What is a URL Redirect?
In simple terms a Redirect is a process of forwarding one URL to another URL. It redirects users as well as search bots. In other words, when someone is trying to access URL www.abc.com , server will redirect user to the new URL. www.xyz.org
Types of Redirects
There are three types of redirects:
- 301 Permanent Redirect is the most common one, and is used in 97% of all cases and it’s the most SEO friendly way of redirecting pages. 301 redirects refers to the HTTP server response code which means “Moved Permanently”. 301 redirect is used.
- 302 Temporary Redirect – The requested URL resides temporarily under a different URL. It’s only used if you want to move content temporarily for a short period of time.
- META refresh is a page level redirect, meaning that the page instructs the browser to refresh using a different URL. It may look like a redirect, but in reality it’s just a browser refresh. It’s not SEO friendly and it’s not recommended in 99.9% all redirect cases.