Google and 301 Redirects Rule Changes

Google and 301 Redirects Rule Changes
In the past SEO practioners have operated by a set of best practices that dictate how to best handle redirection of URLs. (This is the practice of pointing one URL to another).

These rules included:

1.301 redirects result in around a 15% loss of PageRank. Matt Cutts confirmed this in 2013 when he explained that a 301 loses the exact same amount of PageRank as a link from one page to another.
2.302s don’t pass PageRank. By definition, 302s are temporary. So it makes sense for search engines to treat them different.
3.HTTPS migrations lose PageRank. This is because they typically involve lots of 301 redirects.

These represent big concerns for anyone who wants to change a URL, deal with an expired product page, or move an entire website. The risk of losing traffic can mean that making no change at all becomes the lesser of two evils. Many SEOs have delayed site migrations, kept their URLs ugly, and have put off switching to HTTPS because of all the downsides of switching.

The MOZ SEO blog as reported on the New Rules of URL Redirection, perhaps because of the downsides of redirection — especially with HTTPS — Google has worked to chip away at these axioms over the past several months.

•In February, Google’s John Mueller announced that no PageRank is lost for 301 or 302 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS. This was largely seen as an effort by Google to increase webmaster adoption of HTTPS.

•Google’s Gary Illyes told the SEO world that Google doesn’t care which redirection method you use, be it 301, 302, or 307. He explained Google will figure it out and they all pass PageRank.

•Most recently, Gary Illyes cryptically announced on Twitter that 3xx (shorthand for all 300) redirects no longer lose PageRank at all.

For more information please visit he MOZ blog and see how they describe the changes and potential pros and cons.