Imagine owning a popular store and moving to another neighborhood forever due to an immediate and unexpected move. In such a situation, how do you announce your transfer to customers? Good job! With a stellar, you have moved to a new address. The same with a simple banner goes for our site. If we move a website or page forever from URL A to URL B, Redirect 301 acts exactly like the notification banner to announce a new address to users.
Redirect 301 has an important place in maintaining credibility, and the ranking of the old page site’s old pages seems a little strange. Still, we invite you to continue reading this article to believe that the use of Redirect 301 plays an important role in the success of our site SEO. In This, we will show you what a 301 redirect is, its uses, and how we can use it. Finally, you will get acquainted with a great technique for increasing the site’s organic traffic through Redirect 301, which you will anywhere else!
What is a 301 redirect?
301 redirect means permanently moving an old page or URL to a new page or URL. “This page has been permanently moved to a new address, and this is a new URL,” 301 Redirect tells Google bots in simple language. “We no longer decide to go back to the previous page.” Google responds: “Yes, for sure! “I’m sending the user to a new page right now.”
Example: Redirect the old blog.example.com page to the new address example.com/blog.
After redirecting the old URL to the new URL, each time we try to use blog.example.com, the browser redirects us to example.com/blog. Some timSometimethis, a new address in Google will replace the old address.
Why should we use Redirect 301?
There are several reasons to change the permanent URL of a page. Some redirects only change the URL of a page, but others affect the main bombsite’s main domain in general. The most important criticism is that we should use 301 to redirect a page and transfer its credibility to the most relevant page on the site.
- Change the URL of a page without changing its content (change URL)
- Enable site SSL certificate or change https to HTTP
- Change the main domain of the site
Difference between Redirect 301 and Redirect 302 and Canonical Tag
We have different codes for redirecting pages; Code 301, code 302, 303, 307, and 308, but the most famous are 301. This code is somewhat similar to the 302 code and the canonical tag in terms of how it works and is used, and this usually confuses people who are just learning SEO.
The 302 redirect is very similar to the 301 redirect and takes the user directly to the new page, except that the 302 redirect is temporary and does not transfer any value or rank from the old page to the new page. This code tells Google: “We will be back to the previous page soon!”.
The canonical tag is similar to a 301 redirect. When we use a canonical tag for multiple pages with duplicate content, the score and value of those pages are transferred to the Canonical URL, but at the same time users c, can visit and access other pages. While in 301, the redirectredirectser is redirected directly to the new URL and will not have access to the previous URL. For more information, we suggest you read the article ” What is a canonical tag? ”
How Google bots treat users after a 301 redirect
When we redirect a page to the new 301 URL, Google bots realize that the old page has been redirected to the new page forever and is no longer available. As a result, when a user clicks on an old address, browsers quickly send it to the new address.
In this process, instead of the user getting a 404 error and having an unpleasant user experience, he enters the new URL page in the shortest time. This issue positively affects SEO and site user experience, which we will discuss in detail below, but we. Still, we that you read the article ” Impact of improving user experience in SEO ” for further reading.
What effect does Redirect 301 have on SEO?
There have been various margins and quotes about the impact of 301 redirects on SEO since 2013, but what has been officially confirmed by Google experts. And is clear to us that analyzing the behavior of Google bots with redirected pages is the positive effect of using 301 Redirect care about transferring page credentials, creep budgets, and user experience; We will talk about them in detail below.
1. Transfers the value and rank of the old page to the new page
Suppose we want to transfer all the value and credibility of internal and external linking of an old page to the new page we want. In that case, the first and best way is to use 301 redirectredirectsEOs attribute this to the impact of the Rank Page algorithm. If you are familiar with PageRank, you know that one of the most important algorithms of Google is to evaluate the rank or value of a page based on the quantity and quality of links related to that page.
What does Rank Page have to do with 301 redirects?!
