301 vs 302 redirectWhich redirect to use and why

The core decision

Ask one question: is this move permanent?

• Yes → 301 Moved Permanently. The old URL should stop being used; signals move to the new one.
• No → 302 Found. The old URL stays canonical; you are pointing elsewhere for now.

Everything else follows from that.

What each does

When to use 301

• HTTPS enforcement: redirect port 80 HTTP to 443 HTTPS. See HTTP vs HTTPS.
• www ↔ non-www and trailing-slash canonicalisation.
• Site migration or URL restructuring.
• Merging duplicate pages into one.

Because browsers cache 301s hard, only use one when you are sure the change is permanent; reversing it is slow for anyone who cached it.

When to use 302

• A maintenance page during a deployment.
• A/B testing or temporary campaign variants.
• Post-login bounce to the originally requested page.
• Geographic or device routing where the generic URL should stay canonical.

307 and 308: preserving the method

Plain 301 and 302 permit a client to turn a POST into a GET when following the redirect, which browsers do. When the method and body must survive, for example redirecting an API POST, use:

• 308 Permanent Redirect — permanent, method preserved.
• 307 Temporary Redirect — temporary, method preserved.

Configuring

Apache:

# Permanent
Redirect 301 /old/ /new/
# Force HTTPS
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
# Temporary
Redirect 302 /promo/ /promo-2026/

nginx:

location = /old/ { return 301 /new/; }
server { listen 80; return 301 https://$host$request_uri; }
location = /promo/ { return 302 /promo-2026/; }

Testing

curl -IL https://example.com/old/

-I shows headers, -L follows the chain and prints each hop with its status. Watch for the correct code, a single hop (no chains), and the right final destination. See curl. During a migration, remember that browsers and resolvers may still hold old data; see DNS propagation.