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.

      Save 36% now!
      Moz Pro

      Save 36% now!

      Sign up
    • 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

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing
      Moz API

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing

      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
    8641
    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

          • Cocoonfxmedia

            301 Redirect non existant pages

            Hi I have 100's of URL's appearing in Search Console for example: ?p=1_1 These go to on to 5_200 etc.. I have tried to do htaccess and the mod rewrite is on as I can redirect directories to the root i.e RewriteRule ^web_example(.*)$ /$1 [R=301,N,L] However I have tried all kinds of variations to redirect ?p= and either it doesn't work at all or it crashes the website. Can anyone point me in the right direction to fix this.

            Technical SEO | | Cocoonfxmedia
            0
          • TimHolmes

            301 redirect adding trailing slash to url

            I am looking into a .htacess file for a site I look after and have noticed that the urls are all 301 redirecting from a none slash directory to a trailing slashed directory/folders. e.g. www.domain.com/folder gets 301 redirected to www.domain.com/folder/ Will this do much harm and reduce the effect on the page and any links pointing to the site be lessened? Secondly I am not sure what part of my htaccess is causing the redirect. RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.domain.co.uk [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^$
            RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.domain.co.uk/$1 [L,R,NE] RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^./index.php
            RewriteRule ^(.)index.php$ /$1 [R=301,L] or could a wordpress ifmodule be causing the problem? Any info would be apreciated.

            Technical SEO | | TimHolmes
            0
          • Therealmattyd

            301 Redirects in subfolders

            Hi, we're making our site into a static site but I would like to transfer the Google juice. Most of the links and database exist on subfolders though. Could I simply do 301 redirects on the subfolders and retain the value or does it have to be on the full domain?

            Technical SEO | | Therealmattyd
            0
          • Houdoe

            CNAME vs 301 redirect

            Hi all, Recently I created a website for a new client and my next job is trying to get them higher in Google. I added them in OSE and noticed some strange backlinks. To my surprise the client has about 20 domain names. All automatically poiting to (showing) the same new mainsite now. www.maindomain.nl www.maindomain.be
            www.maindomain.eu
            www.maindomain.com
            www.otherdomain.nl
            www.otherdomain.com
            ... Some of these domains have backlinks too (but not so much). I suggested to 301 redirect them all to the main site. Just to avoid duplicate content. But now the webhoster comes into play: "It's a problem, client has only 1 hosting account, blablabla...". They told me they could CNAME the 20 domains to the main domain. Or A-record them to an IP address. This is too technical stuff for me. So my concrete questions are: Is it smart to do anything at all or am I just harming my client? The main site is ranking pretty well now. And some backlinks are from their copy sites (probably because everywhere the logo links to the full mainsite url). Does the CNAME or A-record solution has the same effect as a 301 redirect, from SEO perspective? Many thanks,
            Hans

            Technical SEO | | Houdoe
            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
          • Dan-Lawrence

            Can you 301 redirect a page to an already existing/old page ?

            If you delete a page (say a sub department/category page on an ecommerce store) should you 301 redirect its url to the nearest equivalent page still on the site or just delete and forget about it ? Generally should you try and 301 redirect any old pages your deleting if you can find suitable page with similar content to redirect to. Wont G consider it weird if you say a page has moved permenantly to such and such an address if that page/address existed before ? I presume its fine since say in the scenario of consolidating departments on your store you want to redirect the department page your going to delete to the existing pages/department you are consolidating old departments products into ?

            Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence
            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
          • dballari

            Where does Wordpress store the 301 redirects?

            Hi, I've just created a campaign for my new wordpress blog and found 11 301 redirects which I was not aware of. It looks like wordpress has created them automatically. Does any one know how wordpress handles this issues or where are they stored so I can delete them? They are of no use for me. 9 of these redirects point to the same url with an added '/' and are in pages 1 is on a post. I've been changing the permalink and some urls several times and maybe one of these times the Wordpress has automatically created the 301 redirect. But why? I do not want to keep the old url. the last redirect is very strange it goes from http://www.mydomain.com/folder to http://www.mydomain.com where folder is the folder where I installed wordpress. But again, I want no one to type the url with the folder name or even know this folder exists. Any comment on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot, David

            Technical SEO | | dballari
            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.