Sauce · Technical
The 301 redirect: how to move a web page without losing the calls
Quick answer
A 301 redirect is a change-of-address card for a web page. It tells Google the page moved for good, so the old page's ranking and links pass to the new one. Use a permanent 301 (or 308) done on the server. A temporary 302 keeps the old page in search and hands nothing over. Skip a page and let it go dead, and the calls it earned go dead too.
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Get the free scanYour new website went live on a Tuesday. By Friday the phone was quiet.
Same company. Same trucks. Same services. Nicer site. And Google could not find half of it.
Here is what usually happened. The old pages had new web addresses. Nobody told Google where they went. So the links Google already trusted now pointed at dead ends.
The fix has a boring name. It is a 301 redirect. It is also the single most important thing to get right when you touch your site's addresses.
What a redirect actually is
Think of the post office. You move house. You fill out a forwarding card. Now mail sent to the old address lands at the new one. The post office also updates its own records, so future mail skips the old house entirely.
A redirect is that card, for a web page. Someone asks for the old address. Your server says “that moved, go here instead,” and sends them on.
There are three ways this can go. Only one of them keeps what you built.
The three outcomes
A permanent forwarding card. Google follows it, then updates its records. The old page's trust, links and ranking move to the new page. This is what you want almost every time you change a web address.
A hold-my-mail note. Google follows it for visitors, but keeps the old address on file and keeps showing the old page in search. Nothing hands over. Fine for a two-week sale page. Wrong for a real move.
No such address. The request comes back empty. Google eventually drops the page. Every link pointing to it now leads nowhere, and the work those links did for you stops.
Why the wrong choice quietly costs you jobs
You thought the relaunch went fine. The site looks great on your phone. The contact form works. What you cannot see is the map.
Local ranking runs on three things Google names: relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence is the slow one. It is built from links, reviews and years of Google trusting your pages. A dead page throws part of that away. A 302 locks it in a box the new page can never open.
- Links from other sites now hit a dead end. Their value drains away.
- Google keeps sending people to a page that returns nothing.
- Your service pages slide down the map for a few kilometres around you.
- Calls drop first. Then you notice. Then you spend months clawing back.
- Old links pass their value straight to the matching new page.
- Google swaps the new address into search, usually within days or weeks.
- Rankings hold, because Google sees a move, not a loss.
- Visitors who saved the old link still land in the right place.
How to tell which redirect you already have
Maybe your site was moved once before. You can check in a few minutes. You do not need to be technical.
Search for “redirect checker,” paste an old page address, and read the result. You want to see 301 and one hop straight to the new page. If you see 302, or two or three hops, that is the problem.
Open the Pages report. If lots of old addresses show as “Not found (404)” or “Redirect error,” your move leaked pages. This report is free and it is the closest thing to Google's own notes on your site.
Grab an old link from an old business card, invoice or directory listing. Paste it in. If it lands on the right new page, good. If it shows an error page or your home page, that link is wasted.
“Are the old page addresses 301 redirected to the matching new pages, server side, with no chains?” A clear yes with examples is fine. A pause is your answer.
How to do it right, in order
This is the whole sequence. Follow it and a site move is a non-event for your rankings.
List every old address
Export your current pages before you change anything. A crawl tool or your old sitemap works. This is your forwarding list.
Match old to new, one to one
Each old page points to the closest new page. A moved service page goes to the new service page, not the home page. Close matches keep their value. Dumping everything on the home page does not.
Use a permanent 301, on the server
Ask for server-side 301s. That is the kind Google trusts most. A 308 does the same job. Avoid redirects that only run in the browser with JavaScript, because Google may never see them.
One hop, never a chain
Old address goes straight to final address. Not old, then middle, then new. Every extra hop is another envelope the post office can lose.
Fix your own internal links
Update menus, buttons and in-page links to point at the new addresses directly. Redirects are a safety net for outside links, not a crutch for your own.
Submit the new sitemap and watch
Send the fresh sitemap in Search Console. Then check the Pages report each week. Keep the redirects live for at least a year, so every last link and bookmark gets the memo.
Go deeper
Before and after a site change
Three reads for the weeks around a relaunch.
Moving your site this quarter?Get a free 49-point scan now, so you can prove nothing slipped later.
Get the free scanRedirects are normal plumbing now
If redirects still sound scary, here is some comfort. Google runs its own
search result clicks through a redirect these days. In August 2026 it confirmed
it now sends most result links through a google.com/goto hop before
you reach the site. Google's reason was security, not ranking.
The point for you is simple. A redirect is not a hack or a risk. It is standard road work. Done right, nobody in the passing traffic even notices the detour. Done wrong, or skipped, the road just ends.
So the rule holds. Change a web address, add a 301. Move the whole site, 301 every page to its match. Keep them up for a year. Redirect the traffic, not your customers.
What is a 301 redirect in plain terms?
It is a permanent forwarding instruction for a web page. When a page's address changes, a 301 tells browsers and Google to go to the new address instead, and tells Google to treat the new page as the real one. The old page's links and ranking pass across.
Will a 301 redirect hurt my Google ranking?
Done correctly, no. Google follows a permanent 301 and moves the old page's signals to the new page, usually within days or weeks. Rankings can wobble briefly during a large site move, then settle. The real damage comes from missing redirects, temporary 302s, or long redirect chains.
301 or 302: which should I use when I move a page?
Use a 301 (or 308) for any move that is meant to stick, which is nearly always. Use a 302 or 307 only when the change is genuinely short term, like a sale page or maintenance notice, and you want the original page to stay in search results.
How long should I keep redirects in place?
At least a year. Links, bookmarks, printed cards and directory listings keep pointing at old addresses long after a move. Google also needs repeat visits to fully transfer signals. Leaving redirects live is cheap. Removing them early is not.
My web developer used JavaScript redirects. Is that a problem?
It can be. Redirects that only run in the browser with JavaScript are a last resort, because Google may not run that code and may never see the redirect. Ask for server-side 301s instead. They work for every visitor and every crawler.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Redirects and Google Search: a permanent redirect (301, 308) is used as a canonicalization signal and shows the new URL in search; a temporary redirect (302, 307) shows the source page and is not used as a canonical signal; server-side redirects are the most reliable, meta refresh is next, and JavaScript redirects are a last resort because “Google might never see it.” Read it
- Google Search Central, Site moves with URL changes: map each old URL to its new URL, redirect with server-side 301s, avoid redirect chains, update internal links, submit the new sitemap, and keep redirects in place for at least a year (180 days is the stated minimum). Read it
- Search Engine Land, Google confirms deploying “goto URL” redirects to search results links (August 26, 2026): Google now routes most search result clicks through a
google.com/gotoredirect; Google says it is a security and anti-abuse measure and that Search Console data is not affected. Read it - Google Business Profile Help, Improve your local ranking on Google: local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence; prominence is partly based on information Google has about a business from across the web, including links and articles; there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. Read it
- Peer-reviewed: Brin, S., & Page, L. (1998). “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.” Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, 30(1–7), 107–117. Establishes that links between pages pass authority from one page to another. A permanent redirect is what carries that accumulated authority across when a page's address changes. Read it
Guidance is summarised from the sources above. Timelines like “days or weeks” are directional and vary by site size and crawl rate.
Next step
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