What is Web Page Redirect? How should it be done?
A page redirect is the redirection of the URL of one web page to another URL. Page redirection can come in handy when a website changes its URL structure or relocates a page. Page redirection is important for improving user experience and letting search engines know that you are updating the website structure.
There are many ways to do a page redirect:
301 Redirect: This method is used when a page is completely moved to another URL. This type of redirect notifies search engines that the old page has been replaced by the new page and helps transfer SEO value.
302 Redirect: This method is used when a page is temporarily moved to another URL. This type of redirect tells search engines that the old page has been temporarily moved to another location, but the old page still exists.
Meta Redirect: This method is done with the HTML code inside the page. In this method, if users click on the page URL, the browsers are redirected to the specified URL.
Things to Consider While Redirecting Pages
There are some points that you should pay attention to when making page redirects:
Use the correct redirect type. If a page is being moved permanently, use a 301 redirect.
Check the number of redirects. If a page is redirected more than once, the page load speed may be affected and negatively evaluated by search engines.
Make sure the forwarding targets are correct. False redirects can negatively affect the user experience and lower your search engine ranking.
Update the sitemap. When you do redirects, don't forget to update your sitemap as well.
Provide open access to landing pages. Redirect pages must be crawlable by search engines. So, check if there are any robots.txt files that are blocking redirect pages.
What Are 4xx and 3xx Codes?
3xx HTTP redirect codes are used to notify that the URL of a web page has been redirected to another URL. These codes are important for improving the user experience and helping search engines keep track of changes to your website. The most commonly used redirect codes are:
301 Redirect Code: Used to redirect permanently. Used when the URL of a page changes permanently or when a page is completely moved to another URL. This type of redirect helps transfer the SEO value accumulated on the old page to the new page.
302 Forwarding Code: Used to temporarily redirect. It is used when you want to make a temporary change to the URL of a page or when you want to temporarily move a page to another location.
303 Forwarding Code: Used when the resource associated with the request is located in another location. This code is used to notify the user that the action is complete when a web form is submitted.
307 Forwarding Code: Used to temporarily redirect. It is similar to the 302 code, but some browsers may interpret the 307 code differently.
308 Forwarding Code: It is used to redirect permanently. It is similar to the 301 code, but some browsers may interpret the 308 code differently.
Proper use of referral codes can have a positive impact on user experience and your search engine ranking. However, using false redirect codes or overusing redirects can negatively impact your site performance. Therefore, care should be taken when making page redirects, using the correct code and making the appropriate number of redirects.
4xx HTTP codes are codes that indicate that there was an error in a web page accessing the requested resources. These codes are usually caused by client error or the user doing something wrong. The most commonly used 4xx codes are:
400 Bad Request: The server could not understand the request message. It is usually caused by an incorrectly formatted request.
401 Unauthorized: The request was made to a resource that requires authentication, but authentication failed or was not made at all.
403 Forbidden: The request was made to a resource that the client does not have permission to access.
404 Not Found: The request was made to a resource that does not exist on the server.
405 Method Not Allowed: The request was made using an HTTP method that is not available in the resource.
406 Not Acceptable: The request contains a media type request that is not supported by the resource.
408 Request Timeout: The server was unable to respond to the request in a timely manner.
409 Conflict: The request conflicts with available resources.
410 Gone: The request was made to a resource that no longer exists on the server.
429 Too Many Requests: Requests have reached the maximum number of requests the server has received from a given IP address in a given period of time.
