A redirect is a method to ship folks and bots to a brand new URL once they request the previous URL, however the web page has modified places.
Whenever you transfer to a brand new tackle within the US, you arrange mail forwarding with america Postal Service (USPS). If somebody sends mail to your previous tackle, USPS will take a look at their mail forwarding guidelines and understand you now not dwell on the previous location. They’ll take the mail and ship it to your new location as an alternative of the previous one.
That’s additionally how redirects work. A consumer or bot requests the previous location, they usually get forwarded to the brand new location. For instance, we moved weblog.ahrefs.com to ahrefs.com/weblog some time again. In the event you attempt to entry weblog.ahrefs.com, you can be forwarded to the brand new URL as an alternative. Watch what occurs.
You’ll need to use redirects to:
- Transfer a web site or web page
- Need to consolidate duplicate pages
- Merge web sites
- Ship customers to a brand new web page after you delete
- Change your URL construction or clear up your URLs
Redirects assist mix alerts between pages and assist engines like google decide which web page they need to present to customers. It is a course of known as canonicalization and Google makes use of it to assist maintain duplicate pages out of its index. In different phrases, redirects are vital for search engine marketing.
There are lots of myths and misunderstandings surrounding redirects within the search engine marketing neighborhood that I hope I can clear up with this text.
Redirects can both be everlasting or short-term, relying on whether or not you intend to go away the redirect in place or not. This additionally impacts which web page might be listed and proven in engines like google which I’ll cowl extra within the subsequent part.
Redirects can be server-side, which means they occur on a server someplace, or client-side, which means they occur contained in the consumer’s browser.
Listed below are a couple of tables you’ll be able to reference that categorize the several types of redirects. I’ll speak extra about every of those within the subsequent part.
| Everlasting Redirects | ||
|---|---|---|
| Server-Aspect | Shopper-Aspect | No Precise Redirect |
| HTTP 301 | Meta refresh (=0 seconds) | Crypto redirect |
| HTTP 308 | HTTP refresh (=0 seconds) | |
| JavaScript redirects | ||
So far as which methodology you must select to implement everlasting redirects, my most popular order could be: 308 / 301 > Meta refresh 0 / HTTP refresh 0 > JavaScript > Crypto
| Non permanent Redirects | |
|---|---|
| Server-Aspect | Shopper-Aspect |
| HTTP 302 | Meta refresh (>0 seconds) |
| HTTP 303 | HTTP refresh (>0 seconds) |
| HTTP 307 |
So far as which methodology you must select to implement short-term redirects, my most popular order could be: 307 / 302 / 303 > Meta refresh 0 / HTTP refresh 0
Server-side redirects don’t essentially must occur in your internet hosting server. It could possibly be “another person’s server” like a CDN or your area title supplier. Shopper-side redirects can be added in a number of methods, however they may at all times hearth within the consumer’s browser.
Listed below are a few of the locations you may discover these redirects:
| The place you may discover redirects | |
|---|---|
| Server-Aspect | Shopper-Aspect |
| Server-level | HTML |
| DNS-level | HTTP Header Response |
| CDN-level | CDN-level (in particular circumstances) |
Let’s take a look at these in additional element.
Everlasting redirects
A everlasting redirect signifies {that a} useful resource has completely moved to a brand new location.
It’s best to use a everlasting redirect when you:
- Completely change the URL of a webpage or different useful resource.
- Completely migrate to a brand new area.
- Change from HTTP to HTTPS.
- Need to repair non-www/www duplicate content material points.
- Completely merge two or extra pages or web sites.
- Completely change the URL construction of your web site.
Everlasting redirects are a robust trace for canonicalization that alerts from a web page, like hyperlinks, ought to consolidate ahead to the web page the brand new URL. It’s often the brand new web page that can have all of the alerts and be proven in engines like google.
Say you redirect a web page from site1.com/x to site2.com/x with out altering the content material. Hyperlink alerts will consolidate at site2.com/x. In different phrases, if site1.com/x has 10 backlinks, site2.com/x feels the advantage of them as in the event that they level on to it.
