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    4. Multilang site: Auto redirect 301 or 302?

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    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.

    Multilang site: Auto redirect 301 or 302?

    International SEO
    redirect 301 redirect 302 international seo
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    • fJ66doneOIdDpj
      fJ66doneOIdDpj Subscriber last edited by

      We need to establish if 301 or 302 response code is to be used for our auto redirects based on Accept-Language header.

      https://domain.com
      30x > https://domain.com/en
      30x > https://domain.com/ru
      30x > https://domain.com/de

      The site architecture is set up with proper inline HREFLANG.
      We have read different opinions about this, Ahrefs says 302 is the correct one:
      https://ahrefs.com/blog/301-vs-302-redirects/
      302 redirect:
      "You want to redirect users to the right version of the site for them (based on location/language)."

      You could argue that the root redirect is never permanent as it varies based on user language settings (302)
      On the other hand, the lang specific redirects are permanent per language:

      IF Accept-Language header = en
      https://domain.com > 301 > https://domain.com/en
      IF Accept-Language header = ru
      https://domain.com > 301 > https://domain.com/ru

      So each of these is 'permanent'.

      So which is the correct?

      Tom.Capper 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Scottoffroad
        Scottoffroad last edited by

        Hi Guys i am newer to SEO. my web with the 301 302 issue. anyone able help to fix it? will be high appreciated.

        Internal URL
        Yes
        Full URL
        https://myoffroadled.com/led-rocker-switch
        HTTP status code
        301 Moved permanently
        First found at
        Seed URL
        Content type
        text/html; charset=utf-8
        Depth
        0
        Redirect URL
        https://www.myoffroadled.com/led-rocker-switch/
        Not crawled
        Is redirect loop
        No
        Page rating
        100

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Tom.Capper
          Tom.Capper Subject Expert @fJ66doneOIdDpj last edited by

          @fj66doneoiddpj In some cases users may have a reason for using the site in something other than their browser language.

          For example, perhaps a shared device, or simply wishing to check a different localisation.

          If your hreflang is working correctly, they should never see the "wrong" version anyhow.

          But, there are pros and cons of course.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • fJ66doneOIdDpj
            fJ66doneOIdDpj Subscriber last edited by

            Thank you for the reply, 302 is also what we decided after many hours of reading.
            The main reason for auto redirect is that we feel it's a better user experience as user will arrive the content target to his/her browser language.

            Tom.Capper 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Tom.Capper
              Tom.Capper Subject Expert @fJ66doneOIdDpj last edited by

              @fj66doneoiddpj

              I would use a 302 here, just as an added insurance in case you ever accidentally serve Google the redirect.

              However, I'm not a huge fan of auto redirects in general - they tend to cause issues for crawlers and users alike. Can you explain a bit more when/why the user gets redirected? Perhaps instead you could serve a country selection insterstitial if a user seems to be on the "wrong" variant?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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