HTTP Status 302

HTTP status 302HTTP status 302 signals a temporary redirect: content is temporarily available at a different URL. The original URL is meant to remain.Open glossary entry → stands for a temporary redirectA redirect forwards users and search engines from one URL to another. It can be permanent (301) or temporary (302) and transfers signals to the target URL.Open glossary entry →. It signals that content is only temporarily available at a different URL and that the original URL should generally remain.

The distinction from 301 matters:

• 301 = permanent redirectHTTP status 301 signals a permanent redirect: a URL has been permanently replaced by another. Search engines transfer the signals to the target URL.Open glossary entry →, the original URL is permanently replaced,
• 302 = temporary redirect, the original URL remains the actual version.

A 302 is suitable, for example, for short-term redirects during maintenance or for time-limited promotions. If a URL is to be replaced permanently, the 301 is the right choice because it transfers the signals to the target URL more clearly. Like 301 URLs, 302 URLs do not belong in the XML sitemapAn XML sitemap is a machine-readable file listing a website's important URLs. It helps search engines discover content more efficiently but does not replace internal linking or guarantee indexing.Open glossary entry →, which should contain only indexableIndexing is the step in which a search engine processes crawled content and decides whether a URL is added to the search index. Only indexed pages can appear in search results.Open glossary entry → 200 URLs.