Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research
      Moz Pro

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research

      Try it free!
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Technical SEO
    4. 301 redirect syntax for htaccess

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    301 redirect syntax for htaccess

    Technical SEO
    3
    3
    8572
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • SamKlep
      SamKlep last edited by

      I'm working on some htaccess redirects for a few stray pages and have come across a few different varieties of 301s that are confusing me a bit....Most sources suggest:

      Redirect 301 /pageA.html http://www.site.com/pageB.html

      or using some combination of:

      RewriteRule + RewriteCond + RegEx

      I've also found examples of:

      RedirectPermanent /pageA.html http://www.site.com/pageB.html

      I'm confused because our current htaccess file has quite a few (working) redirects that look like this:

      Redirect permanent /pageA.html http://www.site.com/pageB.html

      This syntax seems to work, but I'm yet to find another Redirect permanent in the wild, only examples of Redirect 301 or RedirectPermanent

      Is there any difference between these? Would I benefit at all from replacing Redirect permanent with Redirect 301?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • IOHanna
        IOHanna last edited by

        There  is no difference between "Redirect 301", "Redirect permanent" and  "RedirectPermanent". It is clear from mod Alias documentation:

        "This directive makes the client know that the Redirect is permanent (status 301). Exactly equivalent to Redirect permanent."   "permanent - Returns a permanent redirect status (301) indicating that the resource has moved permanently."

        But, these directives are really confusing, because they are not page to page, but directory to directory.  For example:

        Redirect 301 /a-very-old-post/ http://yoursite.com/a-very-new-post/

        Surprisingly, it will redirect all old subpages to new subpages. In particular it will redirect  /a-very-old-post/page1 to /a-very-new-post/page1  Therefore better to use RedirectMatch or RewriteCond+RewriteRule for page by page redirections and for redirections with query strings.

        Links to docs: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B14099_19/web.1012/q20206/mod/mod_alias.html

        Link to simple RedirectMatch page by page redirects generator: RedirectMatch generator for htaccess https://www.301-redirect.online/htaccess-redirectmatch-generator

        Link to good RewriteRule generator: htaccess 301 redirect rewrite generator https://www.301-redirect.online/htaccess-rewrite-generator

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • BlueprintMarketing
          BlueprintMarketing last edited by

          In **apache **"permanent" "RedirectPermanent" is  the same as "Redirect 301"

          By default, the "Redirect" directive establishes a 302, or temporary, redirect.

          If you would like to create a permanent redirect, you can do so in either of the following two ways:

          1. Redirect 301 /oldlocation http://www.domain2.com/newlocation
          2. Redirect permanent /oldlocation http://www.domain2.com/newlocation
          • See
          • https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-temporary-and-permanent-redirects-with-apache-and-nginx

          Page to Page 301 Redirect Generator for Htaccess

          https://www.aleydasolis.com/htaccess-redirects-generator/

          If no <var>status</var> argument is given, the redirect will be "temporary" (HTTP status 302). This indicates to the client that the resource has moved temporarily. The <var>status</var> argument can be used to return other HTTP status codes:

          <dl> "permanent" & "Redirect 301"</dl>

          <dl>

          <dd>Returns a permanent redirect status (301) indicating that the resource has moved permanently.</dd>

          "temp"</dl>

          <dl>

          <dt>Returns a temporary redirect status (302). This is the default.</dt>

          "seeother"</dl>

          <dl>

          <dd>Returns a "See Other" status (303) indicating that the resource has been replaced.</dd>

          "gone"</dl>

          <dl>

          <dd>Returns a "Gone" status (410) indicating that the resource has been permanently removed. When this status is used the <var>URL</var> argument should be omitted.</dd>

          </dl>

          **https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_alias.html **

          https://www.askapache.com/htaccess/seo-search-engine-friendly-redirects-without-mod_rewrite/#seo-301-redirect-single-file

          https://www.bruceclay.com/blog/how-to-properly-implement-a-301-redirect/

          To 301 Redirect a Page:

          RedirectPermanent /old-file.html http://www.domain.com/new-file.html

          To 301 Redirect a Page:

          Redirect 301 /old-file.html http://www.domain.com/new-file.html

          https://i.imgur.com/PTEj5ZF.png

          https://www.aleydasolis.com/htaccess-redirects-generator/

          Single URL redirect

          Permanent redirect from pageA_.html_ to pageB.html.

          .htaccess:

          301 Redirect URLs.

          Redirect 301 /pageA.html http://www.site.com/pageB.html

          https://www.aleydasolis.com/htaccess-redirects-generator/page-to-page/

          <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
          Redirect 301 /pageA.html /pageB.html</ifmodule>

          https://www.htaccessredirect.net/

          //Rewrite to www
          Options +FollowSymLinks
          RewriteEngine on
          RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^site.com[nc]
          RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.site.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

          //301 Redirect Old File
          Redirect 301 /pageA.html /pageB.html

          You asked about Regex

          https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204643270/using-htaccess-rewrite-rules

          .htaccess

          Regular expressions

          Rewrite rules often contain symbols that make a regular expression (regex). This is how the server knows exactly how you want your URL changed. However, regular expressions can be tricky to decipher at first glance. Here's some common elements you will see in your rewrite rules, along with some specific examples.

