Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Mozscape API
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Competitive Research
      • Link Explorer
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Domain Analysis
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your All-In-One Suite of SEO Tools

        The essential SEO toolset: keyword research, link building, site audits, page optimization, rank tracking, reporting, and more.

        Learn more
        Try Moz Pro free
        Illustration of Moz Pro
      • Moz Local

        Complete Local SEO Management

        Raise your local SEO visibility with easy directory distribution, review management, listing updates, and more.

        Learn more
        Check my presence
        Illustration of Moz Local
      • STAT

        Enterprise Rank Tracking

        SERP tracking and analytics for SEO experts, STAT helps you stay competitive and agile with fresh insights.

        Learn more
        Book a demo
        Illustration of STAT
      • Mozscape API

        The Power of Moz Data via API

        Power your SEO with the proven, most accurate link metrics in the industry, powered by our index of trillions of links.

        Learn more
        Get connected
        Illustration of Mozscape API
      • Compare SEO Products
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Competitive Research

        Competitive Intelligence to Fuel Your SEO Strategy

        Gain intel on your top SERP competitors, keyword gaps, and content opportunities.

        Find competitors
        Illustration of Competitive Research
      • Link Explorer

        Powerful Backlink Data for SEO

        Explore our index of over 40 trillion links to find backlinks, anchor text, Domain Authority, spam score, and more.

        Get link data
        Illustration of Link Explorer
      • Keyword Explorer

        The One Keyword Research Tool for SEO Success

        Discover the best traffic-driving keywords for your site from our index of over 500 million real keywords.

        Search keywords
        Illustration of Keyword Explorer
      • Domain Analysis

        Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like Domain Authority, top pages, ranking keywords, and more.

        Analyze domain
        Illustration of Domain Analysis
      • MozBar

        Free, Instant SEO Metrics As You Surf

        Using Google Chrome, see top SEO metrics instantly for any website or search result as you browse the web.

        Try MozBar
        Illustration of MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

        Read the Beginner's Guide
      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

        See All SEO Guides
      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

        Visit the Learning Center
      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

        Explore the Catalog
      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

        View All Webinars
      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

        Find SEO Answers
      The Impact of Local Business Reviews
      SEO Industry Report

      The Impact of Local Business Reviews

      Learn more
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

        Grow Your Business
      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

        Read Our Story
      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

        Drive Client Success
      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

        See What's Possible
      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

        Scale Your SEO
      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

        See What’s New
      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature: Moz Pro

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Mozscape API
      • Mozscape API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. International SEO
    4. Multilang site: Auto redirect 301 or 302?

    Multilang site: Auto redirect 301 or 302?

    International SEO
    redirect 301 redirect 302 international seo
    3
    5
    3240
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • fJ66doneOIdDpj
      fJ66doneOIdDpj Subscriber last edited by

      We need to establish if 301 or 302 response code is to be used for our auto redirects based on Accept-Language header.

      https://domain.com
      30x > https://domain.com/en
      30x > https://domain.com/ru
      30x > https://domain.com/de

      The site architecture is set up with proper inline HREFLANG.
      We have read different opinions about this, Ahrefs says 302 is the correct one:
      https://ahrefs.com/blog/301-vs-302-redirects/
      302 redirect:
      "You want to redirect users to the right version of the site for them (based on location/language)."

      You could argue that the root redirect is never permanent as it varies based on user language settings (302)
      On the other hand, the lang specific redirects are permanent per language:

      IF Accept-Language header = en
      https://domain.com > 301 > https://domain.com/en
      IF Accept-Language header = ru
      https://domain.com > 301 > https://domain.com/ru

      So each of these is 'permanent'.

      So which is the correct?

      Tom.Capper 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Scottoffroad
        Scottoffroad last edited by

        Hi Guys i am newer to SEO. my web with the 301 302 issue. anyone able help to fix it? will be high appreciated.

