Changing 301s or using 302s after a relaunch?
-
We are doing a relaunch and changing nearly every URL. Since the list of redirects is > 5.000 we might have some mistakes we want to change later (i.e. having a 301 to a directory but finding a single page later that fits its purpose better).
Can I change the 301 later and will seachengines get that?
Can I use 302s for a week or two until I'm sure about my redirects and only than do propper 301s?
-
Above everything, Google looks for your user experience. If you have a ton of 302 redirects you will have duplicate content errors, If you start changing 301 redirects you will eventually create a spider web that is hard to navigate. If you set up your 301 redirects and have to change a few, you should be ok. If you set up 5000 redirects and end up changing 4500 of them or creating duplicate 301 redirects you will eventually have really slow page speeds and bad user experience which Google will recognize and not like.
302 redirects are not common or best practice. I would avoid them all together.
-
Thanks. I know hot to change them technically. The question is how google will react
-
Are you doing these redirects in the HTAccess file? If so, you should be able to change them at a later date without any issue. A 302 redirect is not going to help you in this situation. Using a 302 will still allow the engines to crawl the old URLs which will lead to duplicate content errors and tons of problems ranking pages in the future.
Whittie is correct, you should be able to go back and edit 301s individually after you dynamically redirect them. It depends on your CMS or Platform how easy that will actually be.
-
Depends on the CMS. Anything other than WP, I just go back through the list and tick them off if they're correct, might not be the quickest way to do it. Are you using WordPress? There's a redirection plugin which allows you to do each individually so you can check it's correct as soon as you've applied the 301.
-
And how's your experience changing them later on?
-
I would really try to avoid using 302's if possible, they can end up being more trouble than they're worth.
Setting up 301 redirects is a pain but helps the moving process to be a lot smoother. Nobody enjoys putting together a redirect list but it's a necessity, have 1000 still to get through myself!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
How to use Rich Snippets?
Hi there! I have been hearing a lot about Rich Snippets lately but I don't really know how they work. Are they a very important factor to consider for SEO? I would love to know your thoughts about this. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lucywrites0 -
Is a rootserver that has previously been used for porn and spam a problem for SEO?
As we found out via Alexa we are hosting our website on a server that has been used under the same IP heavily mostly for pornsites. Will this become a problem for our webproject? By the way: We are not in the porn-sector. We are an NGO with an alternative social media project for a better world. Thanks for your help.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RWW0 -
Domain Name Change-Negative Ranking Effect?
I am considering redirecting my domain name from www.nyc-officespace-leader.com to www.metro-manhattan.com. My company name is Metro Manhattan Office Space, Inc. so the new domain will be more consistent our identity. The Metro domain was registered with GoDaddy five years ago but has only been used for email and for forwarding (entering www.metro-manhattan.com will forward visitor to www.nyc-officespace-leader.com). What is the likely hood that redirecting to the Metro-manhattan.com domain will result in a drop in traffic and ranking? I asked this question a year ago and the results were mixed. But one year is an eternity for Google. I am hoping that re-directs work better now and that if this is implemented correctly there will be no ranking/traffic/domain authority loss. Thoughts?? Thanks, Alan
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan10 -
How to change URL structure in google webmasters
Is there any way to ask google to indexed the website in following URL structure abc.com/category/postname (I have this structure on my website) But Currently google indexed my website posts as - abc.com/postname/category How I can tell google to follow the right structure?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Michael.Leonard0 -
Existing 301s during site migration - what to do?
Hi - I'm looking at an old website and there are lots of 301s internal to that site - what do I do with these when I move to a new site? Should I list them and adjust them so they redirect to the new site now (instead of from one URL to another URL on the old site) - I'm thinking that if I don't the user will have to travel through one 301 then another to get to the new site, which doesn't seem like a great idea? Your thoughts would be welcome.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
Ranking in SERPs but not using terms on website.
As far as I know, it's not normally possible for a website to rank for a keyword that is not mentioned on the website. I have seen a website that ranks very well for key terms and yet they are not mentioned anywhere on the website, I have run advanced search & checked using tools including cloak checker on my findings. How can this be?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lee-murphy0 -
Is Video Sharing sites is still useful for SERP ?
Well I am not talking about the audience views, i am asking whether it is good for submitting videos to multiple video sites for backlinks and any sharp movements for the keywords. I seen most of the sites are nofollow which is not useful but for the link diversification is that something good ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | chandubaba0 -
Do any of you regularly use expired domains?
I know there has been discussion on using expired domains in the past. This is not so much a question as to how to do it or whether it works, but rather I would love to see how many of you use this in your backlink strategy. I have a domain in a low to moderately competitive niche that ranks really well, mostly on the power of a couple of expired domains. I bought the domains, created a quick wordpress site and pointed some anchor texted links to the site. It took some time for the expired domains to regain their PR, but when they did, the benefit was great. I'm considering whether I want to do this with another domain of mine. On one hand, it's a relatively inexpensive way to get some good quality anchor texted links. But, on the other hand, something in it feels "immoral" or "sneaky" to me. What do you think?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MarieHaynes0