A 301 vs. a 302 Redirect (And When to Use Each)

Redirects look interchangeable from the outside — the visitor lands in the right place either way. But search engines treat them very differently, and choosing the wrong one can quietly hand your rankings away. Here's the difference.

The 301 — permanent

A 301 tells browsers and search engines a page has moved permanently. Google passes the old URL's link equity and ranking signals to the new one, and the new URL replaces the old in results. Renaming a page, consolidating articles, moving domains — this is the one you want.

The 302 — temporary

A 302 says the move is temporary and the original URL will return. Search engines generally keep the ORIGINAL URL indexed (exceptions exist), so the 302 is right for short-lived situations — a seasonal page swap or a brief maintenance detour. Use a 302 when you mean to change back; use a 301 when you don't.

The canonical tag — a suggestion, not a redirect

A canonical tag lives in a page's header and suggests which URL is the 'original' when several pages carry the same or very similar content. Unlike a redirect, the visitor stays where they are — it only tells search engines which version to index. Essential for filtered catalogs, printer-friendly duplicates and parameter-laden URLs.

The meta refresh — the last resort

A meta refresh is an HTML-level instruction to send the browser elsewhere after a delay. Short ones (a few seconds, especially zero) are mostly treated like permanent redirects; longer ones may be indexed as normal pages. It works — but server-side 301s are cleaner, faster and more reliable. Use meta refresh only when you can't touch the server.