A 301 re-direct is a “server-side” action that indicates to a server host that your web page has been “moved permanently” to a new domain address. This action allows you to preserve the search engine ranking results you achieved for the particular URL you are going to redirect.
A 301 re-direct is particularly useful for the following:
- You changed your website URL to a new domain address. For example, if you have a particularly long corporate name you may wish to change your domain name to reflect a truncated version of your business name: reallyawesomeindustrialcompanyincorporated.com may become raic-inc.com. You can use a 301 re-direct to point your longtail URL to the shorter one.
- You have several different URLs that point to a particular website. The main or “canonical” URL that is accessed by all the other URLs is referred to as the “preferred domain” in Google’s Webmaster tools.
- You are merging one site with another. For example, maybe you bought a new company and you are phasing out the old name and merging it with your established name and branding. You can use a 301 re-direct to accomplish this as well.
If you are not a webmaster it is best to rely on the skills of professional webmaster to ensure your 301 re-directs are created successfully.
