A redirect is simply a mode to nonstop radical and bots to a caller URL erstwhile they petition the aged URL, but the leafage has changed locations.

When you determination to a caller code successful the US, you acceptable up message forwarding with the United States Postal Service (USPS). If idiosyncratic sends message to your aged address, USPS volition look astatine their message forwarding rules and recognize you nary longer unrecorded astatine the aged location. They’ll instrumentality the message and present it to your caller determination alternatively of the old one.

That’s besides however redirects work. A idiosyncratic oregon bot requests the aged location, and they get forwarded to the caller location. For example, we moved blog.ahrefs.com to ahrefs.com/blog a portion back. If you effort to entree blog.ahrefs.com, you volition beryllium forwarded to the caller URL instead. Watch what happens.

You’ll privation to usage redirects to:

• Move a website or page
• Want to consolidate duplicate pages
• Merge websites
• Send users to a caller leafage aft you delete
• Change your URL operation oregon cleanable up your URLs

Redirects assistance harvester signals betwixt pages and assistance hunt engines find which leafage they should amusement to users. This is simply a process called canonicalization and Google uses it to assistance support duplicate pages retired of its index. In different words, redirects are important for SEO.

There are a batch of myths and misunderstandings surrounding redirects successful the SEO assemblage that I anticipation I tin wide up with this article.

Redirects tin either beryllium imperishable oregon temporary, depending connected whether you program to permission the redirect successful spot oregon not. This besides impacts which leafage volition beryllium indexed and shown successful hunt engines which I’ll screen much successful the adjacent section.

Redirects tin besides beryllium server-side, meaning they hap connected a server somewhere, oregon client-side, meaning they hap wrong the user’s browser.

Here are a fewer tables you tin notation that categorize the antithetic types of redirects. I’ll speech much astir each of these successful the adjacent section.

Permanent Redirects

Server-Side	Client-Side	No Actual Redirect
HTTP 301	Meta refresh (=0 seconds)	Crypto redirect
HTTP 308	HTTP refresh (=0 seconds)
	JavaScript redirects

As acold arsenic which method you should take to instrumentality imperishable redirects, my preferred bid would be: 308 / 301 > Meta refresh 0 / HTTP refresh 0 > JavaScript > Crypto

Temporary Redirects

Server-Side	Client-Side
HTTP 302	Meta refresh (>0 seconds)
HTTP 303	HTTP refresh (>0 seconds)
HTTP 307

As acold arsenic which method you should take to instrumentality impermanent redirects, my preferred bid would be: 307 / 302 / 303 > Meta refresh 0 / HTTP refresh 0

Server-side redirects don’t needfully person to hap connected your hosting server. It could beryllium “someone else’s server” similar a CDN oregon your domain sanction provider. Client-side redirects tin besides beryllium added successful aggregate ways, but they volition ever occurrence successful the user’s browser.

Here are immoderate of the places you mightiness find these redirects:

Where you mightiness find redirects

Server-Side	Client-Side
Server-level	HTML
DNS-level	HTTP Header Response
CDN-level	CDN-level (in circumstantial cases)

Let’s look astatine these successful much detail.

Permanent redirects

A imperishable redirect indicates that a assets has permanently moved to a caller location.

You should usage a imperishable redirect when you:

• Permanently alteration the URL of a webpage oregon different resource.
• Permanently migrate to a caller domain.
• Switch from HTTP to HTTPS.
• Want to hole non-www/www duplicate content issues.
• Permanently merge 2 oregon much pages oregon websites.
• Permanently alteration the URL operation of your website.

Permanent redirects are a beardown hint for canonicalization that signals from a page, similar links, should consolidate guardant to the leafage the caller URL. It is usually the caller leafage that volition person each the signals and beryllium shown successful hunt engines.

Say you redirect a leafage from site1.com/x to site2.com/x without changing the content. Link signals volition consolidate astatine site2.com/x. In different words, if site1.com/x has 10 backlinks, site2.com/x feels the payment of them arsenic if they constituent straight to it.

It’s lone if a redirect is irrelevant that this doesn’t hap due to the fact that Google treats irrelevant redirects arsenic brushed 404s.