It’s provided that a redirect is irrelevant that this doesn’t occur as a result of Google treats irrelevant redirects as delicate 404s.
For instance, say you redirect a weblog publish to your homepage. Google could not consolidate hyperlink alerts as a result of the 2 pages are totally completely different.
Sidenote.
Google could, in very uncommon circumstances, nonetheless deal with the unique URL because the canonical model that will get proven within the index. Plenty of SEOs know that the alternative can occur, that short-term redirects could be handled as everlasting redirects, however everlasting redirects can often be handled as short-term redirects as nicely.
Need to examine how google is treating a redirect?
Right here’s how:
- Open Google Search Console
- Go to Hyperlinks > Exterior Hyperlinks > High linked pages
- Discover the “new” URL within the report and click on it (use the “Goal web page” filter to assist)
- Filter the hyperlinks by “Web site” and paste in referring domains to the previous web page one after the other (you’ll find these within the Referring Domains report in Ahrefs’ Web site Explorer)
In the event you get no matches for a number of referring domains, Google is probably going treating the redirect as a delicate 404 and never counting the previous web page’s backlinks towards the brand new URL.
If there’s a match, click on on the positioning to see the precise hyperlinks. In the event you see the previous URL within the “Goal URL” column, Google is consolidating hyperlinks on the new URL.
Let’s take a look at a few of the forms of everlasting redirects.
HTTP 301
A 301 redirect is a server-side redirect that forwards bots and customers to the brand new URL and tells engines like google that the useful resource has completely moved.
HTTP 308
A 308 redirect is identical as a 301 redirect, besides it retains the HTTP methodology of the unique request, GET or POST, when performing the redirect. For search engine marketing functions, they’re the identical, however in case you have knowledge being despatched by way of types, you don’t need to be switching between GET and POST.
JavaScript redirects
A JavaScript redirect makes use of JavaScript to instruct the browser to redirect the consumer or bot to a distinct URL.
As a result of a web page must be rendered for one of these redirect to fireside, it’s client-side and never most popular. Google renders each web page they’re going to index, however there could be points on this course of inflicting rendering to fail. Different redirect varieties are higher supported and extra dependable.
Right here’s an instance of how the redirect may look within the HTML:
<script>
// Redirect to a brand new URL
window.location.href = "https://instance.com/new-page";
</script>
JavaScript redirects may doubtlessly be within the config file as nicely. Within the Subsequent.js config, there’s a redirect operate you should utilize to set redirects. In different programs, it’s possible you’ll discover them within the router.
Meta refresh (=0 seconds)
A meta refresh redirect tells the browser to redirect the consumer after a set variety of seconds. It occurs within the browser and is client-side.
Meta refresh redirects should be within the <head> part of the HTML. That is how they look:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content material="0; url=https://instance.com/new-page">
HTTP refresh (=0 seconds)
An HTTP refresh is sort of a meta refresh nevertheless it happens within the HTTP header response. It may be applied server facet, nevertheless it really fires on the consumer facet.
Right here’s the way it seems:
Refresh: 0; url=https://instance.com/new-page
Crypto redirect
A redirect with out really redirecting? It sounds unusual, however Google treats this as a everlasting redirect. Which means they need to additionally go all alerts ahead to the brand new URL.
A crypto redirect is a particular case the place you might have a message about transferring to a brand new area, however no precise redirect happens. It seems like this:
<a href="https://new-domain.com/" >We moved! Take a look at our new web site!</a>
I’d attempt to implement a distinct redirect methodology as not each bot or search engine would help crypto redirects.
Non permanent redirects
A short lived redirect signifies {that a} useful resource has briefly moved to a brand new location.
It’s best to use short-term redirects when you:
- Need to redirect customers to the proper model of the positioning for them (primarily based on location/language).
- Need to A/B split-test the performance or design of a webpage.
- Run a promotion and need to redirect guests to a gross sales web page briefly.
