301 or 302 for one of our domains

[GeorgeLaRochelle]

We have one of our sites that we got rid of and incorporated into our "main" site. We left a 302 redirect from the old sites URL to a landing page on the new site. It act as a branded stub page before registration.

We are currently using a 302 to redirect from www.oldsite.com -> www.newbigsite.com/old-site

Should I change this to a 301? I loose my google SERP ranking for www.oldsite.com if I do the 301 and it will be replaced by www.newbigsite.com/old-site correct?

Thanks

[DesignbysoapLtd]

No problem George, glad I could help : )

[GeorgeLaRochelle]

Thanks, that is exactly what I thought. It had been a 302 for a while and I just came across it. Nobody knew exactly why they had it as a 302.

[DesignbysoapLtd]

Hi George.

A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect that's usually used for redirections on the same domain, a 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that tells search engines the content has permanently moved to a new location.

In this case, it sounds like your change is permanent and on a different domain, so you should really use a 301 redirect.

An added benefit of this is that it will pass most of the power gained (from links, etc) over to the new domain, which will help your overall domain authority.

And yes, if you switch to a 301 the SERP will show your new site, rather than the old one (once the 301 has been picked up).

If you'd like to read more there's a good post on Matt Cutts' blog discussing 301 vs. 302 here:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-discussing-302-redirects/

Hope that helps!