A 301 redirect is the equivalent of a “change of address” form from the post office. You complete one when you change your address and your customers can still find you.
If you change your URL, then you, or your web design company, need to make sure that you implement a 301 redirect. This way, you retain the most of the search rankings and the link value that you built up on your first website.
When Does a Site Need a 301 Redirect?
There are several reasons why you, or your web design company, might decide a 301 redirect is necessary or appropriate. You may have a broken URL or one which doesn’t work. The website or page might not be active. You might have a new website that you want people to visit instead. You might be testing a new web page or fixing an old one. You might change the URL of a page because you change a product name.
When you implement a 301 redirect, it’s a permanent redirect. The new page takes over from the old page and everything that went with it in terms of SEO. If you’re not sure whether your website would benefit from a 301 redirect, you need to consult experts from a Dublin SEO agency such as www.rycomarketing.ie/ for advice.
Could There Be a Problem?
There could always be a problem. A 301 redirect is till the best SEO practice if you are changing the URL. This is because a 301 redirect transfers at least 90% of the SEO authority to the new page. Sometimes, however, that authority doesn’t seem to carry across or your rankings drop. This might be because Google and other search engines do take a little time to register and adjust for the change of address.
One thing to be very careful about is the number of 301 redirects your site has. If you lose even a small amount of SEO authority every time you redirect, you only want to do so when it’s really necessary. If you have a lot of pages on your site, and you update those pages regularly, and each time you update you change the URL, then you can experience a considerable loss of authority over time. You and your web design company need to be aware of this.
