When to 301 redirect and when to keep 404/410? (2024)

FAQs

When would it be necessary to 301 redirect? ›

A 301 signals a permanent redirect from one URL to another, meaning all users that request an old URL will be automatically sent to a new URL. A 301 redirect passes all ranking power from the old URL to the new URL, and is most commonly used when a page has been permanently moved or removed from a website.

It's far better to 301 redirect old pages to their new URL whenever possible. These pages will retain their Google indexing, page authority and link juice with the 301. By using a 410 gone, these pages will all be deindexed, lose all of your link juice as well as the page authority.

Basically, you should only really redirect if the content has genuinely moved elsewhere, i.e. the 'new' page actually has a large amount in common with the one that's been removed. 404/410s are a natural part of the web and do not harm your site.

In short, you should keep your 301 redirects in place for at least a year to give Google enough time to process the page move. But, as we'll see, there are some good reasons to keep redirects active for much longer than that.

When you permanently move a page or change its URL structure, setting up a 301 redirect ensures that anyone accessing the old URL will be seamlessly redirected to the new one. This preserves your website's ranking power and prevents the infamous “404 not found” message from appearing.

However, 301 redirects also have some drawbacks, such as the risk of losing some information or functionality in the transition, the possibility of creating redirect loops or chains, and the potential for confusing the client if the new URL is not compatible with the original request.

Answer: If you have access to the back end of the website where the duplicate copies are hosted, do a 301 redirect. A 301 redirect is always preferred over a canonical URL, as long as you don't want to keep the duplicate copies.

The best and most SEO-friendly way of handling 404 errors is to redirect visitors to the most relevant page, not just your homepage. The All in One SEO plugin's Redirects feature can also track all 404-page errors and let you set up smart 404-page redirects in WordPress.

A 301 redirect is what you're looking for. Take the content in your blog posts and put it into the new template on the new URL, and add a 301 redirect to the old URL. A 301 redirect will not generally harm your SEO.

If you follow a broken link, you're asking the other computer for a page that isn't in their files., which results in a 404 error. This could be because they never had it, they used to have it but it's been deleted or renamed, or simply because you misspelled the URL.

Are 404 redirects bad for SEO? ›

404 pages can hurt SEO if they impact important pages with traffic or backlinks, or if they result from poor website management. However, 404 errors are a perfectly normal part of the web ecosystem, and these do not necessarily harm your site's ranking.

Redirecting to the homepage results in a bad user experience for a couple of reasons: Users will be confused as to how they wound up on the homepage when they clicked a link to a different page.

It is best practice to point a 301 redirect code from each domain that has a www, non-www, HTTP, and HTTPS. Google appreciates the main domain to be HTTPS. Once redirected, always remember to check if the new domain has been indexed. You can use tools like Google's URL Inspection Tool.

Summary: There is no limit for 301 redirect or permanent redirect per site even it's better to use more redirects each for every page for a greater user experience. If redirect is not permanent it's recommended to use 302 redirect.

Ultimately, you want to keep redirects for as long as the redirect is useful. “Useful”, in this case, is defined as the redirect delivering traffic (or having the potential to do so) and the redirect having backlinks (or at least having backlinks worth keeping).

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirection from one URL to another, used to maintain search engine rankings and user access when a webpage's URL changes. It signals to search engines and browsers that the original URL has been permanently replaced with a new one.

A 301 redirect signals to search engines that your page has moved. You'll use these when your URL has changed permanently. 302 redirects, on the other hand, inform search engines that your page move is only temporary. They're best for when you plan to restore the original URL eventually.