Non permanent redirects are a weak trace for canonicalization that alerts from a web page, like hyperlinks, ought to consolidate ahead to the brand new web page. As a result of it’s a weak sign, more often than not the alerts really consolidate to the unique web page that was redirected.
Nonetheless, sooner or later, sufficient alerts could construct {that a} short-term redirect does consolidate ahead. For some time, you might even see the unique URL listed in Google and alerts consolidate there, but when this swap occurs then you will notice the brand new URL in Google and alerts will consolidate there as an alternative.
There’s no set period of time {that a} short-term redirect must exist earlier than Google begins treating it as a everlasting redirect. Often, it’s a couple of weeks to a couple months, however it may be days, weeks, or months.
The swap could by no means occur, like within the case of 302s getting used to redirect customers to essentially the most related model of their homepage on worldwide web sites. This setup has been utilized by many websites for practically a decade they usually nonetheless have the unique URLs listed.
In some circumstances, Google even seems to deal with short-term redirects as everlasting redirects from the get-go.
For instance, I ran an experiment the place I redirected (302) one established web site to a different. When Google noticed the redirect, it dropped the previous area from the search ends in favor of the “new” area.
In the event you’re undecided how Google is treating certainly one of your short-term redirects, paste the redirected URL into Search Console’s URL Inspection device. If it exhibits the “URL shouldn’t be on Google” warning, Google should be treating the redirect as everlasting. Whether it is on Google, then Google’s treating it as short-term.
Simply be sure to examine the final crawl date when doing this. If this date comes after you added the redirect, request reindexing and are available again later.
Sidenote.
Google appears faster to deal with short-term redirects as everlasting redirects when redirecting to a longtime web page or web site. That’s seemingly as a result of the brand new web page or web site has been round some time, so there’s a superb probability you meant to redirect the URL completely.
Let’s take a look at a few of the forms of short-term redirects.
HTTP 302
A 302 redirect forwards customers to the brand new URL and tells engines like google that the useful resource has briefly moved.
HTTP 307
A 307 redirect is identical as a 302 redirect, besides it retains the HTTP methodology (POST, GET) of the unique request when performing the redirect. For search engine marketing, it’s the identical, however in case you have knowledge being despatched by way of types that redirect, then you definately don’t need to be swapping between GET and POST.
It’s value calling out that when troubleshooting redirect points, you might even see a distinct model of a 307 which is a cached redirect that occurs within the browser. That is associated to HSTS and tells the browser to swap to a safe connection (HTTPS) when an insecure useful resource is requested.
When internet servers require purchasers to solely use HTTPS connections (HSTS coverage), Google gained’t see the 307 as a result of it’s cached within the browser. The preliminary hit (with out cache) may have a server response code that’s seemingly a 301 or a 302. However your browser will present you a 307 for subsequent requests which makes it harder to troubleshoot. You have to to make use of a recent Incognito session to see the returned standing code.
HTTP 303
A 303 redirect forwards the consumer to a useful resource just like the one requested and is a short lived type of redirect. It’s usually used for issues like stopping type resubmissions when a consumer hits the “again” button of their browser. You gained’t usually see 303 redirects used for search engine marketing functions, however should you do then it is going to be handled identical to a 302/307.
Meta refresh (>0 seconds)
A meta refresh is handled as a everlasting redirect when it is the same as 0 seconds and as a short lived redirect when it’s larger than 0 seconds.
A meta refresh redirect tells the browser to redirect the consumer after a set variety of seconds. It occurs within the browser and is client-side.
Meta refresh redirects should be within the <head> part of the HTML. That is how they look:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content material="5; url=https://instance.com/new-page">
HTTP refresh (>0 seconds)
An HTTP refresh is handled as a everlasting redirect when it is the same as 0 seconds and as a short lived redirect when it’s larger than 0 seconds.
An HTTP refresh is sort of a meta refresh nevertheless it happens within the HTTP header response. It may be applied server facet, nevertheless it really fires on the client-side.
