302 to 301 redirect

[Houses]

Our site has quite a few 302 redirects that really ought to be 301's.

Our IT department is really busy so the question is, given that the 302's have probably been in place for years, is it worth changing them to 301's now?

Thanks

[Matt-Williamson]

Hi Houses - I wasn't sure so tried to be none-gender specific - guys being used in the informal meaning persons of either sex - welcome to the community

[Houses]

By the way, Houses is a girl

[BlueprintMarketing]

I can understand that completely who would only make sense right. If the algorithm can tell essentially if a link should be a 301 and the site is set to 302 essentially what they're doing is allowing the link to act as a link and choose to pass juice through the pipe. That is extremely interesting. It goes to show how important it is to stay current with your website always keep things fresh and always test then test again.

Thank you Alan I really appreciate that knowledge that is something I did not know about.

Sincerely,

Thomas Zickell

[AlanMosley]

They did not say how long

We are always cautious about the information we find on websites, as from past experience we know to watch in case you’ve made an error.  We sometimes see 301s changing destination each time we crawl them.  In such cases, even though a 301 is in place, we tend to view them as 302 redirects.  The flip side to this is that we sometimes see 302s which are always linking to the same destination each time we crawl them, acting more like a 301 redirect.  So our system may think about them more like 301s as we continue to crawl them again and again.

http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/webmaster/archive/2011/10/06/managing-redirects-301s-302s-and-canonicals.aspx

[BlueprintMarketing]

Allen,

I am using a voice-recognition system to type this. My native language is German so my spelling sucks I mean it really sucks.

How long does it take for Bing to turn a a 301 in to a 302? that's a scary thought.  Very helpful to know about. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Matt,

I private messaged house and told him I hope I did not make him feel like I was directing  him to do something. he is a great guy and definitely did not having the intention of not giving a reward. The only reason I actually spoke out is because it happens so often. And it's not the people who don't give the credits fault it should be put somewhere when they go to reply or hit the button stating that the question has been answered. That if anyone has helped you it has something like you put here.

"moz points (gained through thumbs up and marking an answer a good) are both an incentive and reward for contributors to get involved and help others, keeping this great community going and adding to its value".

I too was very weary of the community looking down on me for asking someone to give Moz points. However I felt like in this case I made it very clear that the system was designed to give credit for answers that benefit someone. I also want to be 100% sure people knew I was not seeking any points regardless of anything. just trying to get the word out. I think everyone has done a wonderful job of handling this and I'm delighted that things worked as planned you received your points house got his question answered.  Everything how it should be. Thank you House for doing the right thingThank you Matt very much for backing me up and you're more than welcome you hit the nail on the head with the answer.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[Matt-Williamson]

Thanks Thomas - much appreciated - I have noticed quite a few people that I have answered questions for recently not giving any credit in terms of good answer or thumbs up, but marking the question as answered and I have been the only one contributing. In some cases the person has even wrote a thank you message, so you know they appreciate the help but they have forgot to give a thumbs up.

I don't blame these guys as I don't think they realise - as Houses didn't. Some times I have considered making a comment as such, but then I have felt that this isn't the right thing to do, as it looks like you are pressuring people for moz points.

Just for anyone that is only just coming to the community or getting involved -

"moz points (gained through thumbs up and marking an answer as good) are both an incentive and reward for contributors to get involved and help others, keeping this great community going and adding to its value".

Thanks guys,

Matt

[AlanMosley]

Just a side note, 302's that have been in place for some time are treated as 301s by Bing, and visa versa, 301's that keep changing are treated as 302's. I have no idea if Google does anything like this.

just noticed the spell check, I haven't posted for some time, my spelling sucks so good news.

[BlueprintMarketing]

No worries man I'm glad you came back and did the right thing. As you spend more time here you will go up in the rank as well by getting thumbs up and things like that and answering questions. So I'm glad you are good enough to come back and help him.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[Houses]

Sorry, Just come back to do that and seen your comment.

[BlueprintMarketing]

PS  Houses

I just wanted to point something out real quickly. The answer you are seeking was given by Matt  normally in this scenario you would give him a thumbs up and then a helpful answer. I obviously got the party too late and am not asking for a credit at all in fact please don't credit me because it would look like I'm trying to do something I'm not. But please give Matt a thumbs up and best answer.

Thumbs up Matt

[BlueprintMarketing]

Unless you do not want the links to pass on link juice or credit by all means change it to a 301 redirect right away.

[Houses]

Thanks - helps with the pitch to IT!

[Matt-Williamson]

Yes as they are permanent redirects and you could have links pointing at the old urls which aren't passing on any link juice through the 302 redirect.