307 Temporary Redirect: What It Is and When to Use It

3 min. read

A 307 Temporary Redirect is an HTTP response status code that indicates that that the URL the user is requesting has been transferred to a temporary location and will be back soon.

Learn how it is different from 301s and when to apply it to your site.

There are more than fifty different status codes, out of which nine are straightforwardly for URL redirections.

Learning about all these status codes can help you run a more vital website, maintain a successful business, and know how to react when an issue arises.

In this post, we'll talk in-depth about the 307 Temporary Redirect and explain how it differs from other 3xx status codes.

What are HTTP 3xx Redirections?

Before we dive into 307 Temporary Redirect and how it works, it's crucial that we first understand what 3xx status codes represent.

The 3xx HTTP status codes indicate a redirection. When a user or search engines come across a 3xx status code, they will be redirected to a different URL from the initial. If SEO is crucial for your business's success, you must educate yourself about these codes and how to use them properly.

Why Should You Use Redirects?

A good tip is to make redirects a regular part of your website maintenance. However, make sure you only use them when you really need them and apply them correctly.

There are many reasons for using a 307 Temporary Redirect, including:

deleting a page
updating content
moving your site to a new domain
dropping the "www" from your domain
merging websites
CMS migration

What Is a 307 Temporary Redirect?

A 307 Temporary Redirect is an HTTP response status code that indicates that that the URL the user is requesting has been transferred to a temporary location and will be back soon.

Before the advent of HTTP 1.1, 302s were commonly used to create temporary redirects. However, they were replaced by 307s as a valid temporary redirect.

In addition, 307 Temporary Redirects are also used as an internal redirect if HTTPS is enforced.

What Is the Difference Between 301, 302, and 307 Redirects?

The most common redirects that you'll run into on a regular basis are the:

301 Permanent
302 Found, and
307 Temporary

The 301 redirect is one of the most common redirects. You should use this type of redirect if you want to redirect a moved or a deleted page permanently or if you have changed the structure of your permalinks. The 301 redirect tells search engines that the page is no longer available at this location, and it shouldn't be indexed anymore. Adding a 301 redirect to your deleted or moved pages is critical because failing to do so will result in a 404 error page. However, use it only if you're certain you won't need to use the old URL again.

In case you want to use the URL again, then you need to apply a temporary redirect.

The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which dictates how URLs work, has two main versions, 1.0 and 1.1. In the 1.0 version, 302s were known as "Moved Temporarily." However, with the advent of the 1.1 version, it was changed to mean "Found." Unlike the 301, the 302 redirect is a temporary redirect that redirects users and search engines to a different page for a limited amount of time. You should use this type of redirect when you're redesigning or updating your website.

A 307 Temporary Redirect is the HTTP 1.1 successor of the 302 redirects. Compared to 302 redirects that can be slightly unclear, 307 redirects indicate that the URL the user is requesting has been transferred to a temporary location and will be back soon. Unlike a 302 status code, the 307 status code guarantees that the request method will not be changed. For example, the GET request must continue to GET and POST to POST.

To sum up, you should use the 301 redirects when you:

want to permanently redirect a moved or a deleted page
have changed the structure of your permalinks

Use the 302 redirects when you:

want the URL that you're redirecting to show up in search results with the contents of the page you're redirecting to
want to send users to a new site or page for a short period of time
want to test out a new page and get some consumer feedback without hurting your rankings

Use the 307 Temporary Redirect:

when you're sure the move is really temporary (e.g., website maintenance)
if the search engines have already identified the server as 1.1 compatible

How Do 307 Redirects Affect My SEO?

The good thing about 301s is that when search engines update their index to include the new URL, they pass on the link juice from the old URL to the new URL.

That's not the case with a 307 Temporary Redirect. When you apply a 307 Temporary Redirect, the link juice is not passed from the original URL to the new URL.

Regarding a 307 Internal Redirect, everything happens at the browser level and shouldn't have any significant impact on your site's SEO.

Tip: Be careful to avoid redirecting users and bots into an infinite redirection loop and causing the Too many redirects error.

Key Takeaways

It is quite common practice to redirect one URL to another. And the most common way to do so is by using the 3xx status codes.

If you're making a permanent change of your URL, you should go with a 301 redirect. However, if your site is down for maintenance or unavailable for other reasons, then 307 Temporary Redirect is your best choice. In short, you should apply a 307 Temporary Redirect only if you're certain that the move is temporary.

Word to the wise: redirections can slow down your page load time, so use them smartly.

Good luck!