Right here’s the way it seems:
Refresh: 5; url=https://instance.com/new-page
Server-side redirects
A server-side redirect is one the place the server decides the place to redirect the consumer or search engine when a web page is requested. They’ll often have a corresponding standing code of 301, 302, 303, 307, or 308.
Server-side redirects are the popular methodology of doing redirects for search engine marketing.
Server-level
These are redirects that occur in your server. The way you implement them will range relying in your web site host and which server atmosphere or script language is used for the backend. Any widespread kind of server needs to be nicely documented. The commonest are Nginx, Apache, Cloudflare Server, LiteSpeed, Microsoft-IIS, and Node.js.
If you’re coming into redirects in a plugin or a customized redirect answer on a CMS like WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla, or Drupal, then the redirects are being added on the server stage.
Most WordPress installs might be working Apache and the plugins used for redirecting will really be modifying a web site’s .htaccess file. You’ll discover this file in your web site’s root listing.
Sidenote.
In the event you don’t see this file in your web site’s root listing, both your server isn’t working on Apache, you don’t have this file, or it’s hidden. You possibly can examine the sort of server you’re working with this device. If it’s Apache, the answer is to create a .htaccess file and add it to your root server. In the event you’re working Nginx, learn this. In the event you’re working Home windows/IIS, learn this.
To create a redirect in .htaccess from one web page to a different you’ll add:
Redirect 308 "/previous" "https://instance.com/new"
You may as well redirect with completely different languages comparable to PHP. Right here’s what that will look like:
header('HTTP/1.1 308 Moved Completely');
header('Location: https://www.instance.com/newurl');
exit();
Now we have much more examples in our publish on 301 redirects together with redirecting a website, www to non-www, non-www to www, and HTTP to HTTPS, Redirects may be positioned within the server config file.
In lots of widespread programs, you’ll be able to simply put in a redirect and it’ll hearth mechanically. Nonetheless, some programs work as error catchers. You possibly can put in a redirect and it gained’t hearth till you delete the previous web page. This provides an additional step to the method, however is much less liable to errors.
DNS-level
Your title servers are often managed by your area registrar or presumably your CDN. Every supplier differs a bit, however they often have documentation you can discover.
Redirects at this stage are sometimes used for web site migrations. Some hosts could allow you to specify the standing code for a redirect comparable to a 301 or 302.
Some suppliers are even permitting HTTPS variations of pages to be redirected. Technically, HTTPS doesn’t exist at this stage and this wasn’t an possibility up to now, however some suppliers have discovered a method to make this work.
CDN-level
Many CDNs have a number of choices for implementing redirects. For instance, on Cloudflare you may do single or bulk redirects, there are particular redirect guidelines, you may write a web page rule with a redirect, you should utilize employees and key-value pairs to implement redirects, or you may use employees to switch the headers and add a redirect.
I usually favor to have redirects on the sting (CDN-level) over having them on the server. For others, I at all times suggest going with what’s best so that you can implement. For many individuals that’s server-level redirects.
Shopper-side redirects
A client-side redirect is fired by the consumer’s browser. A consumer may even see a web page briefly earlier than the redirect occurs.
You typically shouldn’t do redirects on the client-side, until that’s your solely possibility.
HTML
We’ve already talked about meta refresh redirects and JavaScript redirects. These are fired on the consumer facet.
Meta refresh redirects should be within the <head> part of the HTML. That is how they look:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content material="5; url=https://instance.com/new-page">
Right here’s how a JavaScript redirect may look within the HTML:
<script>
// Redirect to a brand new URL
window.location.href = "https://instance.com/new-page";
</script>
HTTP Header Response
An HTTP refresh is sort of a meta refresh nevertheless it happens within the HTTP header response. It may be applied server facet, nevertheless it really fires on the client-side.
Right here’s the way it seems:
Refresh: 5; url=https://instance.com/new-page
CDN-level (in particular circumstances)
I talked earlier about Cloudflare employees. These allow you to edit issues on the sting earlier than being served to customers. You can really re-write a few of the HTML so as to add in a client-side redirect like a meta refresh, however this might be unusual as a result of there are higher methods to do it.
