Have you ever seen one, or both, of these errors on a website and weren’t sure what it meant? This FAQ is designed to help you understand the differences between a 301 and a 302 redirect.
What is a 301 Redirect?
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another. 301 redirects are helpful if you are moving your site to a new domain or syncing two different websites together. In this case, you will have to update the links to redirect appropriately.
What is a 302 Redirect?
A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect from one URL to another. A 302 redirect can be used on several occasions, such as A/B testing a web page, updating seasonal business products or services, and other similar instances.
Which Redirect is Suitable for Transitioning to a New Website?
This would be a 301 redirect. To get started, you will have to set up 301 redirects from every individual page on your old website to the equivalent page on the new website. Website transitions can be tricky. It is not as simple as switching from your old domain to a new one. If there are pages on your old website that you are looking to remove for good, it’s not required to redirect those to a new URL. One last important piece of information is to update every reference or external link with a redirect.
What if I No Longer Have a Product or Service Available?
Regarding removing a product or service from your site, a 302 redirect is best used for these measures. Suppose you no longer sell a product, but the page for it has a significant amount of traffic driven from previous external links. In that case, you can still maintain this traffic by utilizing a 302 redirect. Linking the old page to a new URL that contains similar products or services, you can still support the business you’re looking for without losing out on this high volume of traffic.
Contact Us Today
If you’re looking for expert assistance with 301 and 302 redirects, contact one of our professionals at Boston Web Marketing today. We are more than happy to work with you on creating redirects for your site as needed. To get started, call us at (857) 526-0096 or email us at sales@getfoundquick.com.