Understanding the 301 Redirect and How It Affects SEO
Whether you are updating a page on your current site or conducting a complete overhaul, ensuring that your site’s SEO power harnessed from online marketing tactics remains intact should be at the forefront. For search engines, analyzing how these links are redirected is a determining factor in the ranking the pages receive within Google and other search clients. One of the best ways to address this issue is by creating 301 redirects for each page that undergoes a URL change.
What Is a 301 Redirect?
When there is a need to change a URL, a 301 redirect is the recommended permanent solution. This redirect takes place on the server side of a website within the .htaccess file. It is important for a 301 redirect to occur any time a site’s page is updated to a new URL. The credit that search engines parcel out to pages can be lost if your old links are not connected in some way. These redirects allow for your site to retain its current web authority and prevent Google from dinging newly updated pages.
How Do Redirects Apply to SEO?
To preserve your ranking and continue receiving traffic to your site, creating a 301 redirect is imperative. There is not a limit to the number of redirects that can be placed on a page, but best practices indicate that adding 2 or 3 per page will suffice. When Google crawls a site, one of the things that it looks for are links establishing age and authority. For example, Google will assign a lower value to a page that was created more recently than one established years ago.
Many businesses tend to ignore the importance of creating 301 redirects. Not adding these links could deliver a devastating blow to site owners who are depending on riding high within the search rankings.
When updating your site, it’s important not to lose SEO steam and undo months, or even years, of work. If you need help with updates, reach out to trusted San Diego SEO company, Saba, Inc. We offer online marketing services in addition to web design and development. Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 to learn more about our services or to schedule a consultation.