Search Engine Friendly redirect – 301 redirect

If you have to implement a redirect to your site, make it a 301 redirect. Why? A 301 re-direct is the most efficient and spider friendly strategy around for web sites that are hosted on servers running Apache. It’s not difficult to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings for that particular page.

A 301 redirect is implemented in your .htaccess file.

What is a .htaccess file?
When a spider request a web page your web server check for .htaccess file. This file contains specific instructions for certain requests, including security, redirection issues and how to handle certain errors.

How to implement a 301 redirect

When a search engine indexes your site again they will follow the rule you have created in your .htaccess file. Make sure you TEST that the redirect is implemented correctly before you go live. You should be instantly and seamlessly transported to the new location. Volla...

If anyone has any experience with redirects that has gone wrong, or smootly, please feel free to comment.