A redirect looks like a small technical detail.
On an e-commerce site, though, using the wrong one can create a surprisingly messy SEO situation.
The most common example?
A product or category URL is permanently gone, but the site keeps using a 302 temporary redirect instead of a permanent redirect.
301 vs 302: What's the Difference?
The simplest way to remember it is:
301 = This page has permanently moved.
302 = This move is temporary.
So if an old product URL has permanently moved to a replacement product or category, a 301 redirect is generally the appropriate choice.
Google recommends server-side permanent redirects such as 301 or 308 when a URL has permanently moved. Google also states that permanent redirects don't cause a loss of PageRank.
A 302 makes sense when the original URL is expected to come back.
For example, you might temporarily redirect users during a short-term campaign, test or maintenance period.
Where E-Commerce Sites Get Into Trouble
Imagine this:
/summer-sale-2025/
is replaced permanently by:
/summer-sale/
If the old URL is never coming back, treating the move as temporary doesn't accurately describe what happened.
The same applies to:
- Permanently renamed product URLs
- Old category URLs
- Site migrations
- Permanent URL restructuring
- Discontinued pages with a genuinely relevant replacement
The important thing isn't simply choosing “301 because SEO.”
Choose the redirect that accurately describes the move.
How I Check Redirects
For a quick check, you can inspect the response in your browser's developer tools.
For larger sites, Screaming Frog SEO Spider makes this much easier. Its Response Codes report lets you identify 301s, 302s and other 3xx redirects, along with their destinations.
I also look for redirect chains.
For example:
Old URL → 301 → Another URL → 301 → Final URL
It's better to send the old URL directly to the final destination. Google recommends avoiding unnecessary redirect chains.
One Simple Rule
Before changing a redirect, ask:
“Is the old URL coming back?”
If yes, a temporary redirect such as 302 may be appropriate.
If no, and the page has permanently moved to a relevant replacement, use a permanent redirect such as 301.
That's a much better rule than choosing a redirect type based purely on SEO folklore.
