Description:
Is there any difference between 301 and 301 redirects ?
Solution:
Practically, there is limited difference between the two. To be precise, 301 redirect signals a permanent move of the page, while 302 reffers to a temporary move.
This can influence search engine traffic, but Google has learned that because it is easier to implement a 302 redirect, developers might use it wrong, so the search engine checks for the accuracy of the redirect.
The mistakes come form the process of creting the 2 redirects, 302 being easier to develop, as follows:
Redirect 301 in PhP:
<?
Header( “HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently” );
Header( “Location: http://www.newLocation.com” );
?>
Redirect 302 in PhP:
<?php
Header(“Location: http://www.temporaryLocation.com”);
exit();
?>
The redirects can also be done with .htaccess.
Redirect 301:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^location.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.newLocation.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
Redirect 302:
Redirect /index.html http://www.temporaryLocation
Further details about .htaccess redirect here.
