301 redirect
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that sends visitors and search engines from one web address to another. It tells browsers and crawlers that a page has moved for good, so the new address should replace the old one in search results.
In practice
What it means when you are the one making the decision.
Redirects are essential in any site rebuild or restructure. Every old address that had traffic or links should point to the most relevant new page, ideally in a single hop. Redirecting everything to the homepage is poor practice and can confuse both visitors and search engines.
Keep redirects in place long enough for search engines to learn the change, and check them after launch with a crawl. Chains of several redirects slow pages and should be flattened.
Example
A business moves its blog from an old date-based address to a cleaner path and sets a 301 from each old URL to its new equivalent.
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