Will a 301 permanent redirect to change URLs to use only a query string with a single parameter hurt SEO?

Question

If I use a RedirectMatch 301 code in my .htaccess file:

Original: /automobiles/pickups/?category=classic

Redirect: RedirectMatch 301 ^/automobiles/(.*)/?$ /?s=$1 [L]

Will it hurt my SEO status?

Answer 1

301 is the best redirect to use in your scenario, eg permanent redirect. I could speculate there is a very slight deterioration of link value passed through 301, so it's best if you could update the original links to point to their new destination. It won't hurt if you don't get everyone else to update external links. Although definitely update internal links to point to the new url.

Edit:

I normally used RewriteRule instead of RedirectMatch 301.

RewriteRule ^/automobiles/pickups/([az-]+)$ /automobiles/pickups/?category=$1 [R=301,L]

Rewrites your URL /automobiles/pickups/?category=classic to /automobiles/pickups/classic

Use Firefox LiveHeaders to make sure visiting /automobiles/pickups/?category=classic will return a 301 to /automobiles/pickups/classic and also change all your internal links to point to /automobiles/pickups/classic

Answer 2

SEO redirection, From bad to good:

• Javascript
• Meta
• htaccess redirect
• htaccess rewrite

If you can, use rewrite instead of redirect. Apparently, redirect 301 is not so bad, however, since nobody really knows the robot's criteria then the best is to avoid it.

Answer 3

No, It will not affect your website SEO. If you are using 301 permanent redirection technique.

A 301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. It's not that hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings for that particular page. If you have to change file names or move pages around, it's the safest option. The code “301” is interpreted as “moved permanently”.