        Internal URL
        Yes
        Full URL
        https://myoffroadled.com/led-rocker-switch
        HTTP status code
        301 Moved permanently
        First found at
        Seed URL
        Content type
        text/html; charset=utf-8
        Depth
        0
        Redirect URL
        https://www.myoffroadled.com/led-rocker-switch/
        Not crawled
        Is redirect loop
        No
        Page rating
        100

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Tom.Capper
          Tom.Capper Subject Expert @fJ66doneOIdDpj last edited by

          @fj66doneoiddpj In some cases users may have a reason for using the site in something other than their browser language.

          For example, perhaps a shared device, or simply wishing to check a different localisation.

          If your hreflang is working correctly, they should never see the "wrong" version anyhow.

          But, there are pros and cons of course.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • fJ66doneOIdDpj
            fJ66doneOIdDpj Subscriber last edited by

            Thank you for the reply, 302 is also what we decided after many hours of reading.
            The main reason for auto redirect is that we feel it's a better user experience as user will arrive the content target to his/her browser language.

            Tom.Capper 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Tom.Capper
              Tom.Capper Subject Expert @fJ66doneOIdDpj last edited by

              @fj66doneoiddpj

              I would use a 302 here, just as an added insurance in case you ever accidentally serve Google the redirect.

              However, I'm not a huge fan of auto redirects in general - they tend to cause issues for crawlers and users alike. Can you explain a bit more when/why the user gets redirected? Perhaps instead you could serve a country selection insterstitial if a user seems to be on the "wrong" variant?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              Browse Questions

              Explore more categories

              • Moz Tools

                Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

              • SEO Tactics

                Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

              • Community

                Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

              • Digital Marketing

                Chat about tactics outside of SEO

              • Research & Trends

                Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

              • Support

                Connect on product support and feature requests.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • vbsk

                Is 301 redirects a deal breaker for Migrating content or moving to new software?

                migration redirect 301 redirect

                I have this forum with about 2 million posts for 16 years on root of the domain. I am looking to switch softwares but the top ones won’t help setup 301 redirects. But I can still migrate all my members and all my content (threads/posts), would Google still reindex all our content or if we don’t setup redirects would it really kill our entire traffic for a long time or maybe just a month or so? I really want to migrate to software that isn’t forum based but rather something that offers courses, chat, live video streaming, subscription based etc. and this is the only way to do so OR to set it up on an entirely new domain OR subdomain but to me that is like starting all over from scratch? I could archive the forum to read only and set it up on subdomain or another root domain - then on the archived forum setup banners and a pop up linking to the new site or new subdomain? . This is such a hard decision for us as the current forum we have had for so many years has lost members posting from 1k a day to just a handful a day, our fb group though gets 1k a day so I’m trying to revive a site into something more modern and has all the training features we can offer as well.

                Technical SEO | | vbsk
                0
              • Ravi_Rana

                How to rank a website in different countries

                seo tactic seo international seo seo rankings seo expert

                I have a website which I want to rank in UK, NZ and AU and I want to keep my domain as .com in all the countries. I have specified the lang=en now what needs to be done to rank one website in 3 different English countries without changing the domain extension i.e. .com.au or .com.nz

                SEO Tactics | | Ravi_Rana
                0
              • Minarets

                301 Redirects from example.com to store.example.com and then removing store.example.com subdomain

                redirect migration technical seo

                Hi I'm trying to wrap my head around the best approach for migrating our website. We're migrating from our example.com (joomla) site to our existing store.example.com (shopify) site... with the plan to finish the redirects/migration then remove the subdomain from shopify and use example.com moving forward. I've never done this and asking here to see if any harm will come from re-directing example.com URLs to store.example.com URL's then changing the store.example.com URL's to example.com. Right now my plan would run like this: redirect example.com URL's to store.example.com remove subdomain on store.example.com use example.com moving forward. wonder what happens next? Is there going to be any issues here, possible harm to the URL's?

                Technical SEO | | Minarets
                0
              • Ant-Scarborough

                Preserving Authority of closed website

                authority redirect 302

                Hi, I have the opportunity to acquire a domain of a company that is closing in a similar industry who currently have a decent Authority - 51DA, 5,752 Linking Domains. I cannot do anything with the new business yet but if I acquire the domain the existing website will turn off. If I crawl the existing site and 302 redirect all pages to a holding page on said domain, will that preserve authority while I start the new business and build the new website and like-for-like pages?

