Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How effective are 301 redirects in passing page rank?
-
I have a blog which is ranking well for certain terms, and would like to repurpose it to better explain these terms it is ranking for, including updating the url to the new term the blog will be about. The plan being to 301 redirect the old url to new.
In the past, I've done this with other pages, and have actually lost much of the rankings that I had earned on the original URL.
What is your take on this? Maybe repurpose blog, but maintain original URL just to be on the safe side?
Thanks
-
Many thanks, @tom-capper for your clarification.
-
Hi Augistine
No, there's no fixed number. And sometimes redirects are the right answer to a problem - such as old or unused URLs.
As a general rule, avoid having links on your site that point to a redirecting URL. Instead, point them to the destination of that redirect. This is what tools (like Moz) are trying to help you with when they point out the number of redirects - it's just a list so you can identify links to those URLs, and update the links.
-
Hey guys,
I have a question: Is there any good(bad) number of redirects. My website has 101 URL redirects and was wondering if this will be detrimental to the website rank.
Any tips would be appreciated!
Thanks
Augustine -
My problem is solved thanks to all. I am going to share this thread https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/q/topic/71433/how-effective-are-301-redirects-gosloto-in-passing-page-rank with my friends and brother who faced the same problem.
Thanks again
-
Hey thanks for the super helpful reply. I'm not sure how I missed that thread. I haven't quite mastered the search function on here. I think I'll pass with him this time around. If i want any further guideline we will contact you here https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/q/topic/71433/how-effective-are-301-results-redirects-in-passing-page-rank/
-
Maintaining the original URL is definitely the low risk approach. On the other hand, if you're ever going to do this, it's better to do it sooner - that way you're only risking/diluting the links you've acquired so far, not any future equity.
301 redirects do pass the majority of PageRank onwards, but if the new URL is very dissimilar or has existing issues, or if the redirection doesn't go smoothly / isn't detected by Google, you can have problems.
Tom
-
@citimarinemoz Properly the bigger question is what do you mean by re purposing the blog.
If you are keeping the context of the blog the same, providing it is the same domain, the content is the same or better and you do your 301s properly it should be fine.
On the other hand if you are changing what your blog focuses on and you are rewriting the content of the pages you could well run into a problem.
My advice would be- Keep the same domain
- Keep the old blog posts if possible, maybe update them if necessary
- Create new blog posts with your new content on the same domain
- Utilise internal linking for any relevant topics and pages
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Reusing an already 301 redirected URL for a very important keyword
I have a question about reusing an already 301 redirected URL Till now I never reused an URLs that has been already redirected with a 301 redirect. However, I just started working on a website where in past they created a lot of 301 redirects without thinking about the future, and now certain URLs, that are currently redirected with a 301, would be very useful (exact match) and needed (for some of the most important keywords for this specific business), to maintain an optimal, homogeneous and "beautiful" URL structure. Has any of you ever reused a URL that was previously redirected with a 301 redirect? If yes what are your experiences with it? Can content on the reused URL (that was previously 301 redirected and than the redirect removed) normally rank if the page is reestablished and the redirect is removed (and you do great content, on page, internal linking, backlinking, .... ) or is such an URL risky / not recommended / "burned" forever and not recommended to be reused again... especially for very important keywords since it present the exact match ?! Thank you very much for all your help! Regards
Technical SEO | | moz46y0 -
Is domain forwarding the same as a 301 redirect?
Hi, I have an older domain with some SEO auth for varying pages and a newer domain that is for the brand. Right now there are some 301s for about 13 pages and we are currently moving servers. I was wondering if domain forwarding is the same as writing 301 redirects for each page or is it something different (302)?
SEO Tactics | | BrandonDebison0 -
Escort directory page indexing issues
Re; escortdirectory-uk.com, escortdirectory-usa.com, escortdirectory-oz.com.au,
Technical SEO | | ZuricoDrexia
Hi, We are an escort directory with 10 years history. We have multiple locations within the following countries, UK, USA, AUS. Although many of our locations (towns and cities) index on page one of Google, just as many do not. Can anyone give us a clue as to why this may be?0 -
Is page speed important to improve SEO ranking?
I saw on a SEO Agency's site (https://burstdgtl.com/search-engine-optimization/) that page speed apparently affects Google ranking. Is this true? And if it is, how do I improve it, do I need an agency?
On-Page Optimization | | jasparcj0 -
Home Page Ranking Instead of Service Pages
Hi everyone! I've noticed that many of our clients have pages addressing specific queries related to specific services on their websites, but that the Home Page is increasingly showing as the "ranking" page. For example, a plastic surgeon we work with has a page specifically talking about his breast augmentation procedure for Miami, FL but instead of THAT page showing in the search results, Google is using his home page. Noticing this across the board. Any insights? Should we still be optimizing these specific service pages? Should I be spending time trying to make sure Google ranks the page specifically addressing that query because it SHOULD perform better? Thanks for the help. Confused SEO :/, Ricky Shockley
Technical SEO | | RickyShockley0 -
301 redirect adding trailing slash to url
I am looking into a .htacess file for a site I look after and have noticed that the urls are all 301 redirecting from a none slash directory to a trailing slashed directory/folders. e.g. www.domain.com/folder gets 301 redirected to www.domain.com/folder/ Will this do much harm and reduce the effect on the page and any links pointing to the site be lessened? Secondly I am not sure what part of my htaccess is causing the redirect. RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.domain.co.uk [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^$
Technical SEO | | TimHolmes
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.domain.co.uk/$1 [L,R,NE] RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^./index.php
RewriteRule ^(.)index.php$ /$1 [R=301,L] or could a wordpress ifmodule be causing the problem? Any info would be apreciated.0 -
301 Redirect vs Domain Alias
We have hundreds of domains which are either alternate spelling of our primary domain or close keyword names we didn't want our competitor to get before us. The primary domain is running on a dedicated Windows server running IIS6 and set to a static IP. Since it is a static IP and not using host headers any domain pointed to the static IP will immediately show the contents of the site, however the domain will be whatever was typed. Which could be the primary domain or an alias. Two concerns. First, is it possible that Google would penalize us for the alias domains or dilute our primary domain "juice"? Second, we need to properly track traffic from the alias domains. We could make unique content for those performing well and sell or let expire those that are sending no traffic. It's not my goal to use the alias domains to artificially pump up our primary domain. We have them for spelling errors and direct traffic. What is the best practice for handling one or both of these issues?
Technical SEO | | briankb0 -
Is a redirect based on a session cookie hurting rankings?
My clients business is divided in chain stores. All stores are set under the same franchise. There is one domain www.company.com with branches like www.company.com/location1/content and www.company.com/location2/content etc. I've taken care of duplicate content issues with rel="canonical" and duplicate page titles are also not a concern, anymore. Right now the concept is like this: If you visit the site for the first time you get to choose between the locations. Then a cookie is set and once you revisit www.company.com it will redirect you via a php header command to the location stored in your cookie: www.company.com/location1/content. My question is if this might hurt rankings in some kind of way as these aren't permanent redirects with a 301 but rather individual ones, based on your cookie.
Technical SEO | | jfkorn0