In Search of Optimization

What is a 301 Redirect?

A 301 redirect is a method of telling web browsers and search engines that a web page or site has been permanently moved to a new location. Web browsers will usually follow 301 redirects without the need for user action.

When should a 301 Redirect be used?

A 301 redirect should be used whenever a website is moved to a new domain name or whenever a webpage has been renamed or relocated so that search engines will quickly update their database and thus preserve the search engine rankings of the site or page.

How do I issue a 301 Redirect?

It’s pretty simple really

First, edit your website’s .htaccess file. If you don’t have an .htaccess file yet, just create a new one. Note the filename it’s “.htaccess” with the dot included.

Next, add the following code at the bottom of your .htaccess file:

redirect 301 someoldpage.html somenewpage.html

Simple, right? I told you. Here’s a simple explanation of what we just did:

redirect 301 - the instruction that the site or page has permanently moved

someoldpage.html - the old webpage

somenewpage.html - the new webpage

All you need to change here are someoldpage.html and somenewpage.html

To redirect an entire site to a new domain
redirect 301 / http://www.newdomain.com/

To redirect an entire folder to a different folder
redirect 301 /someoldfolder /somenewfolder

To redirect some file from on your old domain to some file on a different domain
redirect 301 /some/old/file.html http://www.newdomain.com/file.html

Need more examples and detail?  Visit the Guide to Applying 301 Redirects in Apache.

There ya go! Enjoy!