Episode
The 301 Redirect Myth Google Killed… That SEOs Still Believe in 2026
- Podcast
- The Edward Show
- Published
- Jun 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 303
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-edward-show-6568456/episodes/the-301-redirect-myth-google-killed-that-seos-still-believe-in-2026/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-edward-show-6568456/the-301-redirect-myth-google-killed-that-seos-still-believe-in-2026.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
E1084: Should you avoid 301 redirects because they reduce link equity? A lot of SEOs still believe that 301 redirects cause a loss in PageRank. That belief made sense years ago. In 2013, Matt Cutts said 301 redirects could result in a PageRank loss. But in 2016, Gary Illyes from Google said redirects no longer lose PageRank. And Google's own documentation still says that 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank. In this episode, I break down why the old 301 redirect fear is outdated, when redirects are safe to use, and what you still need to watch out for when redirecting URLs. Covered in this episode: - Why SEOs still worry about 301 redirects losing link equity - The old 2013 Google statement that created the misconception - What Gary Illyes said in 2016 about redirects and PageRank - What Google's current documentation says about 301 redirects - Why 301 redirects are still useful for site migrations, URL cleanup, and domain moves - Why redirect chains are still worth avoiding - Why server-side redirects are better for Googlebot than client-side redirects - Why redirect relevance still matters - How anchor text and link signals can pass through redirects - Why redirecting irrelevant backlinks to unrelated pages is not a magic fix - The Cyrus Shepard case study where a redirected site migration saw traffic increase instead of drop - Why the best redirect is usually one where the URL changes, but the content stays mostly the same The main point: If you have a real reason to use a 301 redirect, do not avoid it because of outdated PageRank fears. Use redirects when they make sense. Use them for: - Proper site migrations - Better URL structure - Consolidating pages - Moving from HTTP to HTTPS - Moving content to a new domain - Sending users to the…