What Is A 301 Redirect? + How They Affect Seo

What Is a 301 Redirect?

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

The charismatic sanction for nan 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 centrifugal rankings and ranking signals from aged pages to replacement pages.

Importantly, 301s proscription PageRank.

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

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

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

301 redirects too guarantee users scope nan correct pages alternatively of room aliases suboptimal pages.

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

Use Cases for 301 Redirects

These are nan 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 nan deleted page to a replacement page to perchance locomotion connected rankings and traffic.

But you should only redirect to an balanced aliases near-equivalent page that’s apt to fulfill nan aforesaid needs arsenic nan 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 activity accusation pages to broader activity accusation pages

Don’t adhd a 301 redirect to an irrelevant page (e.g., from an aged blog position 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 nan 404 Page Not Found error. To show users and hunt engines that nan page is nary longer available.

Semrush’s 404 correction page looks for illustration this:

Migrating Your Site to a New Domain

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

• If you’re keeping nan aforesaid website building connected your caller domain, you tin instrumentality a wide redirect to nonstop visitors from nan aged domain to nan corresponding measurement connected nan caller domain
• If you’re changing your website structure, you’ll petition to create a redirect practice 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 nan aged URL to nan caller URL. 

For example, you mightiness want to spread a typo successful nan 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 overmuch 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 nan aged URL to nan caller URL.

For example, if you coming a caller merchandise people 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 transcript aliases akin pages connected your website.

This allows you to forestall upset for users and hunt engines, harvester nan 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 nan aforesaid page (e.g., example.com/page and example.com/category/page)

It’s too smart to consolidate pages that work 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, wide line and adhd 301 redirects pointing from nan aged URLs to nan 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 personification overlapping keyword rankings. This suggests that nan pages are akin and could beryllium competing pinch each different for hunt visibility. (An rumor known arsenic keyword cannibalization.)

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

How to Do a 301 Redirect

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

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

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

• Adobe Commerce: Go to “Marketing” > “SEO & Search” > “URL Rewrites” to usage nan civilization URL rewrites feature. You tin too group up automatic redirects to grip merchandise aliases people URL changes.
• Drupal: Install and usage nan Redirect module
• HubSpot: Go to “Settings” > “Content” > “Domains & URLs” > “URL Redirects” to usage nan 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 nan built-in URL redirect feature
• Squarespace: Open nan developer devices expanse and click “URL mappings” to usage nan URL mappings feature
• Webflow: Go to “Site settings” > “Publishing” > “301 redirects” to usage nan built-in redirect feature
• Wix: Go to your SEO Dashboard > “Tools and settings” > “URL Redirect Manager” to usage nan URL Redirect Manager
• WordPress: Install and usage a redirects plugin from nan WordPress directory

If you petition 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:

Update Links that Point to Redirected URLs

Wherever possible, update links that constituent to a redirected URL truthful they constituent consecutive to nan 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 investigation your site)
• Prevent redirect chains (i.e., redirects upon redirects, which tin confuse crawlers)
• Avoid imaginable upset for users

Update each your soul 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 nan 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 spot URLs you want to show successful hunt results. Because hunt engines usage nan grounds to thief find which pages to crawl and index.

You mightiness too petition to adhd your replacement URLs to your XML sitemap.

Only Redirect to Canonical URLs

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

Search engines return 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 premier 1 URL arsenic nan 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 nan instrumentality to:

• Monitor nan 301 redirects, canonical tags, and impermanent redirects connected your website
• Find psyche links that constituent to redirected aliases room URLs
• Identify transcript contented issues
• Check for overly agelong URLs that whitethorn petition updating
• Ensure your website prioritizes HTTPS complete HTTP
• Look for redirect chains and loops

The Site Audit instrumentality too checks for dozens of different SEO issues and provides connection connected really and why to spread each one. To thief you amended your hunt centrifugal rankings.