What is the difference between 301 redirect to 404 vs just 404.

[gaytravel]

A bunch of pages on my site are set to 301 redirect to our 404 page. Intuitively, I feel like they should all just 404 from the page's url and not redirect to the 404 page.

How do I explain to my developer that they should not redirects but should just 404?

Is there much of a difference between the redirect first vs 404 first?

Thanks!

[SEO5Team]

Kyle, a 404 page pops up if a visitors tries to access a URL on your site , however the server is unable to find that page on your site. A 301 redirect on the other hand is a technique to forward a particular URL  permanently to another page.

Based on what i read in your question, you should have the 301 redirects set to your home page and not the 404 page. If you set them to a 404 page with your home page link on it then the visitor has to take an extra step to reach your home page and try to find the info they are looking for.

[danatanseo]

Hi Kyle, I will preface my answer by saying I am not a developer. I think the 301-redirect to a 404 page is completely unecessary. It also introduces some additional latency that wouldn't be there without the redirect.

I am interested to hear the take from some of the developers here. Interesting question Kyle.