                Technical SEO | | Ant-Scarborough
                0
              • scottclark

                Hreflang alternate as single-hop 301 - is this actually a problem?

                First, this is not a question about whether 301 redirects pass page rank. My question is that if your hreflang alternative page URL is a 301 redirect*, are there any downsides.  In all cases with our situation, the 301 redirect is single-hop and working. Tools, such as SEMRush seem to flag this as a non-canonical hreflang error, but I'm not able to find any cases where Google has suggested a redirecting hreflang is a problem. I'd appreciate any information on this issue before we invest extra time on a large international site. *In Drupal, there are scenarios where it's all but impossible to avoid having a 301 redirect in your hreflang alternate URL without significant custom work.

                International SEO | | scottclark
                0
              • Ben.JD

                If I redirect based on IP will Google still crawl my international sites if I implement Hreflang

                We are setting up several international sites. Ideally, we wouldn't set up any redirects, but if we have to (for merchandising reasons etc) I'd like to assess what the next best option would be. A secondary option could be that we implement the redirects based on IP. However, Google then wouldn't be able to access the content for all the international sites (we're setting up 6 in total) and would only index the .com site. I'm wondering whether the Hreflang annotations would still allow Google to find the International sites? If not, that's a lot of content we are not fully benefiting from. Another option could be that we treat the Googlebot user agent differently, but this would probably be considered as cloaking by the G-Man. If there are any other options, please let me know.

                International SEO | | Ben.JD
                0
              • underground

                Site structure for multi-lingual hotel website (subfolder names)

                Hi there superMozers! I´ve read a quite a few questions about multi-lingual sites but none answered my doubt / idea, so here it is: I´m re-designing an old website for a hotel in 4 different languages which are all** hosted on the same .com domain** as follows: example.com/english/ for english example.com/espanol/ for **spanish ** example.com/francais/ for french example.com/portugues/ for portuguese While doing keyword search, I have noticed that many travel agencies separate geographical areas by folders, therefor an **agency pomoting beach hotels in South America **will have a structure as follows: travelagency.com/argentina-beach-hotels/ travelagency.com/peru-beach-hotels/ and they list hotels in each folder, therefor benefiting from those keywords to rank ahead of many independent hotels sites from those areas. What **I would like to **do -rather than just naming those folders with the traditional /en/ for english or /fr/ for french etc- is take advantage of this extra language subfolder to_´include´_ important keywords in the name of the subfolders in the following way (supposing the we have a beach hotel in Argentina): example.com/argentina-beach-hotel/ for english example.com/hotel-playa-argentina/ for **spanish  ** example.com/hotel-plage-argentine/ for french example.com/hotel-praia-argentina/ for portuguese Note that the same keywords are used in the name of the folder, but translated into the language the subfolders are. In order to make things clear for the search engines I would specify the language in the html  for each page. My doubt is whether google or other search engines may consider this as ´stuffing´ although most travel agencies do it in their site structure. Any Mozers have experience with this, any idea on how search engines may react, or if they could penalise the site? Thanks in advance!

                International SEO | | underground
                0
              • Francisco_Meza

                Google Webmaster Tools - International SEO Geo-Targeting site with Worldwide rankings

                I have a client who already has rankings in the US & internationally. The site is broken down like this: url.com (main site with USA & International Rankings) url.com/de url.com/de-english url.com/ng url.com/au url.com/ch url.com/ch-french url.com/etc Each folder has it's own sitmap & relative content for it's respective country. I am reading in google webmaster tools > site config > settings, the option under 'Learn More': "If you don't want your site associated with any location, select Unlisted." If I want to keep my client's international rankings the way it currently is on url.com, do NOT geo target to United States? So I select unlisted, right? Would I use geo targeting on the url.com/de, url.com/de-english, url.com/ng, url.com/au and so on?

                International SEO | | Francisco_Meza
                0
              Moz logo
              • Contact
              • Community
              • Free Trial
              • Terms & Privacy
              • Jobs
              • Help
              • News & Press
              • Mozcon
              © 2021 - 2023 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.