Listed below are a couple of objects associated to redirects that you just’ll need to examine.
Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
Everybody needs to be utilizing HTTPS.
There are a few methods to examine that your web site is correctly redirecting from HTTP to HTTPS. The primary is to put in and activate Ahrefs’ search engine marketing Toolbar, then attempt to navigate to the HTTP model of your homepage. It ought to redirect.
You usually need to see a 301 or 308 redirect right here, as this redirect needs to be everlasting.
Nonetheless, you might even see a 307 redirect in case your web site makes use of HSTS like we do for Ahrefs.
The sort of 307 fires within the browser and you continue to must examine the server response to verify it’s a 301 or 308.
So right here’s one other methodology:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Web site Audit
- Click on + New Undertaking
- Click on Add manually
- Change the Scope to HTTP
- Enter your area
It’s best to see the “Not crawlable” error for each the www and non-www variations of your homepage, together with the “301 moved completely” notification.
Use HSTS (to create 307 redirects)
Implementing HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Safety) in your server stops folks from accessing non-secure (HTTP) content material in your web site. It does this by telling browsers that your server solely accepts safe connections and that the browser ought to 307 redirect to the HTTPS model of any HTTP useful resource they’re requested to entry.
Remember that this occurs inside the browser. Bots gained’t see this specific model of a 307.
After implementing HSTS, contemplate submitting your web site to the HSTS preload record. This allows HSTS for everybody attempting to go to your web site—even when they haven’t visited it earlier than.
Redirect related previous content material
Websites, and the online normally, are at all times altering. We ran a examine that discovered that ~two-thirds of hyperlinks to pages on the net disappeared within the nine-year interval we checked out.
In lots of circumstances, your previous URLs have hyperlinks from different web sites. In the event that they’re not redirected to the present pages, then these hyperlinks are misplaced and now not depend on your pages. It’s not too late to do these redirects, and you’ll rapidly reclaim any misplaced worth and assist your content material rank higher.
Right here’s find out how to discover these alternatives:
I often type this by “Referring domains.”
I even created a script that will help you match redirects. Don’t be scared away; you simply must obtain a few recordsdata and add them. The Colab pocket book walks you thru it and takes care of the heavy lifting for you.
Keep away from lengthy redirect chains
Redirect chains are when a number of redirects happen between a requested useful resource and its closing vacation spot.
Google’s official documentation says that Googlebot follows as much as 10 redirect hops, so any redirect chains shorter than that aren’t often an issue for search engine marketing. They comply with 5 hops in a single session, and can resume the place they left off within the subsequent session.
If the crawler doesn’t obtain content material inside 10 hops, Search Console will present a redirect error within the web site’s Index Protection report.
Many SEOs are obsessive about eliminating even 1 extra hop for a redirect. I’d not fear about this at all.
I don’t usually fear about redirect chains if they’re lower than 5 hops, however after 5 I’ve seen points with them being crawled and counted correctly in order that’s my cutoff for recommending that individuals begin engaged on them.
You will discover lengthy redirect chains without spending a dime utilizing Ahrefs Webmaster Instruments:
- Crawl your web site with Web site Audit
- Go to the Redirects report
- Click on the Points tab
- Search for the “Redirect chain too lengthy” error
Click on the difficulty and hit “View affected URLs” to see URLs that start a redirect chain and all of the URLs within the chain.
Keep away from redirect loops
Redirect loops are infinite loops of redirects that happen when a URL redirects to itself or when a URL in a redirect chain redirects again to a URL earlier within the chain.
They’re problematic for 3 causes:
- For customers –They minimize off entry to an supposed useful resource and set off a “too many redirects” error within the browser.
- For bots and engines like google – They “entice” crawlers and waste the crawl finances.
- For servers – they waste your assets. Some bots will deal with this nicely, others won’t. They might doubtlessly take down your server with a continuing DDoS assault.
The only method to discover redirect loops is to crawl your web site with a device like Ahrefs’ Web site Audit. You are able to do this without spending a dime with an Ahrefs Webmaster Instruments account.
