301 vs 302 vs 307 Redirects: The Technical SEO Guide

Redirects are the traffic controllers of the web. They tell browsers and crawlers where to find content that moved. But not all redirects are equal in the eyes of search engines. Choosing the wrong status code can cost you rankings, traffic, and revenue. This post breaks down 301, 302, and 307 redirects so you make the right call every time.

The 301 redirect signals that a resource has moved to a new URL permanently. Search engines respond by transferring nearly all link equity (PageRank) from the old URL to the new one. They also update their index to reflect the new URL.

Use 301 when:

• You migrated to a new domain
• You restructured your URL hierarchy
• You merged two pages into one
• You switched from HTTP to HTTPS

Google's John Mueller has stated that a 301 pass "most" of the ranking signals, though not always 100%. In practice, you can expect minimal loss when done correctly.

The 302 redirect historically told browsers and crawlers that a resource lives at a different URL for now, but should return to the original later. Search engines traditionally treated 302s as temporary and kept the old URL indexed without transferring link equity.

The problem: Before HTTP/1.1, the 302 was ambiguous about method preservation. Browsers would often change POST to GET when following a 302. This caused confusion.

Google now treats many 302s similarly to 301s in practice, especially when they detect the redirect is effectively permanent. However, you should not rely on this behavior. Use 302 for A/B testing, seasonal landing pages, or temporary maintenance pages where you want the original URL to remain indexed.

HTTP/1.1 introduced the 307 redirect to fix the method ambiguity of 302. A 307 guarantees the browser repeats the same HTTP method (POST stays POST, GET stays GET) when following the redirect.

From an SEO perspective, Google treats 307 similarly to 302. The original URL stays indexed, and search engines do not transfer link equity to the target URL.

Use 307 when:

• You need method preservation (API endpoints, form submissions)
• You want clarity about temporary intent
• You are redirecting POST requests during maintenance

Google's algorithms sometimes override your intent. If you serve a 302 for years, Google may treat it as a permanent redirect. Conversely, if you send a 301 but revert the redirect later, Google may still index the target URL for a while.

The lesson: Match your status code to your actual intent. Do not rely on Google to fix your mistakes.

1. Audit your redirect map quarterly to confirm status codes match intent
2. Replace permanent 302s with 301s immediately
3. Use 307 for temporary POST redirects during maintenance windows
4. Monitor indexed URL counts before and after deploying redirects
5. Run your redirect chain through a crawler to verify behavior matches expectations

1. Google Search Central. "Redirects and Google Search." developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/redirects
2. John Mueller, Google. "301 redirects pass ranking signals." Twitter/X, 2023.
3. MDN Web Docs. "HTTP redirects." developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Redirections
4. W3C. "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Status Code Definitions." w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html