Does a 301 redirect lose any link equity (PageRank) compared to a direct link?

No. Google confirmed in 2016 that 301, 302, and 307 redirects do not cause PageRank loss. Previously, the SEO industry believed 301 redirects lost 10-15% of link equity (based on a now-outdated statement), but Google's Gary Illyes explicitly stated that no PageRank is lost through redirects. However, the redirect must point to relevant content — redirecting an authoritative page about 'dog training' to a page about 'car insurance' won't effectively transfer topical authority even though the PageRank technically passes.

What happens if I accidentally use a 302 redirect for a permanent URL change?

In the short term, Google keeps the old URL in its index as the canonical version and may not transfer ranking signals to the new URL. Over months, Google may eventually treat a long-standing 302 as a permanent redirect, but this behavior is inconsistent and unreliable. During this ambiguous period, your new URL may struggle to rank because Google is unsure which URL should be canonical. The fix is simple: change the 302 to a 301. After the change, Google typically recognizes the permanent intent within a few crawl cycles and consolidates signals to the new URL.

How many redirect hops will Google follow before giving up?

Google follows up to 10 redirect hops before stopping. However, best practice is to limit redirects to a single hop (old URL → final URL). Each additional hop adds crawl latency, delays signal consolidation, and increases the chance of configuration errors. During site migrations, it's common for chains to accumulate (v1 → v2 → v3), so audit your redirects periodically and update old redirects to point directly to the current final destination.

Should I use 301 or 302 when redirecting HTTP to HTTPS?

Always use 301 for HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects. This is a permanent change — you never want to go back to HTTP. The 301 tells Google to consolidate all ranking signals from http://example.com to https://example.com and stop crawling the HTTP version. Using 302 for this migration is a common mistake that can delay HTTPS adoption in Google's index by weeks or months. Additionally, set up HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) headers on the HTTPS version to tell browsers to always use HTTPS, reducing redirect overhead for returning visitors.

When would I use a 308 redirect instead of a 301?

Use 308 Permanent Redirect when you need to permanently redirect an endpoint that receives POST, PUT, or DELETE requests and the HTTP method must be preserved. With a 301, browsers historically converted POST requests to GET after following the redirect, which breaks form submissions and API calls. A 308 guarantees the method stays the same. For standard web pages that only use GET requests, 301 and 308 are functionally identical from both a browser and SEO perspective, so 301 is preferred due to broader familiarity and legacy browser support.

301 vs 302 Redirects for SEO