Do 301 redirects lose SEO value?

Google says 301 redirects and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss of PageRank. Rankings can still move while Google recrawls the old and new addresses, and should settle over time. Value is lost when a redirect points at a page with different content or runs through a chain of hops, so send each old URL to its real replacement.

How long should I keep 301 redirects?

Keep 301 redirects for at least a year, which is Google’s guidance for a site move, and longer while people still follow the old links. They cost little to keep: a list of old paths and the new ones. Removing them early sends anyone with an old bookmark or link to a not found page.

Should I use a 301 or a 308 redirect?

Both are permanent redirects, and Google treats both as a signal that the target is the new URL. The difference is the request method. After a 301 a browser may turn a form’s POST into a GET, while a 308 forbids that. For ordinary pages either works; for an address that receives form posts or API calls, use a 308.

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Glossary

301 redirect

A 301 redirect is the HTTP response that tells a browser or crawler a page has moved permanently to the address in its Location header. Browsers go straight to the new address, and Google indexes it in place of the old one.

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refract.group/portfolio

1GET /portfolio HTTP/1.1
2Host: refract.group
3 
4HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
5Location: /work

An old address on our site, requested, and the permanent redirect it gets to the page that replaced it.

301 redirect in detail

Also called: Permanent redirect, 301 Moved Permanently, HTTP 301
Topic: Search and AI answers
Updated: November 2026

What it is

301 is an HTTP status code, Moved Permanently, defined in the HTTP standard, RFC 9110. The server answers a request for the old URL with that code and a Location header holding the new one, and sends no page of its own. The browser follows it at once, so the visitor sees only the new address.

Search engines read the code as an instruction about their index. Google treats a 301 as a strong signal that the target should become the canonical URL, shows the target in results, and says permanent redirects cause no loss of PageRank. A 308 is permanent too, with one difference: after a 301 the browser may turn a form’s POST into a GET, and after a 308 it may not.

Why it matters

Every address a company has published lives on somewhere: in old emails, partner pages, bookmarks and the search index. When a site is rebuilt and those addresses return 404, the visitor lands on an error and the links pointing there stop counting for anything. A 301 for each one keeps the visitor moving and tells Google which new page has taken over. Google’s site move guidance asks for the redirects to stay in place for at least a year, and longer while people still use the old addresses.

How we do it

In November 2026 we checked the old addresses Search Console reported as not found against the live site. Ten still had a current page with matching content, so each now answers with a 301: eight old project pages to the case studies that replaced them, the portfolio to /work and the manifesto to /about.

They are listed one by one, with no catch-all rule, and keep their query strings. An address with a trailing slash goes straight to its destination in one hop. Four retired projects with no current case study still return 404. We did not send them to the homepage. Each redirect was checked by requesting the URL and reading the response.

An example

Say a company moved its blog from /news to /blog two years ago, with 301s, and is now moving it again to /resources. If the new rules cover only /blog, an old /news link now takes two hops: /news to /blog, then /blog to /resources. The fix is to rewrite the first set of rules so every old address points straight at its final page, and to change the site’s own links so the site never relies on a redirect itself.

Common mistakes

Sending everything to the homepage. A retired page with no replacement should return a not found, because a redirect to an unrelated page helps nobody who followed the link.
Using a 302 for a permanent move. Google shows the source of a temporary redirect in results and does not use it as a canonical signal, so the old address can stay in the index.
Removing the redirects after launch. Google asks for them to stay for at least a year, and links in old emails and on other sites keep arriving long after that.
Leaving chains in place. Each hop adds a round trip for the visitor, and Google advises pointing every old address straight at its final page.

301 redirect vs 302 redirect

A 301 redirect says a page has moved for good and the new address should replace it in the index, while a 302 says the move is temporary and the original address is still the page.

	301 redirect	302 redirect
Status text	Moved Permanently	Found
Google shows	The new address	The original address
Canonical signal	Yes, a strong one	Not from the redirect
Use for	Retired pages, site moves	Maintenance, a page held back

Sources

Questions

What people ask about 301 redirect.

Google says 301 redirects and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss of PageRank. Rankings can still move while Google recrawls the old and new addresses, and should settle over time. Value is lost when a redirect points at a page with different content or runs through a chain of hops, so send each old URL to its real replacement.
Keep 301 redirects for at least a year, which is Google’s guidance for a site move, and longer while people still follow the old links. They cost little to keep: a list of old paths and the new ones. Removing them early sends anyone with an old bookmark or link to a not found page.
Both are permanent redirects, and Google treats both as a signal that the target is the new URL. The difference is the request method. After a 301 a browser may turn a form’s POST into a GET, while a 308 forbids that. For ordinary pages either works; for an address that receives form posts or API calls, use a 308.