For example, accidental you redirect a blog station to your homepage. Google whitethorn not consolidate nexus signals due to the fact that the 2 pages are wholly different.

Want to cheque however google is treating a redirect?

Here’s how:

1. Open Google Search Console
2. Go to Links > External Links > Top linked pages
3. Find the “new” URL successful the study and click it (use the “Target page” filter to help)
4. Filter the links by “Site” and paste successful referring domains to the aged leafage 1 by 1 (you tin find these successful the Referring Domains study successful Ahrefs’ Site Explorer)

If you get nary matches for respective referring domains, Google is apt treating the redirect arsenic a brushed 404 and not counting the aged page’s backlinks toward the new URL.

If determination is simply a match, click connected the tract to spot the existent links. If you spot the aged URL successful the “Target URL” column, Google is consolidating links astatine the new URL.

Let’s look astatine immoderate of the types of imperishable redirects.

HTTP 301

A 301 redirect is simply a server-side redirect that forwards bots and users to the caller URL and tells hunt engines that the assets has permanently moved.

HTTP 308

A 308 redirect is the aforesaid arsenic a 301 redirect, but it retains the HTTP method of the archetypal request, GET oregon POST, erstwhile performing the redirect. For SEO purposes, they’re the same, but if you person information being sent done forms, you don’t privation to beryllium switching betwixt GET and POST.

JavaScript redirects

A JavaScript redirect uses JavaScript to instruct the browser to redirect the idiosyncratic oregon bot to a antithetic URL.

Because a leafage needs to beryllium rendered for this benignant of redirect to fire, it’s client-side and not preferred. Google renders each leafage they’re going to index, but determination tin beryllium issues successful this process causing rendering to fail. Other redirect types are amended supported and much reliable.

Here’s an illustration of however the redirect mightiness look successful the HTML:

<script>
// Redirect to a caller URL
window.location.href = "https://example.com/new-page";
</script>

JavaScript redirects could perchance beryllium successful the config record arsenic well. In the Next.js config, there’s a redirect relation you tin usage to acceptable redirects. In different systems, you whitethorn find them successful the router.

Meta refresh (=0 seconds)

A meta refresh redirect tells the browser to redirect the idiosyncratic aft a acceptable fig of seconds. It happens successful the browser and is client-side.

Meta refresh redirects request to beryllium successful the <head> conception of the HTML. This is however they look:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://example.com/new-page">

HTTP refresh (=0 seconds)

An HTTP refresh is similar a meta refresh but it occurs successful the HTTP header response. It tin beryllium implemented server side, but it really fires connected the lawsuit side.

Here’s however it looks:

Refresh: 0; url=https://example.com/new-page

Crypto redirect

A redirect without really redirecting? It sounds strange, but Google treats this arsenic a imperishable redirect. That means they should besides walk each signals guardant to the new URL.

A crypto redirect is simply a peculiar lawsuit wherever you person a connection astir moving to a caller domain, but nary existent redirect occurs. It looks like this:

<a href="https://new-domain.com/" >We moved! Check retired our caller site!</a>

I would effort to instrumentality a antithetic redirect method arsenic not each bot oregon hunt motor would enactment crypto redirects.

Temporary redirects

A impermanent redirect indicates that a assets has temporarily moved to a caller location.

You should usage impermanent redirects when you:

• Want to redirect users to the close mentation of the tract for them (based connected location/language).
• Want to A/B split-test the functionality oregon plan of a webpage.
• Run a promotion and privation to redirect visitors to a income leafage temporarily.

Temporary redirects are a anemic hint for canonicalization that signals from a page, similar links, should consolidate guardant to the caller page. Because it is simply a anemic signal, astir of the clip the signals really consolidate to the archetypal leafage that was redirected.

However, astatine immoderate point, capable signals whitethorn physique that a impermanent redirect does consolidate forward. For a while, you whitethorn spot the archetypal URL indexed successful Google and signals consolidate there, but if this swap happens past you volition spot the caller URL successful Google and signals volition consolidate determination instead.

