301 Redirect (Permanent Redirect) is the HTTP status code that tells search engines a URL has been moved permanently to another URL. All traffic and SEO value coming to the old URL (PageRank, backlinks, anchor text context) are transferred to the new URL.
Situations where a 301 redirect should be used:
- Site redesign or URL structure changes
- Domain change
- Migration from HTTP to HTTPS
- Standardization between WWW and non-WWW
- Merging two similar pieces of content
- Redirecting old/deleted pages to relevant new pages
301 best practices:
- Redirect to a relevant page with similar content (redirecting to an unrelated page is considered a “soft 404”)
- Do not create redirect chains (A → B → C; use A → C instead)
- Avoid infinite loops (A → B → A)
- Implement redirects at the server level (htaccess, nginx); JavaScript redirects are a weaker signal
Tip: Before a site redesign, be sure to create an old URL → new URL map. After the redesign, monitor the “404” report in Search Console and complete redirects for any pages that were missed.