Redirect 301
A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that an address has permanently moved. Unlike a 302 redirect, which only signals a temporary move, it transfers the established search engine ranking to the new destination.
It is needed for every relaunch with new addresses, when merging duplicate pages, and when changing domains. For example: /services/hosting.html becomes /services/highspeed-hosting/. Without a redirect, the old address returns an error page, and every external link that has pointed to it for years becomes broken.
Three mistakes are costly. First, the bulk redirect: Sending all old addresses to the homepage is interpreted by Google as a soft 404 error and ignored. Each address should point to its corresponding content page. Second, chaining: If A points to B and B to C, signal strength is lost, so redirect directly to the final destination. Third, forgetting: Internal links should also be changed to the new address instead of permanently using the redirect.
You can get a list of all old addresses from the Search Console, the server logs, and the old sitemap.
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