- Crawl your web site with Web site Audit
- Go to the Redirects report
- Click on the Points tab
- Search for the “Redirect loop” error
In the event you then click on the error and click on “View affected URLs,” you’ll see a listing of URLs that redirect, in addition to all URLs within the chain:
One of the simplest ways to repair a redirect loop is determined by whether or not the final URL within the chain (earlier than the loop) is the supposed closing vacation spot.
Whether it is, take away the redirect from the ultimate URL. Then be sure the useful resource is accessible and returns a 200 standing code.
If it isn’t, change the looping redirect to the supposed closing vacation spot.
In each circumstances, it’s good observe to swap out any inner hyperlinks to remaining redirects for direct hyperlinks to the ultimate URL.
Keep away from overly broad redirects
When creating redirect guidelines, typically folks match to every part after a folder. This creates conditions the place a bunch of pages is likely to be redirected to a single web page. You need to match redirects 1:1 as a lot as attainable.
You possibly can take a look at this by typing your area.com/asfkljlkdfs or one thing related. You could need to strive a few of your principal folders as nicely. In the event you obtain a 404 web page, then it’s wonderful. If it redirects, then somebody has a very broad rule in place.
These guidelines aren’t essentially dangerous, however they’ll ship customers to surprising locations. In some circumstances, it could possibly be dangerous. Let’s say you had a bunch of pages added through a hack and the hacker constructed hyperlinks to those pages. In the event you take away the pages after which redirect them someplace, you’re principally saying these spam hyperlinks belong to you.
Be careful for expired certificates
In the event you migrated to a distinct area and your previous web site was utilizing HTTPS, then the certificates expires, bots are handed however customers will obtain an error message and gained’t be redirected.
There are multi-domain certificates that cowl a number of websites that may assist stop this problem. Some DNS suppliers additionally enable HTTPS redirects now which might stop this from taking place.
Preserve redirects for not less than 1 12 months
In accordance with Google, you must maintain redirects energetic for not less than one 12 months. After that, alerts ought to completely go.
In the event you don’t consider it, I examined it, and it appears to be true.
I’m a fan of retaining redirects so long as attainable, doubtlessly eternally. You additionally ought to examine if customers are nonetheless hitting the previous pages earlier than eradicating any redirects.
Don’t overlook to redirect different recordsdata throughout a migration
It’s a good suggestion to redirect issues like photographs and PDFs when doing a migration, not simply pages. Particularly if these had been driving a superb quantity of visitors on your web site. Don’t fear about issues like JS, CSS, or Font recordsdata. Give attention to redirecting issues that get listed by engines like google and don’t fear about different file varieties.
Listed below are some suggestions that will help you troubleshoot redirect points.
Determining what system the redirects are in
Issues can get difficult in an enterprise atmosphere. You could have a number of completely different programs the place redirects could be inputted and it’s possible you’ll want to determine which is definitely firing a redirect.
You need to use the data within the HTTP headers to assist establish what system could have fired a redirect. For instance, on our weblog we use a plugin known as Redirection. It provides a header tag X-redirected-by that identifies that it’s the one which fired the redirect as seen beneath within the URL overview of Web site Audit.
Our search engine marketing Toolbar is an alternative choice for a fast header examine when you’re shopping.
Redirects could occur just for particular user-agents
Redirects can use conditional logic, which means that they may solely occur beneath sure situations like for a specified user-agent. You possibly can change your consumer agent utilizing our search engine marketing Toolbar to see if a redirect fires for a selected user-agent.
Redirects can throw the unsuitable standing codes
Don’t blindly belief the standing codes proven. A redirect can nonetheless be taking place with any standing code. You could have a web page that exhibits as a 200 OK standing code, however nonetheless really be redirecting to a different location.
Ultimate ideas
Common expressions will prevent lots of time on the subject of patterns that may be matched for bulk URL redirects. Google a information or cheat sheet and discover a good regex tester. I usually use regex101.
