HTTP 301 Moved Permanently — Meaning, Causes & How to Fix

Code

301

Name

Moved Permanently

Class

3xx Redirection

Specification

RFC 9110 §15.4.2

Cacheable by default

Yes — heuristically cacheable by default

What HTTP 301 means

301 Moved Permanently tells clients the resource now lives at the URL in the Location header, permanently. Browsers cache it and go straight to the new URL next time. For historical reasons, clients may change a POST into a GET when following a 301 — use 308 if the method must be kept.

Common causes

• A page or whole site moved to a new URL or domain.
• HTTP → HTTPS or non-www → www normalisation.
• Trailing-slash or lowercase URL rules.

How to fix it

For site owners

• Redirect each old URL directly to its closest new equivalent — avoid chains and loops.
• Update internal links and sitemaps to the final URL so the redirect is only a safety net.
• Keep 301s in place long-term (at least a year) after a site move.

For visitors & developers

• Because browsers cache 301s, test changes in a private window or clear the cache.
• Use curl -I to see the Location header.

SEO impact

301 is the standard permanent redirect for SEO. Google treats it as a strong signal that the target should become the canonical URL and transfers ranking signals to it. Use it for site migrations, HTTPS moves and merged pages.

Example 301 response

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://www.example.com/new-page/
Content-Length: 0

Related status codes

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