For a complete list of HTTP status codes you can read further either visit the wikipedia article on the topic or you can go to w3.org Status Code definitions for a complete assembly of HTTP status codes.

The purpose of HTTP Status codes

Basically HTTP Status codes are used for computers to understand in what way they should talk to each other. It is like the computers way of making discretion between a snobby lady and a street kid with a baseball cap. It might still not work, but you are a lot better off if you request a service from them in two radically different ways.

On a more technical note, HTTM Satus codes tell the two computers chatting with each other in which way and from where the two should interpret, fetch and forward the information they are processing from eachother.

301 Permanent redirect

The most common use for redirecting users from old places to new ones is through using the 301-redirect which basically tells the server that some content has permanently moved from one place to another.

302, 307 Temporary redirect

This was previously debated to be equal to the 301 redirect with regards to SEO purposes. I think the debate is killed nowadays as it is pretty evident that the 301 works a lot better, even if temporary. Basically it tells the requesting server that the content is there, only just not now. It also tells the server that it should continue to request the “old” place in the future as well as the content will return to there in a while.

The difference between the two being that you shouldn’t use the 307 as it is not understood by many agents. (simple ehy )

303 Use GET method to retrieve

This is basically telling the server to use a specific method to fetch the information on the server and is not applicable in this exercise, but it is important to keep in the back of your head if you EVER would like this to be the case.

305 Use Proxy to fetch

The 305 redirect tells the agent that the resource requested must be fetched via proxy.

This article is one in a series focusing on redirects. To view the full list of redirect blog posts visit the Search Engine Optimization tab.

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If you are looking to change domains to your website, change the order of your file structure or simply change the url to one of your pages. Make sure to remember to create a redirect for that page.

Loyalty reasons to redirect content that is no longer there

Redirects are important primarily when you have a mature website that is indexed in Google or any of the other search engines. Given that you have some readers and your content is valuable to them, it is likely that they have stored links to your website in one place or another. It might be through a social bookmark, a bookmark in the browser or through a link on their blog or website.

When you change the urls, the old urls simply stop working if you don’t create a redirect that directs the old links to the new content.

SEO Reasons to Redirect old content

For Google, Yahoo and Bing that put relevance to how many people/websites have linked to your page, it also becomes highly relevant to store this value. By creating a proper redirect you make sure that you store most of the value these links gave to your old website.

With regards to Google, it is important even if you are on a new server, hosting provider or similar to create a redirect from the old server to the new one. Remember, that the neat domain names aren’t what the computers see when they fetch your website from a server. That is only what the browser returns to you in the url field on top of the browser.

Spammers use this method in some creative way and I will cover that in a future article.

Remember to also do this when moving to new hosting or servers

The computers see something like http://201.214.5.63/root/cat/?pid=546 and convert it into http://www.yourdomain.com/acatalog/somepage.html. When on a new server, but with identical domain name and structure, the computer fetching the content at the old place http://201.214.5.63/root/cat/?pid=546 won’t be able to find it as it is no longer there. You should thus  create a redirect even if you don’t change the name but change the location of your website.

This article is one in a series focusing on redirects. To view the full list of redirect blog posts visit the Search Engine Optimization tab.

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