There’s nary acceptable magnitude of clip that a impermanent redirect needs to beryllium earlier Google starts treating it arsenic a imperishable redirect. Usually, it’s a fewer weeks to a fewer months, but it tin beryllium days, weeks, oregon months.

The swap whitethorn ne'er happen, similar successful the lawsuit of 302s being utilized to redirect users to the astir applicable mentation of their homepage connected planetary websites. This setup has been utilized by galore sites for astir a decennary and they inactive person the archetypal URLs indexed.

In immoderate circumstances, Google adjacent appears to dainty impermanent redirects arsenic imperishable redirects from the get-go.

For example, I ran an experimentation wherever I redirected (302) 1 established tract to another. When Google saw the redirect, it dropped the aged domain from the hunt results successful favour of the “new” domain.

If you’re not definite however Google is treating 1 of your impermanent redirects, paste the redirected URL into Search Console’s URL Inspection tool. If it shows the “URL is not connected Google” warning, Google indispensable beryllium treating the redirect arsenic permanent. If it is connected Google, past Google’s treating it arsenic temporary.

Just marque definite to cheque the past crawl day erstwhile doing this. If this day comes aft you added the redirect, petition reindexing and travel back later.

Let’s look astatine immoderate of the types of impermanent redirects.

HTTP 302

A 302 redirect forwards users to the caller URL and tells hunt engines that the assets has temporarily moved.

HTTP 307

A 307 redirect is the aforesaid arsenic a 302 redirect, but it retains the HTTP method (POST, GET) of the archetypal petition erstwhile performing the redirect. For SEO, it’s the same, but if you person information being sent done forms that redirect, past you don’t privation to beryllium swapping betwixt GET and POST.

It’s worthy calling retired that erstwhile troubleshooting redirect issues, you whitethorn spot a antithetic mentation of a 307 which is simply a cached redirect that happens successful the browser. This is related to HSTS and tells the browser to swap to a unafraid transportation (HTTPS) erstwhile an insecure assets is requested.

When web servers necessitate clients to lone usage HTTPS connections (HSTS policy), Google won’t spot the 307 due to the fact that it’s cached successful the browser. The archetypal deed (without cache) volition person a server effect codification that’s apt a 301 oregon a 302. But your browser volition amusement you a 307 for consequent requests which makes it much hard to troubleshoot. You volition request to usage a caller Incognito league to spot the returned presumption code.

HTTP 303

A 303 redirect forwards the idiosyncratic to a assets akin to the 1 requested and is simply a impermanent signifier of redirect. It’s typically utilized for things similar preventing signifier resubmissions erstwhile a idiosyncratic hits the “back” fastener successful their browser. You won’t typically spot 303 redirects utilized for SEO purposes, but if you bash past it volition beryllium treated conscionable similar a 302/307.

Meta refresh (>0 seconds)

A meta refresh is treated arsenic a imperishable redirect erstwhile it is adjacent to 0 seconds and arsenic a impermanent redirect erstwhile it is greater than 0 seconds.

A meta refresh redirect tells the browser to redirect the idiosyncratic aft a acceptable fig of seconds. It happens successful the browser and is client-side.

Meta refresh redirects request to beryllium successful the <head> conception of the HTML. This is however they look:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5; url=https://example.com/new-page">

HTTP refresh (>0 seconds)

An HTTP refresh is treated arsenic a imperishable redirect erstwhile it is adjacent to 0 seconds and arsenic a impermanent redirect erstwhile it is greater than 0 seconds.

An HTTP refresh is similar a meta refresh but it occurs successful the HTTP header response. It tin beryllium implemented server side, but it really fires connected the client-side.

Here’s however it looks:

Refresh: 5; url=https://example.com/new-page

Server-side redirects

A server-side redirect is 1 wherever the server decides wherever to redirect the idiosyncratic oregon hunt motor erstwhile a leafage is requested. They volition usually person a corresponding presumption codification of 301, 302, 303, 307, or 308.

Server-side redirects are the preferred method of doing redirects for SEO.

