Change a URL on a WordPress site without the right redirect, and Google can treat the old page and the new page as two separate things. Rankings, backlinks, and years of accumulated authority stay stuck on a page that no longer exists. The fix sounds simple, “just add a redirect,” but the WordPress 301 vs 302 redirect decision is exactly where a lot of site owners get it backward, and it’s an easy mistake to make silently.
A 301 and a 302 redirect both send a visitor from one URL to another. That’s where the similarity ends. One tells search engines the move is permanent and to transfer the page’s ranking value. The other says the move is temporary and to keep the original URL indexed. Pick the wrong one on a permanent URL change and the new page can take months to recover the rankings the old one already had.
What’s the Difference Between a 301 and 302 Redirect?
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect: it tells browsers and search engines the original URL has moved for good, and it passes nearly all of that page’s accumulated link equity to the new URL. A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect: it moves the visitor to a new URL right now, but tells search engines the original URL should stay indexed because the change isn’t permanent.
According to WPBeginner, a 301 redirect passes the vast majority of a page’s SEO value to its new destination, while a 302 does not reliably transfer that value because search engines continue treating the original URL as the “real” one. That single distinction is why picking the wrong redirect type on a permanent change quietly stalls SEO recovery for weeks or months after a migration or redesign.
When Should You Use a 301 Redirect?
Use a 301 redirect any time a URL change is permanent: a deleted page, a renamed blog post slug, a site migration to a new domain, or a permalink structure change. A 301 is the default choice for almost every WordPress redirect situation, because most redirects site owners set up are permanent by nature.
Common permanent-change scenarios on a WordPress site include consolidating two similar blog posts into one, renaming a product URL in WooCommerce, retiring an old landing page after a campaign ends for good, or fixing a broken permalink structure after it was changed without redirects in place. In every one of these cases, a 301 tells Google to move the old page’s rankings to the new address instead of starting from zero.
When Should You Use a 302 Redirect?
Use a 302 redirect only when the change is genuinely temporary and the original URL will come back. That includes A/B testing a new landing page design, redirecting visitors during scheduled maintenance, running a seasonal promotion page, or sending traffic to a staging version of a page while the live one is being fixed.
A 302 keeps the original URL as the one search engines index, which is exactly the point: once the temporary redirect is removed, the original page picks back up right where it left off, without needing to rebuild rankings from scratch. Using a 302 for something that’s actually permanent is one of the most common technical SEO mistakes on WordPress sites, because it leaves the new URL without the ranking credit it should have received months ago.
301 vs 302: Quick Comparison
The table below summarizes the core differences between a 301 and 302 redirect for a WordPress site.
| Factor | 301 Redirect | 302 Redirect |
|---|---|---|
| Type of change | Permanent | Temporary |
| SEO/link equity | Passes nearly all ranking value to new URL | Does not reliably transfer ranking value |
| Which URL stays indexed | New URL | Original URL |
| Typical use case | Migrations, deleted pages, permalink changes | A/B tests, maintenance mode, seasonal pages |
| Best WordPress tool | Redirection plugin or .htaccess rule | Redirection plugin (set type to 302) |
How to Set Up a Redirect in WordPress
The fastest, safest way to set up a redirect in WordPress is with a dedicated redirect plugin rather than editing server files by hand. The free Redirection plugin is a solid default: it’s free, has no paid tier gating basic features, supports both 301 and 302 redirect types, and logs 404 errors automatically so broken links get caught before they pile up.
- Install and activate the Redirection plugin from Plugins > Add New.
- Go to Tools > Redirection and complete the short setup wizard.
- Under “Add new redirection,” enter the old URL path in the Source URL field.
- Enter the new URL path in the Target URL field.
- Set the redirect type to 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary) under the group options.
- Save, then open the old URL directly in a browser to confirm it lands on the new page.
For a small number of permanent redirects, a direct .htaccess rule works too, on Apache servers running the standard WordPress .htaccess setup:
Redirect 301 /old-page/ https://example.com/new-page/A plugin is the better option for anything beyond a handful of redirects, since .htaccess rules are easy to break with a typo and offer no logging or management interface. This matters most during a full WordPress site migration, where dozens of URLs can change structure at once and manual .htaccess edits become difficult to track.
Common WordPress Redirect Mistakes That Hurt SEO
The most damaging redirect mistake on WordPress sites is using a 302 for a change that’s actually permanent, which leaves the new URL without the SEO credit it should be getting. This single error is common enough that it’s considered one of the most frequent technical SEO problems found during site migrations.
- Redirect chains: redirecting URL A to B, then B to C, instead of pointing A directly to C. Each extra hop adds load time and dilutes link equity.
- Redirecting every broken URL to the homepage instead of the most relevant replacement page, which sends visitors and search engines a much weaker signal.
- Forgetting to update internal links after adding a redirect, forcing every internal click to pass through a redirect hop unnecessarily.
- Leaving old 404s and broken links unaddressed after a redesign, instead of catching them with a plugin’s built-in 404 log. A clean site keeps its 404 error rate low, and broken redirects are one of the most common causes of a spike in 404s after a redesign.
After 10+ years building WordPress sites and 950+ Fiverr client projects, redirect cleanup shows up constantly in migration and redesign work, almost always because a site owner changed URLs without thinking through which redirect type the change actually needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
A 302 redirect does not hurt SEO when used correctly for genuinely temporary changes, but using one for a permanent URL change stalls the transfer of ranking value to the new page.
Google typically processes a 301 redirect within a few days to a few weeks, though full ranking transfer for the new URL can take longer depending on how often the page is recrawled.
Yes, a redirect can be added directly to the site’s .htaccess file on Apache servers using a line like Redirect 301 /old-page/ https://example.com/new-page/, though a plugin is safer and easier to manage for more than a few redirects.
The Redirection plugin is a widely recommended free option because it supports both 301 and 302 redirects, requires no paid upgrade for core functionality, and automatically logs 404 errors so broken links get caught quickly.
A single redirect adds a negligible amount of load time, but redirect chains, where one URL redirects to another that redirects again, add up and should be flattened into a single direct redirect whenever possible.
The takeaway: default to a 301 for anything permanent, reserve 302 for genuinely temporary changes, and use a plugin like Redirection to keep the whole setup manageable as the site grows. Getting this one detail right protects rankings that took months or years to build.
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