301 vs 302 Redirect: Which One to Use (and SEO Impact)

Redirects are how the web tells a browser (or a search engine) that a resource now lives somewhere else. The two you will reach for most often are the 301 and the 302, and choosing the wrong one is one of the most common technical SEO mistakes. They look almost identical to a visitor, but they send completely different signals to Google.

The Core Difference: Permanent vs Temporary

A redirect is an HTTP response with a 3xx status code and a Location header telling the client where to go next. The status code is the whole message:

• 301 Moved Permanently — "This URL is gone for good. Update your records and use the new one from now on."
• 302 Found — "The content is temporarily somewhere else. Keep asking for the original URL."

That single distinction drives everything else, especially how link equity flows.

SEO Impact: Link Equity and Indexing

The reason SEOs care so much is link equity (the ranking value, sometimes called PageRank, that a page accumulates from its inbound links).

With a 301, Google eventually drops the old URL from its index, transfers the accumulated ranking signals to the destination, and treats the new URL as canonical. With a 302, Google deliberately keeps the original URL indexed because you have told it the move is temporary, so ranking signals stay put.

A useful modern nuance: Google has stated it can pass link equity through 302s if they persist long enough, treating a long-lived 302 as if it were a 301. But you should never rely on that guesswork. Send the code that matches your actual intent and remove all ambiguity.

When to Use Each

Use a 301 when the change is permanent:

• Migrating from HTTP to HTTPS.
• Moving from www to non-www (or the reverse).
• Changing a URL slug or restructuring your site.
• Consolidating duplicate pages onto one canonical URL.
• Retiring a page and pointing it to the closest replacement.

Use a 302 when the change is genuinely temporary:

• A/B testing two versions of a page.
• A short promotional or seasonal landing page.
• Sending users to a temporary maintenance notice.
• Geo- or device-based routing you intend to reverse.

If you are unsure and the move is likely permanent, choose 301. It is the safe default for almost every migration.

A Note on 307 and 308

You may also see 307 Temporary Redirect and 308 Permanent Redirect. These are the strict HTTP/1.1 equivalents that guarantee the request method (GET, POST) is preserved. For everyday content SEO, 301 and 302 remain the standard, but 308 behaves like a 301 and 307 like a 302 for ranking purposes.

Common Mistakes

1. Using a 302 for a permanent move. This is the classic error. Ranking signals never transfer, and the old URL lingers in the index. Many frameworks and plugins default to 302, so always verify.
2. Redirect chains. A → B → C wastes crawl budget and dilutes signals. Point every old URL directly at the final destination.
3. Redirecting everything to the homepage. A mass redirect of deleted pages to / is treated as a soft 404 and passes little value. Map each URL to its most relevant replacement.
4. Looping redirects. A redirecting to B and B back to A breaks the page entirely.

How to Check Your Redirects

Never assume your server is sending what you think. Inspect the actual response:

• Trace the full hop-by-hop path with a Redirect Checker to confirm each step returns the status code you expect and there are no chains or loops.
• View the raw Location header and status line with an HTTP Header Viewer.
• On Apache servers, produce correct Redirect 301 and RewriteRule directives with an .htaccess Generator.

Takeaway

Match the redirect to reality: 301 for permanent, 302 for temporary. When a move is permanent, the 301 consolidates link equity and rankings onto the new URL, which is almost always what you want. Verify every redirect after you deploy, keep them single-hop, and never let a stray 302 quietly cap the value of a permanent migration.