Server-level

These are redirects that hap connected your server. How you instrumentality them volition alteration depending connected your website big and which server situation oregon publication connection is utilized for the backend. Any communal benignant of server should beryllium good documented. The astir communal are Nginx, Apache, Cloudflare Server, LiteSpeed, Microsoft-IIS, and Node.js.

If you are entering redirects successful a plugin oregon a customized redirect solution connected a CMS similar WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla, oregon Drupal, past the redirects are being added astatine the server level.

Most WordPress installs volition beryllium moving Apache and the plugins utilized for redirecting volition really beryllium editing a website’s .htaccess file. You’ll find this record successful your website’s basal directory.

To make a redirect successful .htaccess from 1 leafage to different you would add:

Redirect 308 "/old" "https://example.com/new"

You tin besides redirect with antithetic languages specified arsenic PHP. Here’s what that would look like:

header('HTTP/1.1 308 Moved Permanently');
header('Location: https://www.example.com/newurl');
exit();

We person a batch much examples successful our station connected 301 redirects including redirecting a domain, www to non-www, non-www to www, and HTTP to HTTPS, Redirects could besides beryllium located successful the server config file.

In galore communal systems, you tin conscionable enactment successful a redirect and it volition occurrence automatically. However, immoderate systems enactment arsenic mistake catchers. You tin enactment successful a redirect and it won’t occurrence until you delete the aged page. This adds an other measurement to the process, but is little prone to errors.

DNS-level

Your sanction servers are usually managed by your domain registrar oregon perchance your CDN. Each supplier differs a bit, but they usually person documentation that you can find.

Redirects astatine this level are often utilized for website migrations. Some hosts whitethorn fto you specify the presumption codification for a redirect specified arsenic a 301 or 302.

Some providers are adjacent allowing HTTPS versions of pages to beryllium redirected. Technically, HTTPS doesn’t beryllium astatine this level and this wasn’t an enactment successful the past, but immoderate providers person figured retired a mode to marque this work.

CDN-level

Many CDNs person aggregate options for implementing redirects. For example, connected Cloudflare you could bash azygous oregon bulk redirects, determination are circumstantial redirect rules, you could constitute a leafage regularisation with a redirect, you tin usage workers and key-value pairs to instrumentality redirects, oregon you could usage workers to modify the headers and adhd a redirect.

I typically similar to person redirects connected the borderline (CDN-level) implicit having them connected the server. For others, I ever urge going with what is easiest for you to implement. For galore radical that is server-level redirects.

Client-side redirects

A client-side redirect is fired by the user’s browser. A idiosyncratic whitethorn spot a leafage temporarily earlier the redirect happens.

You mostly shouldn’t bash redirects connected the client-side, unless that is your lone option.

HTML

We’ve already talked astir meta refresh redirects and JavaScript redirects. These are fired connected the lawsuit side.

Meta refresh redirects request to beryllium successful the <head> conception of the HTML. This is however they look:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5; url=https://example.com/new-page">

Here’s however a JavaScript redirect mightiness look successful the HTML:

<script>
// Redirect to a caller URL
window.location.href = "https://example.com/new-page";
</script>

HTTP Header Response

An HTTP refresh is similar a meta refresh but it occurs successful the HTTP header response. It tin beryllium implemented server side, but it really fires connected the client-side.

Here’s however it looks:

Refresh: 5; url=https://example.com/new-page

CDN-level (in circumstantial cases)

I talked earlier astir Cloudflare workers. These fto you edit things connected the borderline earlier being served to users. You could really re-write immoderate of the HTML to adhd successful a client-side redirect similar a meta refresh, but this would beryllium uncommon due to the fact that determination are amended ways to do it.

Here are a fewer items related to redirects that you’ll privation to check.

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

Everyone should beryllium utilizing HTTPS.

There are a mates of ways to cheque that your tract is decently redirecting from HTTP to HTTPS. The archetypal is to instal and activate Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar, past effort to navigate to the HTTP mentation of your homepage. It should redirect.

You typically privation to spot a 301 oregon 308 redirect here, arsenic this redirect should beryllium permanent.

However, you whitethorn spot a 307 redirect if your tract uses HSTS similar we bash for Ahrefs.

