Whenever we get a HTTP 302 error, it requires a redirect and the same questions usually arise:
Here are some of the questions:
- Is my website ready for it?
- What type of redirection is the most appropriate for my case?
- Will I lose all the SEO work I’ve done so far?
- Will Google penalize me? What happens if I eliminate redirects?
- How are they made?
- How do I fix error 302? (if it occurs)
In this article, I will answer all these questions so that you have more clarity to proceed in each case.
What is 302 redirect?
Code 302 indicates a temporary redirection.
One of the most notable features that differentiate it from a 301 redirect is that, in the case of 302 redirects, the strength of the SEO is not transferred to a new URL.
This is because this redirection has been designed to be used when there is a need to redirect content to a page that will not be the definitive one.
Thus, once the redirection is eliminated, the original page will not have lost its positioning in the Google search engine.
Although it is not very common that we find ourselves in need of a 302 redirect, this option can be very useful in some cases. These are the most frequent cases:
- When we realize that there is some inappropriate content on a page. While we solve the problem, we can redirect the user to another page that may be of interest.
- In the event that an attack on our website requires the restoration of any of the pages, this redirect can help us minimize the incidence.
A redirect 302 is a code that tells visitors of a specific URL that the page has been moved temporarily, directing them directly to the new location.
In other words, redirect 302 is activated when Google robots or other search engines request to load a specific page. At that moment, thanks to this redirection, the server returns an automatic response indicating a new URL.
In this way errors and annoyances are avoided both to search engines and users, guaranteeing smooth navigation.
What is a redirect 302 for?
The redirect 302 serves, for example, to have several versions of a homepage in different languages.
The main one can be in English, but if the visitors come from other countries then this system automatically redirects them to a page in their language.
In this way, a mobilization of web traffic is achieved, but at the same time, the influence at the SEO level of the main page is not diluted. This continues to grow, even though there is no transfer of authority, as we explained earlier.
HTTP 302 redirect example
The most common HTTP 302 redirect example case is Google.
Regardless of the country from which you access, if you type in https://www.google.com/, you will be redirected to the Google version in the language/country that corresponds to you.
In case of Germany, 302 automatically take us to https://www.google.de/ so that we can search for content in German.
Portals of successful companies such as Coca-Cola or even Fujitsu also use this system to redirect traffic to where they consider most convenient.
What causes HTTP 302 error?
Here are some of the most common reasons for the 302 redirect error:
- Using 302 redirects while the domain is moving;
- Creating a 302 redirect when you move the document;
- Using a 302 redirect during site protocol change;
- Creating 302 redirects while site structure is changing.
HTML redirect 302 is not recommended when the method of the original request is to be applied to the request of the destination URL — for example, moving the URL of a form directive that uses the POST method for a specific period.
You should not use the status code 302 if you want to transfer SEO-weight to the destination URL.
How to identify HTTP 302 error?
Verifying that the 301 and 302 redirect settings are correct is very easy.
When entering into the address bar of the old address, we observe what is happening.
The change of address indicates that everything is fine with the redirect.
The address remains the same – you need to look for the source of the problem, but first, we advise you to clean the cache and try again.
There is another option – to apply for checking the server response code to online services, for example, http://example.com/e_redirect/.
If you set up a redirect correctly, after entering the domain name, you will see the response code 301 or 302. It depends on what kind of redirection you planned to receive initially.
Some services additionally display the code given by the server after the redirect, and here there is only one valid option – 200 OK.
How to fix HTTP 302 error?
Method 1: Check the server configuration
The application may run on the server that uses one of these two most common web server programs, Nginx or Apache. These two web servers account for more than 84 percent of the global web server program!
Therefore, the first step in determining the 302 response code is checking the mandatory redirect instructions in the webserver program configuration file.
For Apache web Server
Step 1: Open .htaccess file on the server
To identify the webserver, you need to find the key file. If you are using the Apache web server, locate the .htaccess file in your site’s root filesystem.
If your program is on the shared host, you might have your username linked to the host account, for example. In this case, usually, the directory of application root is located in the path:
/home/<username>/public_html/path, thus the .htaccess file is located at /home/<username>/public_html/.htaccess.
