301 & 302 Redirects

A 301 redirect signals a page has permanently moved and passes most ranking value to the new URL; a 302 signals a temporary move and is not meant to pass lasting ranking signal.

Using 302 for what's actually a permanent change (a common mistake, since many CMS platforms default to 302) can quietly stall ranking transfer to the new URL indefinitely. When consolidating pages (e.g. after fixing keyword cannibalization) or migrating a domain, 301s are almost always the correct choice unless the change genuinely is temporary.