301 and 302 redirects both send visitors and search engines from one URL to another, but a 301 is for a permanent move and a 302 is for a short-term move.
This matters because redirects affect rankings, indexing, link equity, user experience, and lead flow. If you change a URL without the right redirect, old links can break, pages can drop out of Google, ad traffic can hit 404 errors, and calls or form submissions can fall. For local businesses, that can mean losing visibility on service pages, location pages, blog posts, or landing pages that already bring revenue.
| Redirect | What it means | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 301 | The page has moved for good | Site migrations, URL changes, deleted pages with a close replacement, HTTP to HTTPS, non-www to www |
| 302 | The move is temporary | Short-term promos, A/B tests, seasonal pages, limited-time swaps while the original page will return |
Use a 301 when you want Google to treat the new URL as the long-term destination. This is the usual choice when you redesign a site, clean up page slugs, merge duplicate pages, or replace an old service page with a better one. In most cases, this is the redirect that protects SEO value best.
Use a 302 when the change is truly temporary. A common example is sending traffic from a regular landing page to a holiday campaign page for a short period, then switching back. Another is testing an alternate version of a page without telling search engines the original is gone for good.
Good example: You change /dental-implants-orlando/ to /services/dental-implants/ as part of a cleaner site structure. That should usually be a 301.
Bad example: You launch a new site, delete 40 old URLs, and send them all to the homepage. That confuses users and wastes ranking signals. Redirect old pages to the closest matching page, not the nearest convenient one.
Another bad example: You use a 302 for a permanent page move and leave it there for months. That can slow down how Google treats the new URL and create mixed signals.
Our rule is simple: if the old page is not coming back, use a 301. If the old page will return, a 302 can be the right fit. When there is doubt, map the business reason first. We care less about the code itself and more about what happens to traffic, calls, and bookings after the change.
Before you launch changes, check these items:
- Match each old URL to the closest new URL.
- Avoid redirect chains like Page A to Page B to Page C.
- Update internal links so they point to the final URL, not the redirected one.
- Test forms, call buttons, booking pages, and thank-you pages after launch.
- Review Google Search Console for crawl errors and indexing shifts.
For SEO and web design work, redirects matter most during redesigns, content pruning, service page consolidation, and domain moves. If you are rebuilding a site, our web design services and SEO services focus on keeping rankings and leads intact while the new pages go live. This also ties closely to questions like how to redesign without losing SEO and what an SEO audit includes.
Recommended action: Export your top URLs from Google Search Console and GA4 before any migration, then create a redirect map for every page that brings clicks, calls, or form submissions. That is where redirect mistakes cost the most.
