What is a 301 Redirect?

A 301 redirect is permanent by definition. If you only need to send visitors somewhere else for a short time, use a 302 (temporary) redirect instead: browsers cache 301 responses and will keep following them even after you remove the rule.

When to use a 301 redirect

Reach for a 301 when the change is permanent. The common cases:

1. You moved your site to a new URL or merged 2 websites, and you want old links and bookmarks to keep working.
2. Your site can be reached at several addresses, such as https://example.com/home and https://www.example.com, and you want search engines to treat one of them as the canonical URL.
3. You removed a page and want visitors to land on its replacement instead of a 404 error.

How a 301 redirect works

When a browser asks for the old URL, your server answers with status code 301 and a Location header carrying the new address. Per MDN's HTTP reference, the browser automatically requests the new URL, and it caches the redirect, so repeat visits skip the old address entirely.

Search engines follow the same trail. Google's redirect documentation treats a permanent redirect as a strong signal that the destination should become the canonical URL, and over time Google transfers ranking signals from the old address to the new one. That usually preserves your search visibility, but it isn't a guarantee of identical rankings: positions can fluctuate while Google recrawls old URLs and processes the move.

On Apache servers, a single line in your .htaccess file creates the redirect: Redirect 301 /old-page/ https://example.com/new-page/. From then on, every request for /old-page/ gets a 301 response pointing at the new page.

301 vs. 302 vs. 308 redirects

All three are redirects, responses that forward one URL to another, but they make different promises:

• 301 (Moved Permanently): the move is final. Browsers cache the response, and search engines take it as a strong signal to make the new URL the canonical one, consolidating ranking signals there over time.
• 302 (Found): the move is temporary. Search engines generally keep the original URL indexed and canonical while the redirect runs.
• 308 (Permanent Redirect): permanent like a 301, but the request method is never changed.

Use a 301 when the move is final. For temporary situations, like a page that's down for maintenance while you rebuild it, use a 302 so browsers and search engines don't treat the move as permanent.

How to set up a 301 redirect

You have 3 practical options, and you only need one:

• Edit .htaccess: on Apache servers, add a Redirect 301 line per moved URL. It works for any site, WordPress or not.
• Use a WordPress plugin: a redirect plugin lets you add and manage rules from your dashboard. Our guide How to Create 301 Redirects in WordPress (4 Methods) walks through the choices step by step.
• Use your host's panel: if your host offers a redirect or domain-forwarding tool, you can add the rule there without touching a file.

Whichever method you pick, keep the path short. Every extra hop slows the visit, and 2 URLs pointing at each other create a redirect loop that locks visitors out. After saving the rule, load the old URL in your browser and confirm it lands where you expect.