Member Avatar for Bruce_R

Hi Folks,

What is the difference between 301 and 302 redirections.Will it affect our site page rank ? if yes how it affects?
Thanks
Bruce

Edited by Dani because: Plug snipped
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The replies from , , , , and correctly flag that redirects affect search behavior. Rather than repeat basic definitions, the rest of this post focuses on practical steps, common pitfalls and quick checks that rarely appear in short answers.

Start with a redirect map: list every old URL and its final target, then update internal links and the XML sitemap to point to the final URL rather than relying on redirects. Avoid chains (A -> B -> C). Consolidate to a single redirect (A -> C) so crawlers and users hit the destination in one hop.

Implementation and testing essentials:

  • Use server-side redirects (not meta-refresh or JavaScript) so crawlers see the status code immediately.
  • Preserve query strings when needed; check how your server handles them.
  • If you must preserve HTTP method for form submissions, use the method-preserving status codes rather than changing the request method.
  • Don’t silently redirect lots of 404s to the homepage; serve a proper removal response when content is gone.

Example snippets and a quick test:

# Apache (mod_alias)
Redirect 301 /old-page.html /new-page.html

# Nginx
location = /old-page.html {
    return 301 /new-page.html;
}

# Quick test: follow redirects and show final code+URL
curl -I -L -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} %{url_effective}\n" http://example.com/old-page.html

Monitor and validate: run a site crawl (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb or similar), check server logs for repeated hits and redirect loops, and review Search Console for indexing changes. When removing content instead of relocating it, consider the proper removal status. Finally, document every change and keep redirect rules as minimal and explicit as possible to reduce errors over time.

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Member Avatar for Tiggerito

A 301 is a Permanent redirect. It is used to tell browsers or search engines that the page they just got sent to as permanently moved to a new location. Search engines will use this indication to transfer their indexed data from the old page to the new one.

A 302 is a Temporary Redirect. In this case the search engines do not transfer their index data.

A 302 redirect means no PageRank is transferred over the redirect. A 301 redirect means most (but not all) of the PageRank is transferred.

You want to avoid 302 redirects and use 301 redirects as sparingly as possible (like on a website restructure).

Member Avatar for MagentoC

If that temporary effect you should be using 302 redirect, else for permanent 301 always good to use

Member Avatar for 4deewar

301-redirect is redirect your link to permanently towards index page link and 302-redirect is temporary.

Member Avatar for rahulbatra

301 is permanent redirect and 302 is temporary redirect and it effects your PR.

Member Avatar for shangrilrao

Differences between 301 and 302 are of importance to the optimization of search engines. A 301 will keep all of your search rankings of the old location.

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