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A redirect happens when someone asks for a specific page but gets sent to a different page. Often, the site owner deleted the page and set up a redirect to send visitors and search engine crawlers to a relevant page — a much better approach than serving them annoying, user-experience-breaking 404 messages. Redirects play a big part in the lives of site owners, developers, and SEOs. So, let’s answer a couple of recurring questions about redirects for SEO.
1. Are redirects bad for SEO?
Are redirects bad for SEO? The answer is no; redirects are not inherently bad for SEO. However, it is crucial to implement them correctly to avoid potential issues. An improper implementation can lead to problems such as losing PageRank and traffic. Redirecting pages is necessary when making URL changes, as you want to preserve the hard work invested in building an audience and acquiring backlinks.