It is said by Google that 301 redirects should there be kept in place for one year at least and it is for ensuring that the changes are there being recognized permanently. It is been answered by Google that for how long 301 redirects should be kept in place after there has been a site on move, and it is recommended that a year is the minimum length of time that is required.
The question that usually arises is why there should be a year? And, the answer to this is that for Google it takes a while to be there processing a major change like a site move.
In conditions where the redirects are in place for the time that is less than a year then it is to be predicted that Google might not end up crawling the links for the times that are enough to make a recognition of the site that it has been moved permanently.
How long should one keep a redirect for a site move?
Google officials are seen to be addressing the above question by clearing the fact that in this case, 301 redirects are the correct ones that should be used in this case. There lies two main types of redirects that are used by people on websites: 301s and 302s.
In the case of 301 redirects, Google is signaled that there has been a movement of the page made and this movement is for the permanent cause, whereas in the case of 302 redirects, the same signal is sent to Google but the difference is that Google is signaled for a temporary page move. It is to be seen that a site move is catered as a permanent change and so for this 301 is the appropriate redirect that should be used in this case.
Does permanent means literal “permanent”?
Digital business intelligence caters to the constant evolution of the web, it is often wondered if the word permanent actually means the literal permanent.
As for this, the officials at Google say that at Google there is a major investment made where there are trials taken place for reprocessing all the pages every few months, at least. While most of the pages undergo the process of checking more often. But the crawling amount is limited and so there lie numerous pages that Google intends to crawl and so they end up prioritizing.
When there are changes made in the URL, the systems at Google are then needed to see the change in the form of a redirect a few times at least so that it could be easier for recording that change. Certainly, since the redirect has been seen a few times, it is recommended by Google that the redirect should be kept in place for one year, at least.
What Digital Business Intelligence suggests regarding the site moves
Considering the site moves, comparatively to redirecting the old domain to the new domain, it is not that simple. One is expected to be setting up 301 redirects from each individual page on the former site to the equivalent pages to the new site. While, if they’re already exists the pages on the old site that are not wanted to be kept, then it is not necessary that one redirects all those to a new URL.
Another factor that is important is updating all the references to the old URLs, for example, critical links from the places that are outside of the website. Considering another factor, it is really okay to keep redirects in place for more than a year. One can keep them up for as long as it is wanted.
In order to experience the reduction of the potential negative impact, a site move can have on one’s SEO. The bare minimum length of time to keep 301 redirects in place is a year.
