302 redirect

A 302 tells clients the content moved for now and to keep using the original URL. It is a hint, not a command.

Google treats a 302 as temporary. If you leave it in place for a long time, Google may treat it as permanent and index the target instead. As of 2026, plan your redirects so the signal matches reality.

Good uses on a small site: a maintenance page during deploys, a short campaign to /black-friday, or a geo or device switch when you must move the user. Your canonical URL should still point to the original page for a true temporary move.

If a page is gone or merged, use 301. If you must switch users for a short time, use 302. If you are redirecting POST or PUT and must keep the method, use 307.

1. 1

   Confirm the status code

   Use a redirect checker on /pricing or any test URL. You should see 302 with one hop only, source to target.

2. 2

   Check Search Console

   Open Indexing, Pages, then filter for Page with redirect. Spot URLs you meant to keep live but are redirecting.

3. 3

   Inspect a single URL

   Use the URL Inspection tool on the source and the target. Check which URL Google considers canonical and which is indexed.

4. 4

   Review internal links

   Crawl your site and list links pointing to the 302 target. For a short move this is fine. For a permanent move, change links to the target and switch to 301.

5. 5

   Watch effects over 28 days

   In the Performance report, track impressions and clicks for the source and target URLs. If a 302 stays, watch for Google indexing the target instead.

A clean setup looks like this: /guides/getting-started 302 to /maintenance for 24 hours, no chains, canonicals unchanged, and you remove the rule after the deploy.

• Avoid chains and loops. Source should 302 directly to target, once.
• Keep the target crawlable and indexable. Do not noindex the target of a 302.
• Match the canonical. For a true temporary move, keep the canonical on the target pointing to the original source.
• Do not mix signals. Do not pair a 302 with a permanent rel=canonical to the target unless the move is permanent.
• Limit 302s for geo or device. Offer a visible switch and link to the original URL.
• Do not use meta refresh for temporary SEO moves. Use server or app layer redirects.

• Leaving a 302 in place for months, which may lead Google to index the target as if it were permanent.
• Using 302 for URL migrations, which keeps the wrong URL indexed and confuses analytics.
• Redirecting every path to a generic page like /, which frustrates users and makes debugging hard.
• Forgetting HTTPS and trailing slash rules, which create unintended multiple hops.
• Not updating sitemaps, which keeps pointing bots at redirected sources for longer than needed.