We do. They are the unsung heroes of SEO.

A 301 redirect tells your browser – and search engine spiders – that a web page has changed location permanently. They are often used when an old site is being redesigned and the content is being shifted to a new address.

So far, so good.

But, I hear you say, is this really enough to warrant a blog post of its own?

Yes it is!

As with much of SEO, there are two issues at the heart of this issue: user experience and backlinks (and they are closely related). Here, in a nutshell, is why creating 301 redirects when moving content around on your site is a good thing:

User Experience

Let’s assume your website has been live for a number of years. If you have products or content that people like, it is probable that they have bookmarked a subpage of your site, so that they can come back and purchase/admire at a later date. If you move this content to a new address without a hard redirect, suddenly their bookmark becomes useless and clicking on their bookmark will take them to a 404 error page.

What do you do when you arrive at a 404 error page?

I  go to Google and search for the content elsewhere. This leads to the possibility of finding a rival with a well optimised site. If you had redirected the old page properly, this nightmare is easily avoidable.

Let’s take this a step further…

Backlinks

What happens when a webmaster finds content that they like on your website?

Chances are they will link to it. Yes! Backlink! Woo hoo! That’s a good thing and will help build the reputation of your site with Google and friends. That link passes some of the value (usually classified as PageRank/PageTrust) from the linking website to the linked-to page.

If you move the content of that page to a new address without putting a 301 redirect in place, the PageRank that would have been passed to your site is lost, the link from the host site is considered useless and is liable to be removed when the webmaster realises and thus your site’s value is unnecessarily depleted.

The moral of this post: when you move content permanently, use a permanent redirect!