The redirect type determines how browsers and search engines treat your redirect.
301 Permanent Redirect
Use this when the redirect is permanent and you want search engines to update their indexes.
- Search engines transfer SEO value to the destination URL
- Browsers may cache the redirect
- Best for: domain migrations, consolidating URLs, permanent forwarding
302 Temporary Redirect
Use this when the redirect might change in the future.
- Search engines keep the original URL in their index
- Browsers don't cache the redirect
- Best for: A/B testing, temporary promotions, maintenance pages
Which should I choose?
If you're unsure, 301 is usually the right choice. Use 302 only when you specifically need the redirect to be temporary and expect to change or remove it later.