301 Error Code: What It Is and How to Fix It

Introduction

Learn about 301 redirects and the most common errors so you can avoid them in the future. Fortunately, you've found your way here.

Think of it as if you're creating a brand new webpage or an entire website from scratch. Alternatively, you may be moving your website. Your domain name may contain a typo. You've concluded that using the same URL is no longer feasible. What are you doing?

A 301 permanently relocated status code is what you use. The purpose of these codes is to redirect your customers to a different location. "The requested document has been permanently relocated." Users will try to access a page, but will instead be redirected elsewhere.

You need to know the 301 status code, as well as how to find and fix 301 errors, here.

What Does 301 Permanently Moved Mean?

HTTP status codes come in a wide variety of flavors. There are a variety of ways to tell the user if a specific HTTP request has been successful. In total, there are five levels:

• Responses that provide data (such as 100 Continue and 101 Switching Protocols)
• Successful outcomes
• Reroutes traffic
• Mistakes by the user (like 404 Page Not Found)
• as well as server issues

There is a redirection indicated by the 3xx HTTP status code. Instead of the original URL, users and search engines will be redirected to a new one. There are a variety of 3xx status codes, such as 302, 303, and 307, each with their unique interpretation.

301 status codes should be used when you're permanently changing one URL for another. In other words, the old URL will be redirected to the new one for people and bots alike.

Website.com/blog redirects to blog.website.com

It would sound something like this to a real person:

Visitor: For the time being, this page has been relocated, and we have no plans to return it.

Browser: I see now. I'll direct your existing customers to the new URL.

There will be no need for the old URL, as it will no longer appear in the search results. The old URL's link equity will be transferred to the new URL.

As a result, whenever you're doing a site migration or removing an old page and replacing it with a new one, you'll want to perform a 301 Moved Permanently redirect.

How do 301 and 302 redirections differ?

A 301 redirect is superior to a 302 redirect. Have trouble deciding which one to use?

The fact that you're feeling this way isn't unique.

Even in 2019, website owners are unsure of which type of redirect is best for search engine optimization (SEO).

A redirect can be useful for a variety of reasons. Below are the most frequently used justifications:

• You've launched a brand-new site. 
• Creation of a new page for you.
• There is a problem with your URL.
  

For example, you're working on an issue with a page and want to redirect users to another page.

The decision is heavily influenced by the redirect's intended outcome. When it comes to SEO, it's important to know the difference between the two.

Search engines need to be informed that a website or page has been permanently relocated by a 301 redirect. If you're moving a website or creating a new one, you should use an HTTP 301. Usage of 301 is appropriate if you’re joining two websites together. However, 301 is also useful if you're making modifications to the URL that are not meant to be reversed.

Using a 302 redirect lets search engines know that a website or page has been temporarily redirected elsewhere. If you're redesigning or updating a website or a page, you should use this redirect. You can also use the redirect to test out a new page and get feedback from customers. Only use a 302 redirect if you intend to bring the old website or page back online in the future.

A 301 redirect lasts how long?

It is typical for a 301 redirect to remain in place for a year or more. Check to see if you’re new URL is still being sent to users after that.

Fixing 301 redirects is a question I frequently get

Error 301 is a common occurrence for website owners of all skill levels. To keep your website in good working order, it's important to know what's wrong and how to fix it. When dealing with these kinds of issues, regular website maintenance is a must, and here are the most common and best ways to resolve them.

Check to see if your HTTP version is redirecting to your HTTPS version.

Using HTTPS on your site can help protect the personal information of your site's visitors. For additional information, Google uses HTTPS as a ranking factor. To put it another way, not encrypting your website traffic with HTTPS can harm your search engine results. For the sake of everyone's safety online, Google hopes that this move will encourage all website owners to make the switch from HTTP to HTTPS. It's 2019 and HTTPS is a no-brainer.

However, if your users are not redirected to the secure HTTPS version, using HTTPS is of no use. In other words, you'll need to use an HTTP 301 to switch between HTTP and HTTPS.

Check the URL bar of your homepage to see if the 301 redirect works between your two versions. The following is what you'll see:

https://www.technologycrowds.com/

Enter the URL https://www.technologycrowds.com/  by removing the "s" from the beginning. A redirect to the secure HTTPS version of your site should occur if all goes well.

Get rid of all of the 301 redirects on your website

To better crawl your site, Google consults your sitemap file. However, since your redirected pages don't exist, Google has no reason to crawl them.

301 error status codes can be removed by performing the following steps:

Yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml can be found at this location (keep in mind that your sitemap URL might be different as there are exceptions).

Use a URL Extractor to download a list of all of your URLs in one place.

• Use any free tool to paste the list.
• Use a 301 status code to narrow the results.
• Replace the 301 URLs in the sitemap file with the final URL. 
• Delete the 301 URLs from the sitemap file.
• Redirect chains are to be avoided at all costs.
  

When the original URL and the final URL are connected by more than one redirect, this is known as a redirect chain. If you want to see an example of this, look at Page 1. Nevertheless, Google cautions against the use of redirect chains, citing the negative impact on user experience (UX) and the resulting slowdown on site performance.

Link farms are bad for SEO, too. Only about 85% of link equity is passed through 301 redirects, according to industry estimates. In other words, the more redirects there are, the worse the situation.

Ensure that the final URL is redirected to. A few pointers:

Redirect chains can be found using a tool like this.

The redirect chain should be replaced with a single 301 redirect once you've found them. In place of Page 1, Page 2, and then Page 3, the redirect goes to Page 1 and then Page 3.

In addition, you can replace internal links to redirected pages with direct links to the final URL.

Remove redirect loops

URLs that are linked together can create a redirect loop when one of them redirects users back to another URL. There are many examples of this, such as the following:

As soon as possible, you'll want to address this problem.

Use a free tool to scan up to 100 URLs for errors indicating that the maximum number of redirects has been exceeded.

You can fix redirect loops in two ways once you find them:

If you don't want the URL to redirect, change the HTTPS response code to 200.

You should fix the final destination URL if the URL is supposed to reroute.

Your redirects need to be fixed.

If a link is broken, it takes you to a page that doesn't exist! Page 1 (301) > Page 2 (302), for example (404). Your website's search engine rankings and user experience could suffer as a result.

To check for broken redirects in batches of 100, use the tool we mentioned above.

You can fix any errors you find by:

• Reviving a long-dead page
• Deleting the redirected URL's in-links.
  

Redirects from 302 to 301 should be used instead.

If you want to move permanently, you should never use 302 redirects. Removing or replacing an HTTP response status code 302 redirect that is in place because of a long-term move is the best course of action.

301 redirect pages that receive traffic should be examined.

This code tells the browser that a page has permanently relocated to a new URL. There should be no organic traffic to that page. Chances are that Google will notice the HTTP 301 if you recently added it.

Use a tool like Moz, SemRush, or Ahrefs to look for redirected pages that are still receiving organic traffic.

Remove the pages from your sitemap and re-submit them through Google Search Console once you've located them.

The most important things to remember

A 301 redirect is a permanent way of sending a URL to a new location. Search engines and website visitors alike will be alerted to the URL's new location if you do this.

You must have a strategy in place and use redirects wisely. Organic traffic can be greatly increased by correctly implementing HTTP 301. Follow the advice above if you're concerned that your website has unresolved 301 Moved Permanently errors.