirects is the temporality, that is, the first one (301) indicates to Google (and other search engines) that the content is not at that URL and has changed form definitive to a new location, the second (302) indicates that the content is not found there temporarybut don’t change indexes or pass authority because the content will once again be available at that URL.
You should also know that in the last update of the HTTP protocol, version 1.1, the status code 302 changed from “temporarily moved” to “found”, that is, 302 can no longer be used as a redirect method, although there are still people who think so. In any case, it is a very little used code.
And the 307 redirect?
As we have seen that the 302 has become obsolete as a form of temporary redirection, the 307 code is the one that has come to replace it. Hereinafter, if you want to do a temporary redirect correctly you have to use a 307 redirect.
And the 308 redirect?
Well, this would be the “new” version of the 301 that appeared in version 1.1 of HTTP, although it does not really replace it: it was created due to the need to establish rules so that the browsers or clients that followed the redirection did so via HTTP. and not through GET or POST requests as until now they did their interpretation when a 301 was found. But don’t worry about it, you can continue to use 301 without problems.
Advantages of using a 301 redirect
Faced with a problem like the one we have seen before with domain migrations or URL changes, the fastest way to solve it is to create a 301 redirect. it is also the most effective.
- Redirect all the traffic that arrives through that URL to a new one and we do not lose visits
- Transfers “all” the authority of the old domain or URL to the new one (in “theory” between 90% – 99%)
- It is fast, as it is a redirection from the server itself, the user will be redirected almost immediately
- Transparent to users
Do 301 redirects still work?
Much has been said that 301 redirects have stopped transmitting force, or take much longer than expected… which is true but they still workand as a tool to “shape” the link juice and the web architecture of your site, it is an element to continue using.
Cases in which they continue to work:
- If a product of your ecommerce is no longer available: if you delete that listing you should make a 301 redirection to a similar product so that your users do not “face” with a 404 error if they access the old file and not lose that traffic or possible authority of links that point there.
- Migration of a domain. If you change all your content from an old domain to a new one, a 301 redirect allows you to not only redirect all the traffic you had on the old domain, but also transfer authority to the new domain.
Cases in which you can be penalized for using a 301 redirect
- Abuse of 301 redirects. Think that everything that tries to artificially modify Google rankings is penalized, a 301 redirect to enhance the authority of your site with 301 redirects as well.
- Use of expired domains with authority To promote domains that already exist with different themes, Google takes into account the theme of both domains to determine the % of authority that passes through.
For example, if you buy an expired domain with authority that is “plumbing” themed and redirect it to an existing “flamenco dresses” domain with the intention of gaining an extra “shot” of authority, it might not work. Google does not want to transmit artificial link juice in these cases, and for him, thanks to various updates in his algorithms, it is increasingly easier for him to understand semantics and natural language, so he can distinguish topics.
- How many 301 redirects can you create? In theory there are no limits, but use common sense.
- How long do I have to keep the 301 redirect? There is no set limit, but as a general rule, we usually talk about a year so that Google has had time to crawl the entire site and transfer the authority of the old ones to the new URLs to which the redirects point. Remember that a redirect is a temporary solutionthat is, after creating the redirect all internal or external backlinks must point to the new URL.
How to create a 301 redirect
Before explaining how to create a 301 redirect, I’ll leave you with a very useful tool to read the response header of HTTP pages, because that way you can see if your redirects are working well or not. The tool that I use is WMtips, It is very simple in handling. Sure there are others more powerful, but with this…
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