301 Redirect and SEO

301 Redirect

301 redirect is the best method to preserve your current search engine rankings when redirecting web pages or a website. The code "301" is interpreted as "moved permanently". You can implement the 301 redirect by creating a .htaccess file.

There are several ways to redirect domains, however, most of them will get you in trouble with the search engines. The search engine friendly way to redirect URLs is to use what is know as a 301 redirect. Google and Yahoo! specifically endorse this kind of redirection.

From a search engine perspective, 301 redirects are the only acceptable way to redirect URLs. In the case of moved pages, search engines will index only the new URL, but will transfer link popularity from the old URL to the new one so that search engine rankings are not affected. The same behavior occurs when additional domains are set to point to the main domain through a 301 redirect.

Use a 301 redirect to move a site from http://www.oldurl.com/uncool/ (root of the old homepage) to http://www.newurl.com/cool/

Create a .htaccess file in your root directory. If one already exists then you can just add this line of code to it.

Redirect permanent / http://www.newurl.com/cool/ in addition you can use a 301 redirect to move any given page.

Redirect permanent /bla/bla.html /newspot/bla.html

301 redirects are used to permanently move a site to a new location. Search engines do not apply penalties to 301 redirects the way they apply them to many other types of redirects.