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What is URL Redirection ? [Most Commonly Used Types]

URL Redirection is the process of forwarding or transferring visitors from one URL to another URL. For example; if you redirect/forward www.MyTipsHub.com to Google.com, and when you browse mytipshub.com you will be redirected to Google.com. Such implements accomplished from the server-side and to do these changes you’ll need cPanel/DNS settings access for the domain which you want to forward.

Basic Types of Redirections [Most Commonly Used]

1. 301 – “Permanently Moved”
2. 302 – “Temporarily Moved” or “Found”
3. 410 – “Gone Status Code”
4. Meta Refresh

These redirections are used for different purposes and each one has its own importance. But commonly 301 and 307 are often used for forwarding URL because these are recommended for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and also for search engines.

1#  301 – Permanently moved

This type is recommended due to SEO and search engine perspectives. 301 inform the search engines that the original URL is permanently redirected to a new URL. Also, this method passes 99% link juice. Let’s say you want to buy a new domain name or change domain, in that case, 301 is very useful for transferring your site from the old domain to the new domain.

Applying this redirection will never lose your ranking in the eyes of search engines because if you implement 301 redirection, the search engines will give the importance to a new domain as the old one. This article may help you to forward URLs “How to redirect URL with 301 Redirection? “(Update Soon)

2#  302 – Temporarily moved or Found

This one is used for forwarding website temporary or for a specific time, not recommended for SEO if applying on changing the old domain to a new one. If you are moving your site from one domain to another, don’t ever use 307 redirections because this approach is used to avoid passing any link juice or SEO authority.

That is why this type of redirection mostly not used. The internet is working on the HTTP protocol. There are two versions of the HTTP protocol, the first type HTTP 1.0 “Moved Temporarily” and the second is HTTP1.1 “Found” also known as 307. The functionality of 307 and 302 is quite similar, but the main difference is passing link juice and SEO rankings.

3#  410 – Gone Status Code

This type of redirection is used for those pages which are permanently deleted and informing users that these links are removed and not available anymore. If users will browse these links show them a message like “the requested page does not exist anymore“.   

4#  Meta Refresh

The fourth type is “Meta Refresh”. This type of redirection is based on “Page level” rather than “Server-based”. These are slower than others and use for refreshing page after few seconds like 5~10 seconds with the text of “You will be redirected within 5 seconds otherwise Click Here”. You can easily find this type of forwarding in payment gateway sites such as PayPal, Payza, etc. Meta Refresh redirection is not passing any link juice and not recommended for SEO practices.

[Note: There are 1xx more redirections/HTTP protocol code types buy I just mentioned here some of the most commonly used or you often face.]

Why Redirections are Used and When?

These redirections are used for different purposes according to the condition. If you want to forward a URL permanently, you should use 301, but if temporarily then go for 302 or 307.

Some common reasons are:

1. If Site owner want to change their domain name
2. Redirecting old domain to new domain
3. Merging more than one URL’s to single web page/website. For example; if you type in web browser “www.fb.com” this address will automatically redirect to www.facebook.com
4. Don’t want to lose your Ranking (SEO)
5. Passing 90~99% Link Juice (in 301 case)
6. Performing site maintenance
7. Refreshing a page after a specific time

Conclusion

URL Redirections are very important on the internet. Always use 301, if you are going to change your domain name or web address. However, mostly 301 is used for forwarding an old URL to a new URL. SEO gurus suggest using 301 because of passing link juice, search ranking, SEO and many other factors.

If you want to forward your links or site address, you should choose any above mentioned type according to your situation. If you have any problem, questions and debates regarding this article feel free to write in the comments section.