Please explain Redirects

Redirect codes and search engines

[gators]

I keep reading on the forums people talk about 301's and various Redirects and other codes that apparantly may be effecting Google indexing a site.

Can someone please explain to me just what is a 301? When would it be used. What is the code for it?

Is a 301 the same as a 'meta refresh tag' such as the code below:

<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0; URL=http://domain.com/">

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Also, I continue to see controversy over sites being listed as [domain.com...] vs. [domain.com...]

Does this REALLY matter?

I used to get high ranking on the SERPS with Google and many SE's had my site listed as www. other SERPS had me listed as just domain.com.

So I can't believe that 'all of a sudden' this would make a difference.

Anyway, any help on the 301 redirect question would be appreciated.

[lorax]

Can someone please explain to me just what is a 301? When would it be used. What is the code for it?

301 is one of several server status codes. learn more here [w3.org]. To learn more than that - do a search for 'server status codes'.

Is a 301 the same as a 'meta refresh tag' such as the code below:

Nope.

Also, I continue to see controversy over sites being listed as h**p://www.domain.com/ vs. h**tp://domain.com/

Does this REALLY matter?

You'll need to do more research and make a decision for yourself for the exact reason you mention - there are definately two lines of thought on the matter.