Essential 300 Redirect Codes For Website SEO

What are HTTP Status Codes?

This status code is a server reply to a browser’s application. When a visitor visits a website, the visitor’s browser sends a request to the website’s server, and then the server will respond to the browser with a three-digit code, the HTTP status code. The codes are just like the internet way of communication between the website server and browser request.

These codes tell whether things between the browser and the server are okay or there is something wrong. Knowing how these codes work and how to use them helps diagnose web page errors faster to reduce a site’s downtime. These codes can as well be used to aid search engines and browsers to access a website.

For instance, a 301 redirect code tells people and bots that a specific searched page has moved permanently to somewhere else.

Each status code starts with one to five numbers, for instance, 1xx, 2xx, 3xx, 4xx and 5xx. Every range indicates a different class of server answers from the other.

Common HTTP Response Codes

• 1xx, information response
• This informs the site of a request reception. It implies that the request process continues.

• 2xx, successful
• This deals with request understanding and response. For instance 100=ok

• 3xx, redirecting
• This signals that some particular actions are needed to finish a browser request. For instance 302=redirection

• 4xx, visitor error
• This code indicates that a client’s request will not be carried out. Additionally, it can imply that the request has bad syntax.

• 5xx, a server error
• This signals an unsuccessful server response due to a failure to process by a server.

It is important to note that some status errors and codes directly affect search engine optimisation while some do not. 1xx and 2xx do not impact SEO in any way, but 300, 400 and 500 can affect web page indexing and crawling negatively. As a website owner, you should always address the 5xx ad 4xx errors and status codes because they are dangerous to a web ranking.

In web development, HTTP 300 codes play a significant role in search engine optimization. These codes pass SEO utility from old URLs to current ones. Therefore it is essential to get deep into every 300 level status code’s meanings like permanent, multiple-choice and proxies.

List of 3xx HTTP  Status  Codes ad Their Meanings

The code appears when there are several redirects. It is common in REST APIs.A browser is given multiple choices to select sites with resources that meet the request sent. For instance, when a user requests URL add points to more than one resource, the crawler or web browser will fail to decide the page to be fetched. If you want to correct the error, check the HTTP headers. Moreover, you should also ensure that the URL you request points to a single resource for the user agent to access the page successfully.

301: Moved Permanently

This status indicates whenever a resource is permanently moved. Since users can’t see the previous URL, the search engines will index the redirected URL to the user. In most cases, common search engine user agents and crawlers follow up five redirects for one URL.

302: Resource Found or Temporarily Moved

This code appears when a temporary redirect is set to send a browser to another URL.

303: See Another Resource

This code permits REST API to send suggestions to clients as references. This does not affect SEO but can improve user-friendliness.

304: Not Modified

The server responds with this code when the requested source has not been modified after the previous requests.

305: Use Proxy

The web server responds with this code when the requested request can only be accessed via a proxy server. Due to security concerns, some browsers do not display the code.

307: Temporary Redirect

This code is received when the requested resource is temporarily moved to another address mentioned in the header area.

306 and 308

306 code signals that a server needs to use a specific proxy for given requests. Code 308, on the other hand, indicates that a permanent redirect is required.

Reasons of the HTTP Redirects

A URL redirect is a website address that is drafted to another. There are several reasons why redirecting is essential to your webpage. For instance, moving from one domain to another is one of the reasons for using URL redirection. Some the other reasons include:

• To Identify Broken links: HTTP redirects can be used to identify broken links. The 404 not found pages can be identified by the use of Google console. The coverage reports give in-depth information concerning all inbound links that need fixing by the use of redirecting.

• To Show a Page’s New Location: Redirecting can help in mapping a URL to a new location. That is, if a previous website had highly visited sites ranking high. To use this, it is essential to ensure that all the old pages used for redirection have not disappeared.

• Forwarding Several Domains : HTTP redirects search engines and internet users to one location but with several domain names at a go.

• Fixing Broken Links : With HTTP redirecting, you can fix a broken link by redirecting traffic to the front page.

• When Deleting a Page: The HTTP redirects provide a stress-free way of deleting a page. You only need to create an HTTPS for the pages to be deleted.

Advantages of HTTP Protocols

• Request responsibility
• Page caching
• Security
• Minimal latency
• Improved interactions with web resources

301 Redirects play a significant role when it comes to boosting organic traffic. Although most individuals can find redirect issues from one site page to another, knowing how they relate to SEO is challenging. But the fact is they affect SEO.

In SEO, 301 Redirect Code is said to move correlatively with PageRank, which determines the value of a web page. Value of A Page(PageRank) is created by browsers like Google, and these browsers use this technique to examine how relevant and webpage links are to provide quick feedback. Therefore, it means the quality of a PageRank will affect the web page’s ranking across browsers. In other words, the lower the PageRank quality, the lower the ranking in the browser, and vice versa.

When the 301 redirection occurs in a page, that page loses the value; PageRank goes down by 15%. This means the more redirection; the more PageRank goes down. Therefore, SEO work is affected here.

Boosting SEO Through the Use of 301 Redirects

Having good organic traffic is one of the most useful strategies in building a strong SEO. Understanding the power of 301 redirects, boosting organic traffic becomes a priority to free any SEO work from culprits of low ranking across browsers. The significant complication comes from knowing how to increase organic traffic through the 301 redirect code. This is how you can do it:

• 301 From Another High Authority Page : This is what is called the merger process to organic traffic for the sake of SEO work. But most of the time, the page should have content related to your industry. Using 301 redirects, merge it with that of your site page. By doing this, the link juice would have taken effect and subsequently, ranking of the target page and its organic traffic would increase significantly.

• Combining the Relating Pages :You can achieve this through taking the two pages and putting their backlinks into one but most relevant that covers the outcome. This is referred to as the cocktail method and can drive more results during 301 Redirect. Through page consolidation or compilation, there is giving of authority as the two pages are merged. As a result, better content is achieved, especially where the content source is getting old.

How to Fix 301 Redirect Code Problems Coming to the Page

Anyone who has encountered 301 redirect code will wish to know if you can fix these issues coming to their sites. The fact is that these issues have solutions, and here is how you can fix 301 redirects.

• Fix the Multiple Redirects Existing Like Chains : If there is a redirect chain, use a single 301 redirect and replace it with a redirect chain. Or you can use direct links to replace the redirected pages.

• By Checking the Sitemap, Delete Pages with 301 Redirect Codes: You can use tools like Ahrefs’ or Semrush’s Site Audit to get the report of the existence of pages with such errors.

• Ensure the Version of HTTP Existing on Your Page Redirects as HTTPS : The best way to fix 300 redirect codes is ensuring your page uses HTTPS, the most recommended by Google.

Conclusion

Any code existing as a “Redirect” has no much use but slows page performance. This means the page authority, for example, are affected, and the SEO work may fail to comply with its strategies in meeting its goals. Although redirects, in general, may hinder the SEO, 301 redirects can be useful. SEO uses organic traffic as one of the rankings of the contents through the browsers. On the other hand, 301 redirect has a close relationship with organic traffic. Therefore, any SEO work can gain momentum through 300 redirect codes.