: Using 301 redirects to change the URL of many pages within your site does not usually cause ranking drops. I have done so on large sites without hurting my rankings. You have to make

@Megan663

Using 301 redirects to change the URL of many pages within your site does not usually cause ranking drops. I have done so on large sites without hurting my rankings. You have to make sure that:


You use 301 permanent redirects, not 302 temporary redirects
You don't redirect to error pages
Your redirects work with one hop (no redirect to a redirect to a page)
No infinite redirects


In short, do lots of testing before you roll it out.

Google has been ambiguous about whether redirects have an effect on PageRank. Matt Cutts used to say that a redirect cost 10% of PR. He recently corrected himself and says that it doesn't cost PR at all. Since redirects don't seem to cause ranking drops, their technical impact on PR is irrelevant for practical purposes.

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