301 vs 302 vs 410
Status codes for moved or removed pages: 301 permanent redirect, 302 temporary redirect, 410 gone. Each signals a different intent.
These are HTTP status codes that tell search engines what happened to a URL. A 301 is a permanent redirect: the content has moved for good, and engines should transfer ranking signals to the new URL and update their index to it. Use 301 when you consolidate or relocate a page you want to keep.
A 302 is a temporary redirect: the original URL is coming back, so engines generally keep the original indexed and don't fully pass signals to the destination. Using a 302 for a move that's actually permanent is a common mistake that leaves the wrong URL in the index and stalls the signal transfer.
A 410 Gone says the content has been intentionally and permanently removed, with no replacement. It's the honest signal for retiring a page: Google deindexes a 410 URL in roughly 3-10 days, whereas a plain 404 (Not Found) makes it retry for weeks before giving up. When you genuinely retire a page, prefer 410 over 404 — but confirm first that the page isn't still earning clicks or impressions, because removing a page that ranks is pure downside.
Related terms
- Canonical Tag — A rel="canonical" link that names the preferred URL for a page, telling search engines which version to index when duplicates exist.
- Indexing — Storing a crawled page in a search engine's index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed.
- Keyword Cannibalization — When several pages on one site target the same query and compete with each other, splitting signals and confusing engines.
- Noindex — A directive that tells search engines to keep a page out of their index. The page must stay crawlable for the tag to be seen.