Step 2: Find the mod_rewrite directives
Once you find .htaccess file, open it in text-editor and find the line that uses the RewriteXXX directives belonging to the Apache mod_rewrite module.
However, the core idea is that the RewriteCond directive outlines a text model that is compared to the registered URL. When a visitor requests the corresponding URL on a site, the RewriteRule directive which tracks one or multiple RewriteCond instructions will actually redirect the request toward the corresponding URL.
For instance, the following is an easy combination of RewriteRule and RewriteCond that satisfies all the requirements of example.com, but instead inserts a temporary redirect into the same URI in the temporary domain — example.com:
RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example\.com$ RewriteRule ^(.*)$ HTTP://www.temporary-example.com/$1 [R=302]
Notice the additional banner at the bottom of RewriteRule, which clearly illustrates that a response code has to be 302, showing to the browser agent that it is a temporary redirect.
Step 3: Reset the directives in .htaccess file
# BEGIN WordPress RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L] # END WordPress
Therefore, if you get an unusual RewriteRule or RewriteCond directive in your .htaccess file that doesn’t seem to fit to it, try to temporarily annotate them (prefixed with #) and restart the webserver to check if the issue is resolved.
For Nginx web server
Step 1: Open the nginx.conf file
If your web server is operating on Nginx, you should look for a totally different file of configuration. This file is specified as nginx.conf by default and found in one of the common directories listed below:
/usr/local/nginx/conf, /etc/nginx or, /usr/local/etc/nginx.
Step 2: Rewrite the directives on nginx.conf file
After detection, open the nginx.conf file in your text editor and find the rewrite directives that are relating to the redirect indicator.
For example, this is a plain block directive (declared a set of statements) that sets up the virtual server through generating a temporary redirect from abc.com to a temporary-abc.com:
server { listen 80; listen 443 ssl; server_name www.abc.com; rewrite ^/$ http://www.temporary-abc.com redirect; }
Nginx rewrites directives are parallel to Apache RewriteRule and
RewriteCond because they usually comprise more complicated text-oriented search patterns.
Step 3: Check the replacement policy of nginx.conf file
In any case, check the nginx.conf file for the exception replacement policy that contains a redirect flag (other permanent flag return response code 301).
Please note any exceptions before you restart the server in order to check if the problem is resolved.
Method 2: Search for out-of-date software
The specification document of RFC for HTTP 1.0 states that the aim of a “302 Found” response code is intended to indicate that the client should execute a temporary redirect.
However, many new browsers will process the code 302 received through the POST request as an invalid GET request.
This has triggered snags and confusion with particular web server programs that attempt to force the browser to perform the right work when it needs to be redirected temporarily.
To solve this problem, the RFC HTTP 1.1 specification document returned 303 response codes, another 307 temporary redirects, which is an understandable way to manage POST-to-GET or temporary, transient responses.
Method 3: Cleaning the Logs
Almost all web applications store records on the server. The application log usually represents the application history, like which pages, servers were requested and connected, which were obtained from the provided database, and so on.
The server logs are connected to the current device that runs the programs and usually contains information about the status and health of all the connected services, and even the information about the server.
Google record [PLATFORM_NAME] in the CMS or use [PROGRAMMING_LANGUAGE] to register and register [OPERATING_SYSTEM] when launching the custom application for more information to get these records.
Method 4: Fix the application code
In the case, all the above-discussed methods fail, the problem may be in the user code of the application that caused the problem.
Try to determine the cause of the problem by manually locating the application and analyzing it in the server and application log files.
It’s a good idea to copy the full application to your local development computer and step through it to see exactly what happens to the 302 scans and see the code for each application.
HTTP 302 Error: Conclusion
Finally, as you have seen, we do not have to fear a lot about the HTTP 302 redirect errors. Without going any further, they are a fantastic way to avoid losing traffic on our web pages with the inevitable changes that arise over the years.
I hope that, after reading this article, you will not get chills every time about how do I fix the 302 moved temporarily error.
Whether you want to make a contribution to the post or if you have a question or just want to give your opinion, do not hesitate to comment below!