302 REDIRECTS – 1 BIG GOOGLE RANKING FACTOR?

A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect. It is used to redirect website visitors and crawlers to a temporary web page. Webmasters should only implement 302 redirects if they are planning on restoring the original page.

A 302 redirect doesn’t pass domain authority to the new web page location. Its purpose is to redirect website users to a new location so that they don’t have a “poor experience.” 302 redirects prevent users from encountering 404 pages, errors, and broken links that commonly occur during site maintenance, testing, and redesigns.

In comparison, a 301 redirect is used to tell searchers and web crawlers that a web page has moved permanently and ensure that they get to the new web page location.

Since most page moves are permanent, and a 302 status don’t pass pagerank to the new page location, there are few situations where a 302 is actually the best choice for redirecting traffic.

Using a 302 when the page really calls for a 301 can cause problems for search engines when crawlers try to determine which page is a higher-value.

However, there are situations where using a 302 redirect is the correct option. Let’s look the scenarios where you might temporarily reroute web pages on your website.

• Website Redesigns & Updates
• Country Redirects – Landing users on the version of the site that corresponds to their native language/region.
• A/B Testing – Conducting A/B testing on high-traffic web pages.
• E-Commerce Page Updates – A way for e-commerce websites to make sure that out-of-stock or out-of-season product pages don’t create a poor user experience.