          • ^ begins the line to match.
          • $ ends the line to match.
            • So, ^folder1$ matches folder1 exactly.
          • . stands for "any non-whitespace character" (example: a, B, 3).
          • * means that the previous character can be matched zero or more times.
            • So, ^uploads.*$ matches uploads2009, uploads2010, etc.
            • ^.*$ means "match anything and everything." This is useful if you don't know what your users might type for the URL.
          • () designates which portion to preserve for use again in the $1 variable in the second string. This is useful for handling requests for particular files that should be the same in the old and new versions of the URL.

          See for more regex

          • http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html#Regular-Expressions
          • https://www.askapache.com/htaccess/mod_rewrite-variables-cheatsheet/
          • https://www.askapache.com/htaccess/

          Hope this helps

          Tom

          PTEj5ZF.png

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • 1 / 1
          • First post
            Last post

          Got a burning SEO question?

          Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


          Start my free trial


          Browse Questions

          Explore more categories

          • Moz Tools

            Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

          • SEO Tactics

            Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

          • Community

            Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

          • Digital Marketing

            Chat about tactics outside of SEO

          • Research & Trends

            Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

          • Support

            Connect on product support and feature requests.

          • See all categories

          Related Questions

          • shawnbeaird

            301 Redirect for multiple links

            I just relaunched my website and changed a permalink structure for several pages where only a subdirectory name changed. What 301 Redirect code do I use to redirect the following? I have dozens of these where I need to change just the directory name from "urban-living" to "urban", and want it to catch the following all in one redirect command. Here is an example of the structure that needs to change. Old 
            domain.com/urban-living (single page w/ content)
            domain.com/urban-living/tempe (single page w/ content)
            domain.com/urban-living/tempe/the-vale (single page w/ content) New 
            domain.com/urban 
            domain.com/urban/tempe 
            domain.com/urban/tempe/the-vale

            Technical SEO | | shawnbeaird
            0
          • ptapley

            Meta descriptions and h1 tags during a 301 redirect

            My employer is shifting to a new domain and i am in the midst of doing URL mapping. I realize that many of the meta descriptions and H1 tags are different on the new pages - is this a problem ? Thank you.

            Technical SEO | | ptapley
            0
          • Liggins

            Updating inbound links vs. 301 redirecting the page they link to

            Hi everyone, I'm preparing myself for a website redesign and finding conflicting information about inbound links and 301 redirects. If I have a URL (we'll say website.com/website) that is linked to by outside sources, should I get those outside sources to update their links when I change the URL to website.com/webpage? Or is it just as effective from a link juice perspective to simply 301 redirect the old page to the new page? Are there any other implications to this choice that I may want to consider? Thanks!

            Technical SEO | | Liggins
            0
          • himanshu301989

            Wordpress Redirect Plugin Vs Manual .htaccess?

            Hi everyone, I need to 301 redirect my old pages to new ones but i am confused between whether to choose plugin for this or i should manually rewrite the code on .htaccess file. Please give your suggestion and if you think i should use plugin then which one?

            Technical SEO | | himanshu301989
            0
          • Alick300

            301 redirect using javascript

            Can I use javascript code to redirect(301) a webpage?

            Technical SEO | | Alick300
            0
          • bewoldt

            How to create a delayed 301 redirect that still passes juice?

            My company is merging one of our sites into another site. At first I was just going to create a 301 redirect from domainA.com to domainB.com but we decided that would be too confusing for customers expecting to see domainA.com so we want to create a page that says something like "We've moved. please visit domainB.com or be redirected after 10 seconds". My question is, how do I create a redirect that has a delay and will this still pass the same amount of juice that a regular 301 redirect would? I've heard that meta refreshes are considered spammy by Google.

            Technical SEO | | bewoldt
            0
          • socialtowards

            How long should I keep 301 redirects?

            I have modified a the URL structure of a whole section of a website and used mod_rewrite 301 redirect to match the new structure. Now that was around 3 months ago and I was wondering how long should I keep this redirect for? As it is a new website I am quite sure that there are no links around with the old URL structure but still I can see the google bot trying from time to time to access the old URL structure. Shouldn't the google bot learn from this 301 redirect and not go anymore for the old URL?

            Technical SEO | | socialtowards
            0
          • SamTurri

            Any way around buying hosting for an old domain to 301 redirect to a new domain?

            Howdy. I have just read this QA thread, so I think I have my answer. But I'm going to ask anyway! Basically DomainA.com is being retired, and DomainB.com is going to be launched. We're going to have to redirect numerous URLs from DomainA.com to DomainB.com. I think the way to go about this is to continue paying for hosting for DomainA.com, serving a .htaccess from that hosting account, and then hosting DomainB.com separately. Anybody know of a way to avoid paying for hosting a .htaccess file on DomainA.com? Thanks!

            Technical SEO | | SamTurri
            0

          Get started with Moz Pro!

          Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

          Start my free trial
          Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz API
          • Moz Data
          • STAT
          • Product Updates
          Moz Solutions
          • SMB Solutions
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Digital Marketers
          Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Authority Checker
          • Link Explorer
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • Brand Authority Checker
          • Local Citation Checker
          • MozBar Extension
          • MozCast
          Resources
          • Blog
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Help Hub
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • How-to Guides
          • Moz Academy
          • API Docs
          About Moz
          • About
          • Team
          • Careers
          • Contact
          Why Moz
          • Case Studies
          • Testimonials
          Get Involved
          • Become an Affiliate
          • MozCon
          • Webinars
          • Practical Marketer Series
          • MozPod
          Connect with us

          Contact the Help team

          Join our newsletter
          Moz logo
          © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
          • Accessibility
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy

          Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.