A 301 redirect is a type of redirection that is permanent and passes link equity or the ranking to the redirected page. 301 is a type of HTTP status code. Many SEO Experts claim that the 301 redirect is the best method for implementing redirects on a website.
Common status code classes:
1xxs – Informational responses: The server is thinking through the request.
2xxs – Success! The requested query made by the client ( client here refers to the client’s browser) was completed, and the server gave the browser the expected response.
3xxs –Redirection: The process of redirection started. The request query was received, but there’s a redirect of some kind.
4xxs – Client errors: Page not found. The site or page is not reachable.
It is an error on the website’s side of the conversation and often appears when a page is not there on the site.)
5xxs – Server errors: It is a status code in which a valid request was made by the client, but the server failed to complete the request.
301 redirect is a redirection of a page(Source) to another page(Target), which is often recommended by SEO Experts for 404( Not Found) pages.
Before diving deep first know the types of redirection in brief:
- 301, “Moved Permanently”—recommended for SEO
- 302, “Found” or “Moved Temporarily”
- Meta Refresh
We will only talk about 301 redirects because it’s the most beneficial in terms of SEO.
What are 404 Pages
404 pages refer to the pages not found in your web pages, but somehow, listed on search engines.
If one clicks such links and lands on a nowhere land, i.e., 404 pages, he can bounce back on another site.
404 pages are bad for SEO because it gives a bad user experience and increases the bounce rate on a website. Thus it should be redirected using 301 redirects.
Why you should use 301 redirects on 404 Not Found pages
Using 301 redirects, you can permanently redirect all the link juice and traffic to the desired page. This technique also reduces 404 pages. 301 redirects have a positive impact on your website’s SEO because search engine bots will not find 404 pages because they are redirected using 301 redirects.
Why Set Up a 301 Redirect?
The following are the reasons to set up a 301 redirect:
- If you want to redirect all www and HTTP versions to an https site
- If you have renamed a website with a different URL and you want to transfer all your existing traffic to the URL with the new name you created.
- To redirect traffic to a website from other URLs owned by the same organization.
301 Redirect Transfers Link Equity:
Link Equity is the authority that a webpage has in terms of traffic and rankings. Earlier, we used to measure that by Page Rank, but it’s not public, and we cannot calculate it precisely. Most of us measure the webpage authority now by DA and PA, introduced by MOZ.
The significant advantage of 301 Redirect is that it transfers the Page Authority by telling the search engine bots “Please redirect this page to the new URL every time you visit this page and follow this rule forever.”
Final Words
A 301 redirect is very crucial for maintaining and transferring the domain authority to the new domain. Additionally, the 301 redirects are recommended by the top SEO Experts because it follows the basic principle of redirection ie, to send website visitors to the right website address to get what is relevant to their search query.
Also, brands sometimes have to buy almost similar domains. They have to do so to generate more search traffic to their website. A 301 redirect is necessary to make sure that the brand’s original domain maintains its search authority in the process.
Additional Reference:
Reference https://moz.com/learn/seo/http-status-codes
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