What Is a 301 Redirect?
A 301 redirect is a signal a server sends saying a page has permanently moved from one address to another, and that anyone, human or crawler, should be sent on to the new one automatically. It is the standard way to retire an old URL without losing what it had built up.
When you need one
- You change a page's URL structure or slug
- You merge two pages into one
- You retire an old domain and move everything to a new one
Why it matters more than just deleting the old page
Without a redirect, anyone who follows an old link, or any bookmark, hits a dead page. A 301 quietly carries them through instead, and it tells a search engine that any trust the old page had should transfer to the new one rather than disappear.
301 versus 302
A 301 says the move is permanent. A 302 says it is temporary and the old URL should stay indexed. Using the wrong one is one of the more common technical SEO mistakes, since a 302 left in place for months does not pass along the same trust a 301 does.
Why it matters for AI crawlers too
An AI crawler following an outdated link needs the same signal a search engine does. A broken link, or a redirect chain with several hops, is a common reason a model ends up citing an old, wrong version of a page or skipping it altogether.
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