Moving to a new Domain

Should I 302 or 301?

[pageoneresults]

It seems there is a bit of small storm brewing out there in regards to what to do in the case of moving to a new domain. The advice being given is to use a 302 instead of a 301.

Now why would I want to use a 302 when moving to a new domain?

[Corey Bryant]

As I have read, using a 302 is temporary and 301 is permanent. Wasn't is business.com that was penalized for using a 302 redirect?

We also use 301 redirects. I guess you might consider a 302 if it was a temporary move. I guess that a 302 redirect would tell the SEs etc that you have moved your domain to a new location, allowing your old domain to be index while getting your new domain indexed as well. But at some point, that 302 has to become 301 or you will be penalized. Maybe 5-6 months and then turn it to a 301 redirect?

-Corey

[mack]

I think if you use a permanent redirect Google will stop paying attention to your old domain. Whereas a temp redirect will cause the bot to check periodically for any update on the new domain.

Is the move permanent or just short term?

Mack.

[pageoneresults]

Is the move permanent or just short term?

For this instance, let's say it is a permanent move. I'm moving away from an old unwanted/inappropriate domain to a new branded domain.

[katy8439]

I used a 301 redirect when moving my website over and Google indexed the pages really quickly and removed all the old links so I lost hardly any traffic....

[jatar_k]

>> The advice being given is ...

bad advice

all permanent moves require a permanent redirect

Using a 302 is like moving to a new house and only redirecting your mail temporarily, makes no sense.

The engines should not spider content at the new uri of a 302, they should continue to spider and index the original one.

[Corey Bryant]

I finally found the article I read awhile back over on Search Engine Guide's website. If you get a moment, take alook or I can try to PM (if you want it just PM me)

That might help some - but then again, I guess it all depends on who you ask

Thanks!

-Corey

[edited by: Corey_Bryant at 10:15 pm (utc) on Jan. 22, 2007]

[sem4u]

The 301 is what you need if it is a permanent move. A 302 just doesn't make sense. Google approve of using 301s and thats what I use if I need to change domains.

[pageoneresults]

A 302 just doesn't make sense.

When does a 302 make sense. In what situations would a 302 be used as opposed to a 301?

[jatar_k]

a 302 is used for when you need to temporarily redirect some traffic

who knows, maybe when you are redesigning a page but need to test and not let the public in

You don't want to change pagenames but you need some time to do some work

the spider should then follow the redirect, index the new content, but retain the original page as the true page