This benignant of 307 fires successful the browser and you inactive request to cheque the server effect to marque definite it’s a 301 or 308.

So here’s different method:

• Go to Ahrefs’ Site Audit
• Click + New Project
• Click Add manually
• Change the Scope to HTTP
• Enter your domain

You should spot the “Not crawlable” mistake for some the www and non-www versions of your homepage, on with the “301 moved permanently” notification.

Use HSTS (to make 307 redirects)

Implementing HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) connected your server stops radical from accessing non-secure (HTTP) contented connected your site. It does this by telling browsers that your server lone accepts unafraid connections and that the browser should 307 redirect to the HTTPS mentation of immoderate HTTP assets they’re asked to access.

Keep successful caput that this happens wrong the browser. Bots won’t spot this peculiar mentation of a 307.

After implementing HSTS, see submitting your tract to the HSTS preload list. This enables HSTS for everyone trying to sojourn your website—even if they haven’t visited it before.

Redirect applicable aged content

Sites, and the web successful general, are ever changing. We ran a survey that recovered that ~two-thirds of links to pages connected the web disappeared successful the nine-year play we looked at.

In galore cases, your aged URLs person links from different websites. If they’re not redirected to the existent pages, past those links are mislaid and nary longer number for your pages. It’s not excessively precocious to bash these redirects, and you tin rapidly reclaim immoderate mislaid worth and assistance your contented fertile better.

Here’s however to find those opportunities:

• Paste your domain into Site Explorer (also accessible for escaped successful Ahrefs Webmaster Tools)
• Go to the Best by links report
• Add a “404 not found” HTTP effect filter

I usually benignant this by “Referring domains.”

I adjacent created a script to assistance you lucifer redirects. Don’t beryllium frightened away; you conscionable person to download a mates of files and upload them. The Colab notebook walks you done it and takes attraction of the dense lifting for you.

Avoid agelong redirect chains

Redirect chains are erstwhile aggregate redirects instrumentality spot betwixt a requested assets and its last destination.

Google’s official documentation says that Googlebot follows up to 10 redirect hops, truthful immoderate redirect chains shorter than that aren’t usually a occupation for SEO. They travel 5 hops successful 1 session, and volition resume wherever they near disconnected successful the adjacent session.

If the crawler doesn’t person contented wrong 10 hops, Search Console volition amusement a redirect mistake successful the site’s Index Coverage report.

Many SEOs are obsessed with getting escaped of adjacent 1 further hop for a redirect. I would not interest astir this at all.

I don’t typically interest astir redirect chains if they are little than 5 hops, but aft 5 I’ve seen issues with them being crawled and counted decently truthful that’s my cutoff for recommending that radical commencement moving on them.

You tin find agelong redirect chains for escaped utilizing Ahrefs Webmaster Tools:

• Crawl your tract with Site Audit
• Go to the Redirects report
• Click the Issues tab
• Look for the “Redirect concatenation excessively long” error

Click the contented and deed “View affected URLs” to spot URLs that statesman a redirect concatenation and each the URLs successful the chain.

Avoid redirect loops

Redirect loops are infinite loops of redirects that hap erstwhile a URL redirects to itself oregon erstwhile a URL successful a redirect concatenation redirects backmost to a URL earlier successful the chain.

They’re problematic for 3 reasons:

• For users –They chopped disconnected entree to an intended assets and trigger a “too galore redirects” mistake successful the browser.
• For bots and hunt engines – They “trap” crawlers and discarded the crawl budget.
• For servers - they discarded your resources. Some bots volition grip this well, others volition not. They could perchance instrumentality down your server with a changeless DDoS attack.

The simplest mode to find redirect loops is to crawl your tract with a instrumentality similar Ahrefs’ Site Audit. You tin bash this for escaped with an Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account.

• Crawl your tract with Site Audit
• Go to the Redirects report
• Click the Issues tab
• Look for the “Redirect loop” error

If you past click the mistake and click “View affected URLs,” you’ll spot a database of URLs that redirect, arsenic good arsenic each URLs successful the chain:

The champion mode to hole a redirect loop depends connected whether the past URL successful the concatenation (before the loop) is the intended last destination.

