What is a redirect map?

A redirect map is a spreadsheet that pairs every old URL on your site with the new URL it should point to after a migration — one row per URL, old address in one column, new address in the next. It's the single source of truth for your 301 redirects. Built before launch and verified after, it's the deliverable that most determines whether a migration keeps or loses your rankings.

Should I use 301 or 302 redirects for a migration?

Use 301 (permanent) for any migration. A 301 tells Google the move is permanent and consolidates ranking signals to the new URL. A 302 (temporary) tells Google to keep indexing the old URL, which is the opposite of what you want when you're moving permanently. Only use 302 for genuinely temporary situations like an A/B test or a seasonal campaign.

What is the single-hop rule for redirects?

The single-hop rule means every redirect should go straight from the old URL to its final destination in one step — A to B, never A to B to C. Each extra hop loses a little authority and adds a point of failure, and search engines may stop following a chain before reaching the end. If you find a chain, flatten it: point the original URL directly at the final destination.

Do I need to redirect every URL, or just the important ones?

Every URL that returns a 200 status and has any history of traffic or backlinks. A common, costly mistake is redirecting only the homepage and top pages while skipping smaller niche pages — those pages then 404 and lose all their rankings. Map everything. Use traffic data to decide where to spend manual review time, but the map itself must be complete.

How long should I keep migration redirects in place?

At least one year, which is what Google's Search Central guidance recommends. Backlinks and Google's own index take time to fully update to the new URLs. Only remove a redirect once server logs show that no users and no bots have hit the old URL for a couple of months straight. The cost of leaving a redirect up is near zero; the cost of removing an active one is a 404 and lost equity.

Are registrar-level (GoDaddy-style) redirects good enough for a migration?

No. Registrar-level redirects typically redirect someone typing the bare domain but don't preserve the path, so deep URLs, old inbound links, and still-indexed search results all land on 404s. Use server-level per-page 301s (Apache .htaccess, Nginx rules) or your platform's native redirect feature (Shopify and most modern CMSs have one) so the full path is preserved.

How to build a 301 redirect map for a website migration

A step-by-step guide to the most important migration deliverable: a complete, single-hop, 1:1 301 redirect map — how to build it and the mistakes that lose rankings.

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Index Right helps content-heavy businesses protect crawlability, indexability, metadata, structured data, Core Web Vitals, and answer-engine visibility during technical SEO migrations.

This raw HTML fallback exists for search crawlers, social crawlers, and AI citation systems that do not execute JavaScript. The hydrated React app provides the full interactive experience for users.

How to build a 301 redirect map for a website migration

What this page covers

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