HTTP Status Codes

301 Moved Permanently

A permanent redirect: the resource lives at a new URL for good. Search engines pass ranking signals to the target, making 301 the correct choice for migrations.

What it means

301 Moved Permanently tells clients the resource has permanently moved to the URL in the Location header. Browsers cache the redirect and search engines consolidate ranking signals onto the new URL. Modern browsers may change the method to GET on redirect; use 308 to preserve the method.

HTTP RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://example.com/new-path
Cache-Control: max-age=3600

SEO impact

Use 301 for permanent moves

When you retire a URL for good — domain change, HTTP→HTTPS, restructured paths — a 301 consolidates link equity onto the new URL. A temporary 302 does not, and using it for a permanent move loses ranking signals.

Why it matters

  • It preserves SEO value across migrations by transferring ranking signals to the destination URL.
  • Cached permanently by clients, it reduces repeat round-trips to the old URL.

Common mistakes

  • Using 302 for a permanent move, so search engines keep indexing the old URL and equity is not consolidated.
  • Chaining redirects (A→B→C), which wastes crawl budget and latency — always redirect straight to the final URL.
  • Redirecting every 404 to the homepage with a 301, creating soft-404s instead of returning a real 404/410.

How WebInspect checks this

  • WebInspect renders the full redirect chain hop by hop, showing each status, Location and latency.
  • It flags redirect chains and loops and highlights HTTP→HTTPS and www canonicalisation redirects.