Redirect Strategies

Redirects tell browsers and search engines that a page has moved to a new location. Using the right redirect type is crucial for preserving SEO value and providing a good user experience.

Types of Redirects

All HTTP Redirect Codes

When to Use Which Redirect

Implementation Methods

.htaccess (Apache)

# Single page redirect
Redirect 301 /old-page.html /new-page.html

# Entire domain redirect
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^olddomain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

# HTTP to HTTPS
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

Nginx

# Single page redirect
location = /old-page {
    return 301 /new-page;
}

# HTTP to HTTPS
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

Redirect Chains and Loops

Best Practices

Common Mistakes

1. Using 302 instead of 301 - Temporary redirects don't pass full link equity
2. Redirect chains - Multiple hops lose equity and slow pages
3. Not redirecting all variations - HTTP, HTTPS, WWW, non-WWW should all resolve
4. Removing redirects too soon - Old links may still point to old URLs
5. Redirecting to irrelevant pages - Hurts user experience and may be seen as soft 404

External Resources

• Google: Redirects and Google Search
• HTTP Status Codes Reference