What is Redirection in SEO?

Redirection is the process of forwarding one URL to a different URL. There are three main kinds of redirects: 301, 302, and meta refresh.

Why you might need to do a redirect:

• Buying a new domain and redirect your old site to the new domain.
• Buying an old domain with links/authority and you redirect to an existing website.
• You merge two existing websites into one website.
• You delete old pages for products/services you no longer offer.
• You switch CMS platforms and have a new URL structure.
• You enable permalinks in WordPress i.e. “pretty SEO URLs”.

Types of Redirects

• 301, "Moved Permanently"—recommended for SEO.
• 302, "Found" or "Moved Temporarily".
• Meta Refresh.

How do you do it?

It’s as easy as putting this .php code into your public_html folder in your hosting.

<?php
$redirectlink = ‘http://www.puttheredirectedwebpageurlhere.com‘;
//do not edit below here
header (‘HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently’);
header(‘Location: ‘.$redirectlink);
exit;
?>

This code will use a 301 redirect the page to the URL that you desire.The filename of this .php should be the URL slug of the page you want to redirect.

301 Moved Permanently

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect which passes between 90-99% of link juice (ranking power) to the redirected page. 301 refers to the HTTP status code for this type of redirect. In most instances, the 301 redirect is the best method for implementing redirects on a website.

302 Found (HTTP 1.1) / Moved Temporarily (HTTP 1.0)

A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect. It passes 0% of link juice (ranking power) and, in most cases, should not be used. The Internet runs on a protocol called HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which dictates how URLs work. It has two major versions, 1.0 and 1.1. In the first version, 302 referred to the status code "Moved Temporarily." This was changed in version 1.1 to mean "Found."

Meta Refresh

Meta refreshes are a type of redirect executed on the page level rather than the server level. They are usually slower, and not a recommended SEO technique. They are most commonly associated with a five-second countdown with the text "If you are not redirected in five seconds, click here." Meta refreshes do pass some link juice, but are not recommended as an SEO tactic due to poor usability and the loss of link juice passed.