If it is, region the redirect from the last URL. Then marque definite the assets is accessible and returns a 200 presumption code.

If it isn’t, alteration the looping redirect to the intended last destination.

In some cases, it’s bully signifier to swap retired immoderate internal links to remaining redirects for nonstop links to the final URL.

Avoid overly wide redirects

When creating redirect rules, sometimes radical lucifer to everything aft a folder. This creates situations wherever a clump of pages mightiness beryllium redirected to a azygous page. You privation to lucifer redirects 1:1 arsenic overmuch arsenic possible.

You tin trial this by typing your domain.com/asfkljlkdfs oregon thing similar. You whitethorn privation to effort immoderate of your main folders arsenic well. If you person a 404 page, past it’s fine. If it redirects, past idiosyncratic has an overly wide regularisation in place.

These rules aren’t needfully harmful, but they tin nonstop users to unexpected places. In immoderate cases, it could beryllium harmful. Let’s accidental you had a clump of pages added via a hack and the hacker built links to these pages. If you region the pages and past redirect them somewhere, you’re fundamentally saying those spam links beryllium to you.

Watch retired for expired certificates

If you migrated to a antithetic domain and your aged tract was utilizing HTTPS, past the certificate expires, bots are passed but users volition person an mistake connection and won’t beryllium redirected.

There are multi-domain certificates that screen aggregate sites that tin assistance forestall this issue. Some DNS providers besides let HTTPS redirects present which would forestall this from happening.

Keep redirects for astatine slightest 1 year

According to Google, you should support redirects progressive for astatine slightest 1 year. After that, signals should permanently pass.

hands up if you asked america precocious for however agelong you should support redirects successful place!

i person a factual reply now: astatine slightest 1 year.

(but effort keeping them indefinitely if you tin for your users).

— Gary 鯨理／경리 Illyes (so official, spot me) (@methode) July 21, 2021

If you don’t judge it, I tested it, and it seems to be true.

I’m a instrumentality of keeping redirects arsenic agelong arsenic possible, perchance forever. You besides should cheque if users are inactive hitting the aged pages earlier removing immoderate redirects.

Don’t hide to redirect different files during a migration

It’s a bully thought to redirect things similar images and PDFs erstwhile doing a migration, not conscionable pages. Especially if these were driving a bully magnitude of postulation for your website. Don’t interest astir things similar JS, CSS, oregon Font files. Focus connected redirecting things that get indexed by hunt engines and don’t interest astir different file types.

Here are immoderate tips to assistance you troubleshoot redirect issues.

Figuring retired what strategy the redirects are in

Things tin get analyzable successful an endeavor environment. You whitethorn person aggregate antithetic systems wherever redirects tin beryllium inputted and you whitethorn request to fig retired which is really firing a redirect.

You tin usage the accusation successful the HTTP headers to assistance place what strategy whitethorn person fired a redirect. For example, connected our blog we usage a plugin called Redirection. It adds a header tag X-redirected-by that identifies that it is the 1 that fired the redirect arsenic seen beneath successful the URL overview of Site Audit.

Our SEO Toolbar is different enactment for a speedy header cheque portion you’re browsing.

Redirects whitethorn hap lone for circumstantial user-agents

Redirects tin usage conditional logic, meaning that they volition lone hap nether definite conditions similar for a specified user-agent. You tin alteration your idiosyncratic cause utilizing our SEO Toolbar to spot if a redirect fires for a circumstantial user-agent.

Redirects tin propulsion the incorrect presumption codes

Don’t blindly spot the presumption codes shown. A redirect tin inactive beryllium happening with immoderate presumption code. You whitethorn person a leafage that shows arsenic a 200 OK presumption code, but inactive really beryllium redirecting to different location.

Final thoughts

Regular expressions volition prevention you a batch of clip erstwhile it comes to patterns that tin beryllium matched for bulk URL redirects. Google a usher oregon cheat expanse and find a bully regex tester. I typically usage regex101.

Have questions? Message maine connected X oregon LinkedIn.