HTTP 302: What does it mean?

What is an HTTP 302 status code?

Simply put, HTTP status codes are essentially standard response codes used to represent the relationship between all the things going on in the background as you travel from Web page to Web page: things like the user-agent (i.e., your Web browser), the Web page you’re trying to load, and any third-party Web applications you’re using.

Because of the complexity of how all those things work together, there are a lot of possible HTTP state codes you can run into. HTTP status codes can be used to identify and diagnose the specific blocker preventing you from loading a resource, or to give you more information about the journey you made on the way to a page.

One of the most common HTTP status codes is HTTP 302. This status occurs when a resource or page you are trying to load has been temporarily moved to another location – via a 302 redirect.

Unlike 301 redirects – which are used to permanently route users from one location to another – 302 redirects are temporary. Usually, a 302 redirect will not notice if set up correctly. The Web server using the 302 redirect should immediately indicate the new location of the page to your browser and should immediately send you there.

It is important to note that an HTTP 302 status code is caused by the Web server you are trying to reach. It’s not a problem with your web browser, or anything you can check at the end of things.

If you are thinking about setting up 302 redirects on your own website, you should know that these types of temporary redirects are not appreciated by Google. Google’s crawler follows and respects a permanent 301 redirect, but ignores temporary 302 redirects you set up. If you want to keep your search ranking on a page that you need to redirect to a new location, choose a permanent 301 redirect instead.