301 vs 302 Redirect: Which Is Better for Moving a Page in 2026?

301 vs 302 Redirect at a Glance

Both status codes send a visitor from one URL to another, and in a browser they look the same. The difference is what they tell software about the future: a 301 says the move is permanent, a 302 says the original address is still the one to use. Google Search reads that difference as a canonicalization signal. “Winner” below is marked only where the published documentation shows a real difference. Facts checked October 10, 2026.

What Is a 301 Redirect?

A 301 redirect is an HTTP response with status code 301 (Moved Permanently) and a Location header that tells browsers and crawlers a resource now lives at a new URL for good.

The current HTTP standard, RFC 9110 section 15.4.2, says a 301 “indicates that the target resource has been assigned a new permanent URI and any future references to this resource ought to use one of the enclosed URIs.” It also notes that “a user agent MAY change the request method from POST to GET” after a 301 for historical reasons, and points to 308 when that change is unwanted. Our definition page, what is a 301 redirect, covers the code on its own; this page sets it against its temporary counterpart.

What Is a 302 Redirect?

A 302 redirect is an HTTP response with status code 302 (Found) that sends the client to another URL while signalling that the original URL remains the one to use in future.

RFC 9110 section 15.4.3 says a 302 “indicates that the target resource resides temporarily under a different URI. Since the redirection might be altered on occasion, the client ought to continue to use the target URI for future requests.” In that sentence “target URI” means the URL originally requested. As with 301, a client may switch POST to GET; the standard names 307 as the alternative that forbids that switch. MDN Web Docs adds that under the Fetch Standard a browser receiving a 302 for a POST request uses GET for the follow-up request.

What the HTTP Standard Says

RFC 9110 defines four redirect codes that matter for moved pages, split on two questions: is the move permanent, and may the client change the request method?

The standard also notes that 308 “is much younger (June 2014) than its sibling codes and thus might not be recognized everywhere.” For ordinary page moves served to GET requests, the method question rarely arises, which is why 301 and 302 remain the codes most site owners choose between. Another difference concerns caching: RFC 9110 says “A 301 response is heuristically cacheable”, and gives the same note for 308 but not for 302. In practice that means a browser may remember a 301 and skip the old URL on the next visit, which makes a mistaken 301 slower to undo for returning visitors.

How Google Search Treats 301 and 302

Google follows both, then treats them differently when deciding which URL to index. Its redirects documentation says that for permanent redirects “Googlebot follows the redirect, and the indexing pipeline uses the redirect as a signal that the redirect target should be canonical.” For temporary redirects, “the indexing pipeline doesn't use the redirect as a signal that the redirect target should be canonical. The target page might still be indexed if other canonicalization signals are present.”

The practical summary Google gives is short: permanent redirects “Show the new redirect target in search results”; temporary redirects “Show the source page in search results.” Google's HTTP status code reference describes 301 as a “strong signal” and 302 as a “weak signal” that the target should be processed, and states that 307 is “Equivalent to 302” and 308 “Equivalent to 301.” It adds a caution worth keeping: “While Google treats these status codes the same way, keep in mind that they're semantically different. Use the status code that's appropriate for the redirect so other clients (for example, e-readers, other search engines) may benefit from it.”

Two details are easy to miss. First, a 302 left in place for a long time is still a weak signal; it does not become a 301 by Google's documentation, though the target can be chosen as canonical if other signals point to it. Second, Google keeps both URLs on record. Its documentation says the non-canonical URL “becomes an alternate name of the canonical URL”, which is why an old address can still appear in results for a while after a move. For how canonical selection works in general, see what a canonical URL is.

Redirect Chains and How Long to Keep Redirects

Google's status code reference says that “By default, Google's crawlers follow up to 10 redirect hops”, and that “Google Inspection Tools doesn't follow redirects.” Its site move guide advises redirecting to the final destination directly and, where that is not possible, keeping “the number of redirects in the chain low, ideally no more than 3 and fewer than 5.”

On duration, the same guide says: “Keep the redirects for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year.” It adds that from users' perspective you should “consider keeping redirects indefinitely.” That advice applies to permanent moves. A 302 is meant to come down when the temporary situation ends, at which point the original URL should serve its own content again. If you are moving a whole site, our guide to moving your website to a new domain covers the Change of Address step and the redirect map, and how to check your site for broken links shows how to find chains with a crawler.

