HTTP 301 — Moved Permanently

What 301 actually means

The server is saying: this address is dead, here is the replacement, and it is not coming back. Browsers follow it automatically and cache it aggressively — often until the browser profile is cleared — and search engines transfer ranking signals to the target. That permanence is the trap: a 301 pointed at the wrong place is very hard to undo, because visitors who already saw it stop asking your server at all.

Common causes

• A site moved to a new domain
• A forced redirect from HTTP to HTTPS, or between www and apex domains
• URL structure changed and old paths were mapped to new ones
• A trailing-slash or lowercase canonicalisation rule

If you're just trying to view the page

1. Nothing — your browser follows this automatically and lands on the right page
2. If you are stuck on an old cached redirect, clear the browser cache or try a private window

If it's your site

1. Only use 301 when you are certain; 302 is the reversible choice
2. Redirect to the equivalent page, not to the home page — bulk redirects to `/` are treated as soft 404s and lose the ranking you were trying to preserve
3. Avoid redirect chains; point old URLs straight at the final destination
4. Update internal links and sitemaps to the new URLs rather than relying on the redirect forever

Reference

Status code

301

Reason phrase

Moved Permanently

Category

3xx — Redirection

Cacheable by default

Yes

Defined in

RFC 9110 §15.4.2