Managing your website could be confusing sometimes. For example, have you wondered what the difference between Temporary redirect vs. Permanent redirect is? Let’s explain a little bit more about them and when it is a good idea to use them.

Temporary redirect – 302 redirect

The temporary URL redirect, or also usually identified as 302 redirect, directs the traffic from one URL, website’s page to a separate URL, which is the page where you desire the traffic to proceed. Yet, with one essential warning, the redirect is for a specifically defined amount of time.

The users are going to be redirected to the brand-new web page. However, they could still be able to visit the original URL after a determined amount of time. When you choose to remove the temporary redirect, the first URL is going to be available.

In addition, search engines also recognize that this is a temporary change. Therefore they are not going to delete the previous URL completely.

When to use 302 redirect? 

• Shorter URLs. The temporary redirect is very helpful for creating short links. They are very easy to use for your customers. In addition, you can use them with separate marketing tools for your campaigns and measure the clicks and use the data.
• Maintain the traffic. For instance, a customer earlier bookmarked a particular web page, and now it wants to visit it to make a purchase. Yet, this product is not available at the moment. So, you could redirect the URL of this product to another similar product. That way, you will still maintain some sales.
• A/B testing. You can generate two different web pages and examine how your clients behave. Again a great handy marketing tool. 

Permanent redirect – 301 redirect

The permanent redirect, also known as 301 redirect, directs the traffic from one URL, website’s page, to a separate URL, which is the page you want the traffic to proceed. Yet, this redirect is permanent for the future. Therefore, every user who wants to visit the previous URL is going to be automatically led to the new web page. This 301 redirect is also visible for the separate search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yandex. They are going to recognize the redirect and index the new web page. At some point, they are going to forget the past URL.

When to use 301 redirect? 

• Direct an old URL to a new location. For instance, if your blog previously didn’t have categories, but with time it grew, and presently it has. It would be best if you moved the articles to their categories. To achieve that, you need to direct with 301 your past URLs. That way, the search engines are going to discover them easily. 
• Several URLs to guide to one place. You can apply the 301 redirect when you need multiple URLs from one website or different domain names to lead to one particular URL. 
• You switched the domain name. It is a good idea to redirect the traffic from your previous domain name to the new one with the permanent redirect. 

Conclusion

So, now you know what the main differences between Temporary redirect vs. Permanent redirect are. Make sure to use them properly.