Before we used a 301 redirect from one page to another, the old page rank would be lost. But after 2016, Google’s rules for redirecting pages changed dramatically, with Matt Katz (head of Google’s webspam) officially announcing on Twitter that using Redirect 301 had no negative effect on reducing page rank.
Also, in 2019, a Google expert announced in a tweet that with a 301 redirect, all the credibility and value of the old page would be transferred to the new page. The algorithm automatically redirects all validity and value from internal and external link building to the new URL when it encounters a 301 redirect to a new URL.
2. Prevents wasting of site creep budget
Creep but creeps the budget Google spends on crawling and indexing our site pages. This budget is not the same for all sites and is more limited for large sites with a large Manahan smaller sites. So we have to control it as much as possible.
When we use temporary redirects, such as 302 redirects, every time Google scans a new URL, it scans the old URL to make the necessary changes if the temporary redirect is disabled. But when we use a 301 redirect, Google crawls the old page once, and when it encounters a 301 redirect code, it goes to the new page and never returns to the previous address. As a result, the site crawl budget is not wasted on crawling old pages. For more, you read the article What is Creep Budget?
3. Improves the user experience of the site
One of the worst experiences we often have when using sites is encountering a 404 error and story pages that are never will never. These pages disrupt the user’s constructive interaction with the site and can drive our new visitors away from the site forever in a fraction of a second.
A 404 error occurs for various, but the surest and, of course, the best way to fix it is to redirect the missing page to the most relevant page on the site via a 301 redirect. By doing this, the user will be redirected to the new URL immediately after clicking on the previous page address, and there will be no more than 404 NOT Found errors.
Get acquainted (gain, obtain) with present-day techniques from 301 Redirect.
There a.re several ways to use 301 Redirect. These methods vary depending on the CMS or site content management system. Here are the best ways to run 301 Redirect on WordPress sites and sites with a dedicated CMS panel.
How to run a 301 redirect for WordPress sites
Running a 301 redirect on WordPress sites is easier than you think because there are various plugins designed for WordPress that do the job of moving the old URL to the new URL without the need for coding and in the shortest time.
1. Plugin 301 Redirects
This plugin is free. Just aftAftering and entering the main panel of the plugin, select the type of redirect, old address or Redirect and new address or Redirect to transfer the address.
2. Yoast SEO plugin
To use Just’s features, we need to get a premium version. Using Yoast SEO is as easy as using the 301 Redirects plugin and only requires entering the old URL and the new URL.
301 redirect methods on sites with dedicated CMS
For siteTherey ways to get 301 redirects for sites with dedicated CMSe most common way is to edit the site .htaccess file. This file is located at the root of the site or root host.
To make any changes to the .htaccess file, we need to know its specific code. The most common redirect codes that can be used by most sites are:
- Redirect old page to new page
and Redirect 301 /old-page.html /new-page.html
- Redirect old domain to new domain
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond% {HTTP_HOST} ^ oldsite.com [NC, OR]
RewriteCond% {HTTP_HOST ^ ^ www.oldsite.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^ (. *) $ Https://newsite.com/$1 [L, R = 301, NC]
- Redirect domain without www to domain with www
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond% {HTTP_HOST ^ ^ example.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^ (. *) $ Http://www.example.com/$1 [L, R = 301, NC]
- Redirect domain with www to domain without www
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond% {HTTP_HOST ^ ^ www.example.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^ (. *) $ Http://example.com/$1 [L, R = 301, NC]
- Transfer domain with HTTP to HTTPS domain
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond% {HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^ (. *) $ Https: //% {HTTP_HOST}% {REQUEST_URI} [L, R = 301]
How to use 301 redirects to increase organic site traffic
You may not believe it, but we can very cleverly use 301 redirectredirectsease site organic traffic. But how? Very easy, by combining the content of two old pages and producinproduce high-quality content!
The cocktail technique or combining old page content and a new page
If we have two old pages whose content is of good quality, we can produce much better content that is undoubtedly worthy of more views from Google by combining the content of these two pages. The process is to combine the content of both pages and use any new content, such as text, images, video, podcasts, etc., which enriches the new page for users. By doing this, we have produced much higher quality content from Google that deserves more organic traffic!