Google's Crawl Stats report help also confirms that each step of a chain costs a request: “If a URL has a server-side redirect, each request in the redirect chain is counted as a separate request.” On very large sites that is one reason chains matter; see what a crawl budget is.

Where 301 Wins

• Permanent moves: Google uses it as a strong signal that the new URL should be canonical and shown in results.
• Consolidating duplicates: Google's canonicalization guide lists redirects as “A strong signal that the target of the redirect should become canonical”, ahead of rel="canonical" and sitemaps.
• Domain and HTTPS migrations: the site move guide recommends “HTTP permanent redirects if possible, such as 301 and 308.”
• Clarity for other clients: the HTTP meaning tells any client, including other search engines, to update its references.

Where 302 Wins

• Reversibility: clients are told to keep using the original URL, and RFC 9110 does not mark 302 as heuristically cacheable.
• Keeping the original in results: Google says a temporary redirect may “help keep the old URL in its Search results.”
• Temporary outages: Google's own example is a service that is temporarily unavailable, redirected to a page explaining what is happening “without compromising the original URL in search results.”
• Short campaigns: a seasonal page can point elsewhere for a few weeks and return without a canonical change.

When Should You Choose a 301?

Choose a 301 if: the old URL will not come back, and you want search engines to index and show the new one.

Avoid it if: there is any realistic chance you will reverse the change within weeks, because returning visitors' browsers may have cached it.

Best for: restructured URLs, merged articles, retired products with a close replacement, domain moves.

Primary strength: strong canonical signal in Google.

Main limitation: harder to undo cleanly.

Verdict: the right default for any change you consider final.

When Should You Choose a 302?

Choose a 302 if: the original URL will return to service and should keep its place in search results.

Avoid it if: the page has actually moved for good. Google treats a 302 as a weak signal, so you leave the canonical decision to its other signals.

Best for: maintenance pages, out-of-stock detours, short promotions, A/B tests that send some users elsewhere.

Primary strength: leaves the original URL as the one search engines and browsers keep using.

Main limitation: a weak signal when the move turns out to be permanent.

Verdict: the right choice only when the detour has an end date.

How to Choose Between 301 and 302

Final Verdict: 301 or 302?

Use a 301 when the move is permanent and a 302 when it is not. That is what the HTTP standard says the codes mean, and it is how Google Search reads them: a 301 is a strong signal to index and show the new URL, a 302 a weak one that usually leaves the original in results. Keep chains short, ideally no more than three hops, keep permanent redirects for at least a year, and check afterwards with the URL Inspection tool; our guide to checking whether a page is indexed shows how. If a page is gone with no replacement, a redirect is the wrong tool; return a 404 or 410 instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

How We Compared 301 and 302 Redirects

Criteria: HTTP meaning, method handling, caching, Google Search treatment, chain limits and retention advice. When: RFC 9110, Google Search Central pages and MDN were read on October 10, 2026 with a standard HTTP client, without signing in.

Limitations: we did not run redirect experiments or measure how quickly Google changed the URL it showed. Google documents how it uses redirects as signals but publishes no weighting, and Bing's help pages did not load for us without JavaScript, so this comparison describes Google's documented behavior only. Documentation changes; this describes public pages as of October 10, 2026.

Sources

1. standards RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, IETF, June 2022, sections 15.4.2 (301), 15.4.3 (302), 15.4.8 (307) and 15.4.9 (308). Read October 10, 2026.
2. official Redirects and Google Search, Google Search Central (last updated April 14, 2026). Permanent and temporary redirect types; alternate names. Read October 10, 2026.
3. official HTTP status codes, Google crawling documentation (last updated February 4, 2026). Strong and weak signals; 10 redirect hops. Read October 10, 2026.
4. official Site moves with URL changes, Google Search Central (last updated August 20, 2026). Chain length and redirect retention. Read October 10, 2026.
5. official How to specify a canonical URL, Google Search Central (last updated July 10, 2026). Redirects as a canonical signal. Read October 10, 2026.
6. official Crawl Stats report, Search Console Help. Each request in a redirect chain counted separately. Read October 10, 2026.
7. reference 302 Found, MDN Web Docs (last modified June 22, 2026). Browser handling of POST after a 302. Read October 10, 2026.