301 Redirect
A permanent URL redirect that transfers almost all ranking power to the new URL.
A 301 redirect permanently sends one URL to another and passes its ranking signals to the destination. It is the correct response when a page has moved for good or two pages are being merged. Redirect to the closest equivalent page rather than the homepage, and avoid chaining redirects, which loses value at every hop.
Definition
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another. It tells search engines (and browsers) that the original URL has permanently moved to a new location, and transfers approximately 90-99% of the original page's ranking power (link equity) to the destination.
Why It Matters
When you change URLs (site migration, restructuring, or fixing broken links), 301 redirects preserve your rankings and backlinks. Without them, you lose all SEO value accumulated by the old URL. 404 errors from changed URLs are one of the biggest SEO migration mistakes.
Example
# nginx
rewrite ^/old-page$ /new-page permanent;
# Next.js next.config.js
redirects: [{ source: '/old-page', destination: '/new-page', permanent: true }]Related Terms
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