What Is a 301 Redirect, and When Should You Use One?

A redirect is an instruction that sends anyone (or anything, including a search engine crawler) trying to load one URL to a different URL instead. A 301 redirect is a specific type of that instruction — a server-level response with the HTTP status code 301, which means "Moved Permanently." That distinction between "permanent" and every other kind of redirect is the whole reason 301s matter for SEO: the status code itself tells search engines how to treat the move, and getting it wrong has real consequences for rankings.

What a 301 redirect actually does

When someone requests a URL that has a 301 redirect set up, the server responds with the 301 status code and the new destination address, and the browser (or crawler) automatically follows it to the new URL — usually invisibly and within a fraction of a second, so a human visitor barely notices anything happened. For search engines, that status code carries meaning beyond just "go here instead." A 301 tells Google this move is permanent, which prompts it to update its index to treat the new URL as the canonical version of that content going forward, and to transfer most of the old URL's accumulated ranking signal — things like backlinks pointing to it and any established relevance for the queries it ranked for — to the new destination.

301 vs. 302 vs. other redirect types

The status code is the whole point, because different codes signal different intent, and search engines treat them differently.

• 301 (Moved Permanently). Use when a page has permanently moved or been replaced and the old URL should never be the primary version again. Passes most ranking signal to the new URL.
• 302 (Found / Moved Temporarily). Use for genuinely temporary moves — an A/B test, a maintenance page, a seasonal redirect you plan to reverse. A 302 signals to search engines that the original URL is still the "real" one and should stay indexed, so it generally doesn't transfer ranking signal the way a 301 does.
• 307 (Temporary Redirect). The HTTP/1.1-era equivalent of a 302, with a stricter technical requirement that the request method (GET, POST, etc.) not change. Functionally treated like a 302 for SEO purposes.
• Meta refresh. A redirect declared in a page's HTML rather than at the server level, with an optional delay before it fires. Slower, less reliable, and generally discouraged in favor of a proper server-level redirect.
• JavaScript redirect. A redirect triggered by client-side code after the page loads. Search engines can often follow these, but not as reliably or immediately as a server-level 301 — avoid relying on one for a redirect that matters for SEO.

When to actually use a 301 redirect

• A page is permanently deleted and there's a clearly equivalent replacement. E.g., an old service page replaced by a newer, better one covering the same topic.
• You're changing your URL structure. E.g., moving from /services/hvac-repair.html to /hvac-repair.
• You're migrating domains — moving from an old domain to a new one entirely, where every old URL needs to point to its equivalent new URL. See our website migration SEO checklist for the full process.
• You're standardizing www vs. non-www, or forcing HTTPS. Redirecting http:// and non-www versions to a single canonical https://www (or non-www) version avoids search engines treating them as separate, competing URLs.
• You're merging two pages into one. If two thin, overlapping pages are being consolidated into a single stronger page, redirect the removed URL to the surviving one.

When not to use a 301

Reach for a 302 instead of a 301 for anything genuinely temporary — a limited-time promotional page, a maintenance redirect, an A/B test variant. And resist the urge to redirect a deleted page that has no real equivalent replacement just to avoid a 404. If the content is genuinely gone with nothing comparable to send visitors to, a proper 404 (or a 410, which explicitly signals the content was intentionally and permanently removed) is a more honest response than forcing traffic onto an unrelated page. See our guide on what a 404 error actually means for when leaving one in place is the right call.

Common mistakes worth avoiding

• Redirect chains. URL A → B → C → final destination. Each hop adds latency and dilutes signal transfer; point old URLs directly at the current final destination.
• Redirecting everything to the homepage. A blanket "redirect all deleted pages to the homepage" rule sends both users and search engines somewhere irrelevant to what they were originally looking for — a specific, relevant destination (or a proper 404) is almost always better.
• Redirect loops. A redirects to B, which redirects back to A — this breaks the page entirely for both users and crawlers.
• Forgetting to update internal links. Even after redirecting an old URL correctly, internal links still pointing at the old URL force every visitor and crawler through an unnecessary extra hop. Update internal links to point directly at the new URL.

How to actually implement one

Implementation depends on where your site is hosted. On Apache servers, redirects are typically added to an .htaccess file; on Nginx, in the server configuration; many modern hosts, CMSs, and platforms (WordPress plugins, Netlify, Vercel, Shopify, and most website builders) offer a redirect manager in their dashboard so you don't need to touch server config files directly. Before a redesign or migration, it's worth mapping out every old URL and its new destination in advance rather than improvising redirects as 404s show up — our 301 Redirect Generator builds that redirect map for you in .htaccess, Nginx, or Netlify format, free and with no signup.

The short version

A 301 redirect is the right tool specifically for permanent moves — it tells search engines to update their index and pass most of a URL's earned ranking signal to its replacement. Use a 302 for anything temporary, point redirects at genuinely relevant destinations rather than the homepage by default, avoid chains, and keep the redirects in place indefinitely once they're live.