301 vs 302 Redirects
301 and 302 redirects are HTTP responses that forward one URL to another. A 301 marks the move permanent, shifting canonical signals to the target; a 302 marks it temporary, initially keeping the source canonical.
Both codes belong to the HTTP 3xx class: the server answers a request not with content but with a Location header naming another URL, and browsers and crawlers follow it. What separates them is the intent they declare. A 301 (Moved Permanently) tells Google the move is final, so indexing systems consolidate signals onto the target and drop the source as the canonical URL. A 302 (Found) declares the move temporary, so Google initially keeps the source canonical and treats the target as a stand-in — until a 302 lives long enough that Google concludes the move is actually permanent and processes it as a 301.
Redirects are the strongest canonicalization signal Google processes — stronger than rel="canonical" annotations, which are hints rather than instructions. And since 2016, when Google confirmed that no PageRank is lost through any 30x redirect, the old fear of redirect "leakage" is obsolete: 301, 302, 307, and 308 all pass authority in full.
The real costs are mechanical. Every hop in a redirect chain consumes a separate Googlebot fetch from the site's crawl budget, and Googlebot stops following a chain after 10 hops, leaving the destination unreached.
Quick facts
When should you use a 301 vs a 302?
Use a 301 for any move you do not intend to reverse; use a 302 only when the original URL is coming back. The code is a promise about the future of the source URL, and Google plans its indexing around that promise.
- 301 — domain migrations, HTTP-to-HTTPS upgrades, URL-structure changes, merged or retired pages
- 302 — A/B tests, geotargeted or device-based routing, maintenance windows, out-of-stock products pointing to a parent category
The method-preserving variants behave identically for SEO: Google treats 308 as permanent like a 301 and 307 as temporary like a 302. Verify what a URL actually returns — code, hop count, and final destination — with the Redirect Checker.
Do redirects lose PageRank?
No. Google confirmed in 2016 that PageRank passes through all 30x redirects without loss — 301, 302, 307, or 308 — ending a decade of SEOs assuming each redirect shed a fraction of authority.
What redirects still cost is crawling and time. Each hop takes its own fetch, so a five-hop chain spends five fetches delivering one page, and past 10 hops Googlebot abandons the chain while Search Console reports a redirect error. Chains accumulate through stacked migrations — HTTP to HTTPS, old domain to new, trailing-slash normalization — and the fix is pointing every source directly at the final URL in a single hop.
How do redirects control canonicalization?
A redirect is the strongest canonicalization signal Google has, because it removes the source from consideration entirely: there is no content at the old URL to index, only an instruction pointing at the new one. A 301 moves canonical status to the target as soon as Google recrawls; a 302 initially preserves the source as canonical, then converges to the target if the redirect persists.
Consolidation is recrawl-bound. Google must fetch both the redirect and its target before Search Console shows the source as "Page with redirect", which on rarely crawled sites takes weeks. Requesting indexing in Google Search Console accelerates single URLs, and the URL Inspection tool confirms which URL Google currently treats as canonical.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a 302 pass PageRank?+
Yes. Google confirmed in 2016 that every 30x redirect — 301, 302, 307, 308 — passes PageRank without loss. The choice affects which URL Google keeps as canonical, not how much authority transfers.
How long can a 302 stay in place?+
Until the move stops being temporary. Google treats a long-lived 302 as a 301 and consolidates signals to the target, so a mis-chosen 302 costs time rather than authority. Switch it to a 301 the moment the move becomes permanent.
Are redirect chains bad for SEO?+
Yes. Each hop spends a separate Googlebot fetch and delays canonicalization, and past 10 hops Googlebot abandons the chain entirely. After stacked migrations, repoint every old URL at the final destination in one hop.