We should not forget just a few short and important points:
- The content of both pages should be similar.
- The probability of cannibalism on these two pages is very low.
- The new page will normally have organic (even low) traffic.
- The old page should be in good condition in terms of quantity and quality of backlinks
4 Common Mistakes in 301 Redirect That We Must Beware of
RegardleEven though 301 is an easy task, its proper use can help maintain the value and credibility of our site pages. There are small and big mistakes that we may make unintentionally or due to a lack of awareness of the consequences and Cause trouble. Here are four common mistakes in using a 301 redirect there essential for an SEO expert to know.
1. Draw a red line around using the chain of redirects!
“Google bots do not follow more than five consec five redirects, so they do not reach the destination page,” says John Mueller, Google’s webmaster.
So do not try to use multiple redirects in a row that not only mislead Google bots, Anders. Using a chain of 301 redirects has a bad effect on the user experience of our site visitors because either they will not see any page, or they will have to wait longer than usual to open the page they want; The best way is to use a “one” redirect chain; Redirect URL A to URL B.
2. Repair broken redirects
As mentiAirect automatically moves the user from the old page to the new page. Now imagine if one of these URLs is broken or corrupted. What w. What is the result?
Good job! The user encounters error 401 or error 501, returns to the Google search page, and we easily lose a potential customer or audience. Worse, Google bots see this user behavior as a negative signal, the consequences of which will be to drive organic traffic to our site. So it is better to check the links and redirects of the site from time to time with the help of tools such as screaming frog or Website Auditor and make sure that they are safe.
3. Remove 301 redirected pages from the sitemap
Sitemap A sitemap is the most important reference for Google bots for crawling our site pages. Since pages with status code 301 no longer exist technically, there is no need to ask Google to check them; We no longer need these pages. So if you think these pages are left on the sitemap, be sure of them, as they waste the site creep budget completely aimlessly.
To do thWe, find the site map URL and download all site URLs with tools like URL Extractor. The next step is to enter the list of URLs in the Redirect 301 Checker program to find out which pages have used Redirect 301. Once these pages are identified, we will delete them.
4. Make sure the HTTP version of the site is redirected to the HTTPS version
Enabling SSL certain indicate or HTTPS version of the site has several benefits for the site SEO, including:
- Having this certificate is one of the factors for Google to improve the site’s position in the ranking of SERP page results.
- Having an SSL certificate guarantees the site’s security and protects the info users’ information. We need to make sure that the HTTP version of the site is properly redirected to the HTTPS version. Checking this is not a difficult task. We need to enter the site address as http://example.com. If the redirect is done correctly, ife is automatically redirected to https://example.com, the reise we have to do the 301 domain redirect steps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to organize 404 pages using 301 redirectredirectsa large number of 404 pages can be a big risk for our site SEO? Still, we can redirect these pages to the most relevant page on the site.
What is meant by Chain Redirect?
There is an advanced type of redirect in which page A is redirected to page B, page B to page C, and page C to page A, or a longer sequence similar to this one. This chain is called a 301 redirect loop. Because the user gets caught in it, he finds no escape and gets nervous and tired.
Can we find the address of 301 pages through the Google Console search panel?
Yes. To do the outer Coverage section of the search console, click on the Excluded tab among the available tabs. In the DGo with Redirect, see the 301 redirected URLs in the Details section.
Concluding remarks
Finally, we emphasize that 301 redirects are not a way to improve site SEO, but we can use this feature to maintain the status and value of our old pages. That is, if one day we have to leave a page, instead of deleting it, we move it to a new URL so that the credibility and rankings gained over the years from valuable content and internal and external linking continue to be stored in the site’s repository. ; So do not underestimate it.
Now it’s your turn!
If you have any questions or experiences about using Redirect 301 or its positive effects on SEO, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section. We promise to answer your questions as soon as possible.