The Complete Guideline for SEO Redirects

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The Complete Guideline For SEO Redirects PUBLISHED BY:

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captain

December 14, 2022

Digital Marketing

Website redirects are essential for browsers and search engines to find information about a URL and where to find the webpage. Redirects are very important and must be used correctly, as they greatly affect how your website is indexed by Google. Redirects are rarely discovered, and most people believe they are a hoax, but that is not true at all. Ideally, a redirect is a way to push a person from one URL to another, more relevant one. This move can be temporary or permanent. At the end of the day, the goal of using redirects is to provide a positive user experience. Have you searched for a particular page online but ended up landing on a page that no longer exists? This can be greatly avoided if you use redirects, which automatically redirect to another topic, allowing them to continue their research. Redirects can end up influencing your SEO strategy as well. Since the SEO is linked to the redirects, it is very important to understand how they work and how to use them properly. So, this article lets us learn more about what redirects are, how they work, why and when to use them, and even about different types of redirects.

Redirects: When And Why You Need Them? There are two main categories of redirects, and the dynamics of how they work are pretty simple. Page-level redirects: Understanding page-level redirects is not complicated. These redirects happen when you have specific pages or a set of pages that require redirecting. However, not every page on your site requires redirecting. If you are someone with an eCommerce store, then you have a clear idea of how your products come and go. Some of your products might rank well and generate more traffic, whereas some of them will be linked to another product. Sometimes your customer might like something from your store that is expired. At times like that, you have to make sure they are redirected to another site or product that is similar to the expired one and something they might be interested in. There are several sites that have the same content on multiple pages. You might be wondering how this is possible. Actually, it is quite easy to do. Unfortunately, doing this might result in issues with duplicate content. From a UX point of view, it is not looking good as well. URL redirects in SEO are quite common and are highly recommended in situations like this. You can simply merge two pages or more into one page or URL. The next page after that is then redirected to a new page. Website-level redirects: Redirecting all the pages from one URL to another is called “website-level redirecting.” Simply ensuring every page is of good quality as part of the redirect plan is called “websitelevel redirecting.” Say, for example, that you have purchased an expired domain. Your client might have many websites that sell many products. Now, your goal is to merge two or more websites into one. How do you do that? The whole point of merging websites is to merge the weaker website with the stronger one. There are times when site owners frequently purchase other domains and redirect their content to their own. Now, if you are planning to do so, you need to have tonnes of experience and proper planning.

How Important Are Redirects For SEO? There are several reasons why you need redirects for SEO. Some of them include: Redirects retain the link’s worth: Links are very essential for any website, regardless of what you do or what products you sell. But as time goes on, you’ll notice how link-building campaigns are connected and even notice natural links. Sometimes you’ll even notice links that don’t just go to the homepage of the website. They might simply point to any other page of the website. Interesting, isn’t it? Now, when you delete a page, the link’s value that was passed on simply vanishes. In such cases, you can always opt for 301 redirects, which help retain as much value as possible. Redirects keep the users engaged. When it comes to SEO redirection, user experience is very crucial. It is only natural to assume that a bad user experience is bad for your SEO.

Types Of Redirects 301 redirects: This is also known as a permanent redirect. This is used by users when they want to forward one URL to another without the intention of changing it back in the foreseeable future. Your site usually becomes stronger and more secure during this process. Even your link’s value from the old URL is usually passed around 100% in 301 redirects. However, this is possible only when your new URL is very similar to the old one. 302 redirects: This is also known as a temporary redirect. This redirect can be used to create a redirect that can be changed or reversed in the future. PageRank didn’t qualify 302 redirects until recently and some still think Google confirms PageRank didn’t approve 302s. You can use the SEO redirect checker to understand SEO tests and decide whether to trust them or not. 307 redirects: This is also called a temporary redirect; however, it is not as common as 302, because 307 makes sure that both the body and methods don’t change or alter when the request is made.

What Is The Best SEO Redirect Method? Setting up the SEO redirects can be difficult, but with these steps, you can attain a much easier strategy that will help you along the process. The preferred version of the website: When you are planning on setting up a redirect, it is also crucial to focus on the most relatable and preferred version of the URL that is targeted. If your website has the ability to have multiple URLs for the same page, then this method is particularly crucial. The most relatable alternative URL: Make sure you are redirecting to the most relatable alternative to the original URL. This helps you retain more relevance as well. Say no to redirect chains: When you are setting up more than two redirects, make sure you re-examine them and consolidate them in order to eliminate the chain. Redirects require cleanup: people frequently set up redirects and then forget about them. When the site changes continuously, this can be a problem. Therefore, make sure your old redirects are properly examined and revalued. You’ll be surprised to see that some redirects are not needed anymore, and some need to be lifted or changed permanently. Update internal links and remove redirects within the sitemap: Sitemaps should never be included in the redirected content. Each redirect requires the list of final, targeted URLs only. It is recommended to evaluate your sitemap regularly. This helps you figure out the redirects that need to be removed and replaced. The process of redirection is not that difficult, but it is only natural for us to make mistakes. Sometimes we might even implement redirects in places that do not require them. This might not seem like an issue, but this will greatly affect your SEO and create issues. Even Google may not link your ranking signals from the original page with the new one, causing a drop in ranking. Therefore, make sure you analyze all your website’s redirects, as it is very important for your SEO as well.