Does a 301 redirect still lose PageRank?

No. Google confirmed that 301 redirects pass full link equity (PageRank) to the destination URL. The historical belief that 301s leaked 10-15% of PageRank is outdated. All redirect types (301, 302, 307) now pass equivalent link equity. The important difference between 301 and 302 is indexing behavior: a 301 tells Google to replace the old URL in the index with the new one, while a 302 keeps the old URL indexed.

What happens if I accidentally use 302 instead of 301 for a permanent redirect?

Using a 302 for a permanent redirect causes several issues: Google keeps the old URL in its index instead of replacing it with the new one, both URLs may appear in search results (splitting clicks), and Google wastes crawl budget re-checking the old URL. Over time, Google may heuristically treat a long-standing 302 as a 301, but this is unreliable. If you discover the mistake, change to a 301 and expect 2-6 weeks for Google to fully re-process the redirects.

How do redirect chains affect SEO?

Redirect chains (A→B→C→D) add latency for users (50-200ms per hop), waste crawl budget on intermediate URLs, and risk Googlebot abandoning the chain — Google follows up to 10 redirects before stopping. While Google no longer loses PageRank at each hop, other search engines may. Always flatten chains by pointing all old URLs directly to the final destination rather than chaining through intermediate redirects.

Why are JavaScript redirects bad for SEO?

JavaScript redirects (window.location.href, window.location.replace) are problematic because they return a 200 status code instead of a proper redirect code, giving Google no redirect signal. Googlebot processes JS in a two-phase crawl-then-render pipeline that adds days of delay, and other search engines like Bing may not execute JavaScript at all. Link equity transfer through JS redirects is unreliable. Always use server-side HTTP redirects (301/302) instead.

When should I use a 302 redirect instead of a 301?

Use a 302 redirect only when the original URL will return to serving its own content. Common legitimate use cases include: A/B tests where the original page will be restored, geolocation-based redirects where different users see different content at the same URL, temporary promotional redirects to seasonal pages, and situations where content is temporarily moved during a redesign but the original URL will be reactivated. If the old URL will never come back, always use a 301.

Managing 301 vs 302 Redirects for SEO