HTTP 302 Found — Meaning, Causes & How to Fix

Code

302

Name

Found

Class

3xx Redirection

Specification

RFC 9110 §15.4.3

Cacheable by default

Only with explicit Cache-Control / Expires

What HTTP 302 means

302 Found is a temporary redirect: the resource is at another URL right now, but clients should keep using the original URL. Like 301, clients may change POST to GET when following it; 307 is the version that keeps the method.

Common causes

• Login redirects, A/B tests, geo or language routing.
• Frameworks that use 302 as their default redirect().
• A permanent move that was set up with the wrong code.

How to fix it

For site owners

• If the move is permanent, switch to 301 or 308.
• After a form POST, prefer 303 See Other to send the user to a result page.

For visitors & developers

• 302s are not cached by default, so the browser re-checks the original URL each time.

SEO impact

Google follows 302s but treats them as a weak canonical signal, so the original URL usually stays indexed. A long-lasting 302 may eventually be treated like a permanent redirect, but use 301/308 when you mean permanent.

Example 302 response

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: /login?next=%2Faccount
Content-Length: 0

Related status codes

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