Redirect Question

by 5 replies
6
For the past 15 years I have always used a meta refresh to redirect a link.

Is there any reason not to continue using it?

In some cases I will use 2 of them. Where I will have a new folder with a link to X site. I will then refresh to X site redirect. That way if I ever need to change it, I just change the X site redirect instead of having to change any that may exist in another folder.

Example:

/somefolder/xsite-redirect.html points to /xsite-redirect.html
#website design #question #redirect
  • nope if it works then no need to change it
  • Two reasons not to use a meta refresh.

    1. WC3 don't recommend it. Use standard redirects - don't break the back button! - Quality Web Tips

    2. Search engines don't treat meta refreshes the same way.
  • From what I have learned, meta refresh is probably the slowest of all page redirects, and not very SEO friendly. A meta refresh is executed on the page rather than on the server.

    Some meta refreshes are associated with some sort of five second countdown. However, that is something that you can set to redirect immediately. I'm not certain about it now, but some older browsers did not support meta refresh.

    A better redirect practice is to use an .htaccess file. With keeping SEO in mind, the best practice is to always do a page for page redirect. If the page has moved permanently, a 301 redirect is the preferred method.
    • [1] reply
    • Meta refresh is not SEO friendly. We'll suggest you to use standard redirection.
  • [DELETED]
  • If you want to avoid passing link juice or frequently change the target, use a 302, otherwise, use a 301.

    Meta refresh is about the worst way to do it

    Michael
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