301 or 302?

Both codes send the visitor somewhere else. The difference is in what search engines and browsers conclude from it.

	301	302
Significance	dauerhaft	Temporary
Relevant address	The new	The old
Effect of the links	passes over	Stay with the old
The browser remembers it.	Yes, persistently	No

The Rule of Thumb

If the old address will never return, use 301. Otherwise use 302. Domain moves, HTTPS migrations, consistent www addresses and merged pages use 301. Maintenance pages, temporary offers and A/B tests use 302.

Avoid routing chains

http://beispiel.de → https://beispiel.de → https://www.beispiel.de → https://www.beispiel.de/start There are three jumps before anything is loaded at all. Everyone costs time. Internal links should point directly to the end destination; the chain is only for old bookmarks.

Suitable tools

Create .htaccess

Click redirects for Apache.

Website check

Shows each station of the chain.

Further in Technology

HTTP status codes explained – What 200, 301, 404 and 503 mean – and which of them cause you trouble.
What is DNS? – The address book of the Internet – and why changes do not take effect immediately.
Switch your website to HTTPS – In five steps – and with the two places where it almost always sticks.