301 redirect
A 301 redirect sends visitors and machines from an old address to a new one permanently. The number is the code with which the server says: "this page has moved for good."
Every page has an address. When it changes — in a relaunch, a restructure or a migration — every existing link to the old address leads nowhere. A 301 status code (a "301 redirect") catches that: anyone opening the old address arrives at the new one without a detour.
The 301 is the permanent variant. It tells search engines and AI systems not only "carry on here" but also "transfer what you knew about the old address to the new one". That is precisely why it is the tool of choice for carrying built-up visibility through a properly handled migration. Its counterpart, the 302, means "temporarily only" — using it by mistake gives away exactly that transfer.
The most common mistake in a relaunch is not the wrong redirect but the missing one. Every old address needs a destination, ideally the one that matches in substance rather than the homepage by default. Chains of several redirects should be resolved, and destinations that lead nowhere need checking before the old site is switched off.
How redirects work together with sitemaps and canonicals: Found on Google.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions.
We already have a site — is migration possible?
Yes. We migrate the content and set up a 301 redirect for every old address, so Google recognizes the move. All about it: Website migration.
What happens to my Google ranking?
No copy-paste nightmare: content is imported cleanly, all old URLs are 301-redirected. That keeps intact the structure your ranking depends on. Speed is a confirmed ranking factor — how it plays out in your case is Google's call.