301 vs 302 vs 307 vs 308 — when to use which redirect

Quick frame: 301 for permanent moves (the workhorse). 302 only for genuinely temporary redirects. 307 when you must preserve POST methods. 308 as the modern, method-preserving equivalent of 301. Use the wrong one and you either lose link equity or send Google confusing signals.

301 — Moved Permanently

The default for permanent URL changes. Transfers nearly all link equity to the new URL. Use for:

• Renamed pages (/old-slug → /new-slug).
• Domain migrations (acme.in → acme.com).
• HTTP → HTTPS upgrades.
• Category restructures.

Generate with the .htaccess generator or nginx generator.

302 — Found (Temporary)

Use only when the redirect is genuinely temporary — e.g., a maintenance landing page, a seasonal promo, geo-redirects that may change. Long-running 302s eventually get treated as 301s by Google but cost discovery time.

A common bug: developers use 302 by default because it's the framework's default. Audit and convert to 301 wherever the move is permanent.

307 — Temporary Redirect (preserves method)

Behaves like 302 but preserves the HTTP method. A POST request gets redirected as a POST, not silently converted to GET. Useful for:

• Form submissions to migrated endpoints.
• API endpoints during a migration window.
• Maintenance windows where forms might be in-flight.

308 — Permanent Redirect (preserves method)

Modern equivalent of 301 that preserves HTTP method. Specified in RFC 7538. Use for POST-receiving endpoints that have moved permanently.

Google treats 308 identically to 301 for SEO purposes. Browser support is universal in modern browsers.

The picking algorithm

Permanent + GET → 301 (workhorse)
Permanent + POST/PUT → 308
Temporary + GET → 302
Temporary + POST/PUT → 307

For most marketing redirects (page renames, restructures), 301 is right.

Verification

After deploying any redirect, test with the redirect chain visualiser to confirm a single hop. The wider impact of chains is in redirect chains killing link equity.

FAQ

Q. Will 302 eventually pass link equity if I leave it? A. Google's John Mueller has confirmed long-running 302s get treated like 301s eventually. But "eventually" is unclear — could be weeks, could be months. Don't rely on it.

Q. Does Bing handle these codes the same way? A. Mostly yes. Bing is slightly slower than Google to treat long 302s as 301s. Don't depend on Bing-specific behaviour.

Q. Can I redirect an HTTPS page to HTTP? A. Technically yes, but never do it — modern browsers will block or warn, and SEO impact is severe.