Google & Redirect Penalties

Google disapproves of some redirection methods.

A redirect forwards visitors from one address to another. Redirects are necessary on the Web and Google recognizes that, and encourages the use of redirection. Without redirection, long established links to Web pages would turn to dead links if that page moved addresses. Google doesn't want its search results filled with dead links, so the company explains in its website how to create a redirect. There are many techniques to redirect traffic. Google approves of some, but penalizes others.

HTTP

The method of creating redirects that is approved by Google uses the functionality of HTTP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTP defines the structure of messages that pass between Web browsers and Web servers to present a Web page to a Web surfer. HTTP has a series of status codes built into its definition and all Web servers and Web browsers have to understand these codes and implement actions based on their instructions. Under HTTP, a 301 code commands a permanent redirect and a 302 code sets up a temporary redirect. It is important to know these numbers because those who work on the World Wide Web, including Google, refer to this form of redirect by these code numbers. Redirects created by 301 or 302 HTTP codes do not incur penalties from Google.

Meta Refresh Redirects

A meta refresh redirect is one of the methods Google does not like and will penalize sites that perform it. The meta refresh is a command that can be inserted into the header of the HTML, Hypertext Markup Language, that creates a Web page. The refresh command is meant for frequently updated sites, like news Web sites. The command instructs the browser to reload the page after a given number of seconds elapse, to keep the viewer up to date with the latest headlines. However, the command includes the address of the Web page from which to reload, and this can be set as a different address. By telling the browser to reload from a different address, the meta refresh achieves a redirect.

Reason

For the reason Google does not like meta refresh redirects, but endorses 301 redirects we have to return to HTTP status codes. Google logs a visit to a site based on the return of a 200 status code from the Web server. A 200 code means “OK” the page is here, the page can be delivered. A request to a Web server for a page can take two forms. One is a straight forward request for the page, the other is a request to find out if the page exists. The second type does not require the page to be returned by the server, and it is this type of request that the Google crawler uses when it checks for the existence of pages.

Conclusion

Google only frowns upon meta refresh redirects because it opens up a technique of cheaters getting over-ranked. It could be possible to notch up page visits by creating a circular redirect. If page A has a meta refresh to page B and page B has a meta refresh to page A, each redirect would log a 200 HTTP code and register a hit. A 301 code does not count in Google as a page visit, and so is an allowable form of redirect.

References

• Beyond Ink: How to do 301 redirects in Apache .htaccess, IIS, PHP, ASP and ColdFusion
• Gabblet; Google Penalty Checker/Checklist Google Ban/Penalty Check Tool; Rahul Singh; January 2010
• Net Locations; Google Redirect Penalty; Wally Gross on July 18, 2011