To a visitor, a 301 and a 302 redirect look identical: they type or click one address and land on another. To a search engine they mean different things, and choosing the wrong one can cost you rankings you spent years building. If you manage a WordPress site, you will need both at some point.
Redirects exist so the web can change without breaking. HTTP status codes let you move a page, rename a URL or restructure a site while links from other sites, bookmarks and search results keep working. Typical reasons you need one:
- A URL was changed, mistyped or is now broken.
- You moved to a new domain, or from HTTP to HTTPS.
- A page is temporarily unavailable and visitors should go somewhere useful meanwhile.
- You merged or deleted content and want its traffic to land on the closest replacement.
Misconfigured redirects also cause their own problems, from redirect loops to server errors. Our guide to the 502 Bad Gateway error covers one of those; this article covers when to use 301 and 302, and how to set them up in WordPress.
Last updated: 2026. Reflects current Google Search documentation on redirects.
What is a 301 redirect?
Permanent, and treated that way
A 301 tells browsers and crawlers that the resource has moved permanently. Search engines respond by dropping the old URL from their index over time and transferring its signals, including inbound links, to the new one. Browsers cache a 301 aggressively, so a visitor who has followed it once will go straight to the new address next time without hitting your server.
Use a 301 whenever you want the new URL to inherit the old one’s search authority and have no plan to bring the old URL back. Because browsers cache it, permanent should mean permanent. Keep the redirect for at least a year, and indefinitely if the old URL still has inbound links; leaving it costs nothing. Redirects also serve accessibility: a screen-reader user landing on a dead page has a worse experience than one quietly taken to the right content.
When to use a 301 redirect?
The decision comes down to intent. If the old URL should never serve content again, use a 301. The common cases:
When the content of a page is moved
The primary use. A post gets a new slug, a category is renamed, a site moves to a new domain, or several thin pages are merged into one. Each old URL gets a 301 to its new home. For a domain move, redirect page to page rather than everything to the new homepage; a blanket homepage redirect is treated as a soft 404 and loses most of the value.
When there is a typo or bad URL
Published a post at /hmoe instead of /home? Fix the slug and 301 the wrong URL to the right one. WordPress does this automatically when you change a published post’s slug, but not for links shared with typos from outside, so check your 404 log occasionally. Redirection (below) records 404s for you.
Archive updates
Long-running sites accumulate outdated posts. When you retire one, do not simply delete it: if it is indexed or linked from elsewhere, 301 it to the most relevant current post. Its authority moves to content that deserves it, and visitors following old links land on something useful instead of a 404. Redirect to the homepage only when no relevant page exists.
What is a 302 redirect?
A 302 means found, moved temporarily. You are telling browsers and crawlers that the original URL still exists and will return, and that they should keep it in the index while visitors are sent elsewhere for now. Browsers do not cache a 302, so you can remove it at any time and visitors immediately see the original again.
One widespread claim needs correcting. Older SEO advice said a 302 passes no link equity. Google has stated for several years that all redirect types pass signals, and that a 302 left in place long enough is eventually treated as permanent. The practical difference is indexing intent: a 302 keeps the source URL indexed; a 301 shifts indexing to the destination. Use the one that matches what you mean, and if a “temporary” redirect has been live for months, change it to a 301.
You may also see 307 and 308: stricter versions of 302 and 301 that preserve the request method. For ordinary page redirects, 301 and 302 remain the standard choice.
When to use a 302 redirect?
- Testing a new design or landing page. Send traffic to the new version for a limited period while the original stays indexed, then remove the redirect or make it permanent.
- A page is temporarily broken. Redirect to a related page while you debug without telling search engines the page is gone.
- Seasonal or time-limited content. A promotion URL that points at this year’s campaign page and next year’s later.
- Geo or device routing where the canonical page remains the original.
For full-site maintenance, a 302 is not the right tool. Return a 503 Service Unavailable with a Retry-After header instead; crawlers come back later without changing the index. Most maintenance-mode plugins do this for you.
How to set up redirects in WordPress
Redirection plugin (free). The standard choice. Install Redirection, go to Tools > Redirection, enter source and target and choose the HTTP code (301 by default; 302 under advanced options). It logs 404s, supports regular expressions, and can redirect automatically when you change a post’s slug.
Yoast SEO Premium or Rank Math. Both include a redirect manager that prompts you when you delete a post or change its URL. Yoast’s is Premium-only; Rank Math’s is in the free plugin.
Server level. For a few permanent rules or a whole-domain move, server redirects are faster because WordPress never loads. On Apache, add to .htaccess above the WordPress block:
Redirect 301 /old-page/ https://www.example.com/new-page/On Nginx, in the server block:
location = /old-page/ { return 301 https://www.example.com/new-page/; }Whichever method you use, verify the result: load the old URL with the browser’s Network tab open or use an online redirect checker, and confirm a single hop with the intended status code. Chains (301 to 301 to 200) slow pages and dilute signals; point every old URL directly at its final destination.
Which Canyon theme fits
Changing themes does not change your URLs, so a redesign should never require redirects as long as permalinks stay the same. All Canyon themes use standard WordPress permalinks, so moving to Bloge or News One from another theme keeps every existing post and category address intact.
Wrapping up: the correct way to use 301 and 302 redirects
Use a 301 when the old URL is gone for good and you want its authority to move. Use a 302 when the original will return and should stay indexed. Use a 503 for maintenance. Set redirects page to page, avoid chains, and check each one after creating it. Get those four habits right and URL changes stop being a risk to your traffic.