What redirects are and how they affect SEO

Redirecting URLs is a very useful and widely used SEO practice to change an existing URL and effectively communicate to visitors and Google Search that that page has a new location. Redirects can be used to meet different needs, but it is important to recognize the various types and know how to choose the right one for your situation, so as to avoid mistakes that may compromise the visibility of the site in the search.

What are the redirects of page

The redirect is an operation performed by the server, which forwards and redirects users and crawlers of search engines that visit a certain URL to an address different from the one originally provided; it is therefore a function that, in an automatic and invisible, sends specific resource requests in the browser to a new address, informing the crawlers of the move when they go to query the old URL path.

When redirects are needed

Redirects can be particularly useful in some circumstances:

• Migrate the site to a new domain, to make the transition as simple as possible.
• Merge two sites to make sure that obsolete URL links are redirected to the correct pages.
• Removing a page, to direct users to the new page.
• Change of CMS and URL structure.
• Fix broken links, broken links that can annoy browsers, that arrive on a page that no longer exists or is no longer active.
• Consolidate access to the site through different Urls. For example, if the home page can be reached in several ways (such as http://example.com/home, http://home.example.com or http://www.example.com), it is advisable to choose one of these Urls as a canonical and preferred destination and use redirects to send traffic from other Urls to the canonical URL.
• Interventions or maintenance on specific pages, to temporarily move users to other resources.

SEO redirects, why is it important to correctly perform the operation

Incorrect or inappropriate use of redirects can cause problems that critically affect the user experience of the pages and the SEO of the site.

Changing a URL or deleting a resource without proper redirection means, in fact, bringing users and search engines to an unreachable address, which results in the classic 404 error.

Therefore, using redirects correctly is primarily used to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted flow of navigation for the end user, as well as not to affect the positioning that the pages of the site have already reached: with the redirection, In fact, users and crawlers are automatically transferred to a content related to the requested one, of which it can maintain the ranking or receive the value, so as to avoid positioning losses for unreachable results.</