301 redirect
Also called: permanent redirect, 301, http 301 redirect, 301 permanent redirect
A 301 redirect is a permanent HTTP status code that sends users and search engines from an old URL to a new one. Google follows it and treats the target as the canonical URL, consolidating ranking signals like PageRank onto the new address and showing it in results.
On a migration, the redirect type is the difference between keeping your rankings and starting over. Google’s docs are blunt: 301 and 308 mean a page has permanently moved, Googlebot follows the redirect, and the indexing pipeline uses it as a signal that the target should be canonical. A 302 or 307 is temporary, so Google keeps the old URL in its index.
Two statements from Google kill common myths. First, permanent redirects do not bleed link equity: “301 and other permanent redirects don’t cause a loss in PageRank.” Second, they are not a toggle you flip and forget. Google says to keep them in place “generally at least 1 year” so it can transfer every signal, recrawl, and reassign links pointing at your old URLs.
A few rules that protect traffic:
- Prefer server-side redirects. Meta refresh and JavaScript redirects work but are weaker and slower for crawlers to interpret.
- Map each old URL to its closest new equivalent, not a blanket redirect to the homepage. Bulk-to-homepage redirects behave more like soft 404s and lose the target’s relevance.
- Avoid chains (A to B to C). Point A straight at C.
Why this matters for AI search
AI crawlers behind AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity follow HTTP redirects the same way. A clean 301 carries an existing citation from the old URL to the new one. A broken or looping redirect strands that citation, and you lose the mention entirely.
How it affects your traffic
A botched redirect is one of the fastest ways to lose organic traffic in a rebuild. Send a 302 instead of a 301 and Google keeps indexing the old URLs while your new ones never inherit the history. Dump every old URL onto the homepage and Google can treat those hops as soft 404s, erasing the relevance you built. Done right, a one-to-one 301 map moves rankings, links, and AI citations to the new address with no PageRank loss, which is exactly what our SEO Migration service is built to protect.
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