Redirect SEO Guide: 301 vs 302, Chains, and Best Practices

301 vs 302: which to use when

A 301 redirect is permanent - it tells search engines the old URL is gone forever and passes nearly all link equity to the new URL. Use 301 for: content you have permanently moved, URL restructuring, HTTPS migration, domain migrations, and consolidating duplicate pages. A 302 redirect is temporary - it tells search engines the old URL still exists and to return later. Use 302 only when you genuinely intend to restore the original URL, such as during temporary maintenance. In practice, most SEO redirects should be 301.

How much PageRank do redirects pass?

Google has confirmed that 301 redirects pass essentially the same link equity as a direct link - the previously cited 15% loss is no longer accurate for modern crawlers. Chain your redirects wisely: A to B to C is still less efficient than A directly to C. Each hop in a redirect chain introduces additional crawl cost and slight inefficiency. Always redirect to the final destination directly when possible.

Redirect chains: finding and fixing them

A redirect chain is when URL A redirects to B which redirects to C. Chains longer than 2 hops waste crawl budget, slow down page delivery for users, and dilute the efficiency of link equity transfer. Find chains using Screaming Frog - it traces all redirect hops and shows the full chain length. Fix by updating each redirect to point directly to the final destination URL. After fixing, resubmit your sitemap so Google discovers the consolidated paths.

Redirect loops

A redirect loop is when A redirects to B which redirects back to A, causing an infinite loop that returns an error. They are almost always caused by misconfigured server rules during migrations or plugin conflicts in WordPress. Find them in Screaming Frog (they appear as redirect loop errors) or in Google Search Console Coverage report. Fix by tracing the redirect chain manually in your server configuration or .htaccess file.

Sitemaps and redirects

Your sitemap should never contain URLs that redirect. Only include the final destination canonical URLs. If a URL in your sitemap returns a 301 redirect, Google Search Console reports it as Submitted URL has redirect. Update your sitemap to contain the redirected-to URL instead. After any significant redirect work, audit your sitemap for redirect URLs using SitemapFixer or Screaming Frog.

307 and 308 redirects: when they apply

HTTP 307 (Temporary Redirect) and 308 (Permanent Redirect) are the method-preserving counterparts to 302 and 301. Unlike 301/302 which convert POST requests to GET, 307 and 308 preserve the original HTTP method. For SEO purposes, 308 is treated equivalently to 301 by Google — it passes full link equity and signals a permanent move. Use 308 for REST API endpoints that receive POST requests and need a permanent redirect. For standard webpage redirects, 301 remains the conventional choice and is universally understood by all crawlers.

Canonicals vs redirects: which to use

301 redirects and canonical tags both signal URL consolidation to Google, but they serve different scenarios. Use a 301 redirect when a page is permanently gone and should never be accessed at the old URL — the redirect physically sends users and bots to the new destination. Use a canonical tag when two URLs legitimately need to coexist (e.g., a product page accessible via multiple category paths) but you want to designate one as the primary. Never use both a redirect and a canonical on the same page — the redirect wins and the canonical on the redirected page is ignored.

JavaScript redirects and their SEO impact

Redirects implemented via JavaScript (window.location = 'new-url', meta refresh tags, or client-side router redirects) are processed slower by Googlebot than server-side 301 redirects. Googlebot must render the page to execute the JavaScript before discovering the redirect destination, adding significant delay to the two-wave crawl process. Meta refresh tags with a delay of 0 are treated similarly to 301 redirects by Google, but meta refresh with a delay value is treated as a soft redirect and passes link equity less reliably. Always prefer server-side 301 redirects over JavaScript-based alternatives for any SEO-critical URL changes.

Auditing your full redirect inventory

Large sites accumulate redirect debt over years: deleted pages, URL restructures, CMS migrations, and A/B test URLs all generate redirects that often chain together. Run a full redirect audit at least annually using Screaming Frog or a similar crawler. Export your complete redirect map, identify chains longer than one hop, identify any loops, and find redirects pointing to pages that themselves redirect. For each chain: update the source redirect to point directly to the final destination. Document your cleaned redirect map in a spreadsheet and enforce a one-hop maximum as a development policy going forward.

Related Guides

• JavaScript SEO: Make JS Sites Crawlable
• HTTPS Migration: Switch Without Losing Rankings
• Crawl Budget SEO: Stop Wasting Crawls on Bad Pages
• Crawl Budget Optimization: Get More Crawl Value
• Pagination SEO: Handle Page 2, 3, 4 Right
• Redirect Chains: How They Hurt SEO and How to Fix Them
• 301 vs 302 Redirects: When to Use Each for SEO