Everything About the 301 Redirect

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There are 2 major types of page redirection: a temporary redirect and a permanent redirect. For the end-users, they would not clearly see the distinction, but for search engines, the difference is apparent. A 301 redirect is considered a permanent redirection.

Man Riding Bicycle on City Street

For those who are asking, a redirection occurs when you go to a specific web page, and then, you are guided into a different web page. When you move page E to page F, that is an example of redirection. As you can see on the title, this article will focus on particular redirection, which is the 301 redirect.

What’s so significant with the 301 redirect?

A 301 redirect will help web visitors to automatically move from one website to another website. It starts when you type a web address on your browser. After that, search engines will redirect you the new address of the web addressed you type. The redirected page is different from the one you initially searched. All of the 301 redirects are under one main website. So, whatever variation you choose to type, you will end up at one uniform website.

  1. Let proceed with having specific examples. It’s difficult grasp when it’s just the general overview of the topic. Take a look at the search engine, Yahoo! The website has 2 o’s , but if you accidentally wrote Yahooo with 3 o’s on the address bar, you will still arrive at the Yahoo’s homepage. C’mon, open a new tab and type in com, and see it for yourself if it will redirect you the same Yahoo! homepage.
  2. Another example is the e-mail service: Yahoo! Mail. You can sign in your account through yahoo.com. However, you can access the website using other addresses. When you type yahoomail.com, you will go the same page. When you try ymail.com, still, you will reach the exact login page. So, whether it’s yahoomail.com, ymail.com, mail.yahoo.com, these addresses will permanently lead you to one page, which is login.yahoo.com.

Number 1 and 2 are both specific examples of a 301 redirect. I hope I’ve shed some shed on what a 301 redirect is all about. Let’s proceed to…

Why do we need to initiate a 301 redirect?

There are 3 main reasons on why prominent businesses like, Yahoo!, use a 301 redirect on several services:

  1. To establish domain authority. Of course, there are common misconceptions of brand names. For example, Well, some people might think it’s spelled with 3 o’s. Yahoo wouldn’t want to miss out on this opportunity. Perhaps, they accidentally added an extra “o.” Still, Yahoo! chose to buy both domain names just to be sure. The 2 domain names will redirect users to the same Yahoo! website.
  2. To rename a website. For instance, you want to change your business name. You can do so by retaining your existing address, and buying the new business address. This way, whether it’s your old (or new) customers, they will still arrive at one uniform address. Whether it’s the new web address or the old one, you are sure that all your customers will arrive at your newly revamped website.
  3. To redirect to a specific website especially if that website is under one main company. Just like what I mentioned,  Yahoo owns yahoomail.com, ymail.com, and mail.yahoo.com; these sites will all redirect to login.yahoo.com.