Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Let your business shine with Listings AI
      Moz Local

      Let your business shine with Listings AI

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. International SEO
    4. Multilang site: Auto redirect 301 or 302?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Multilang site: Auto redirect 301 or 302?

    International SEO
    redirect 301 redirect 302 international seo
    3
    5
    4924
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • fJ66doneOIdDpj
      fJ66doneOIdDpj Subscriber last edited by

      We need to establish if 301 or 302 response code is to be used for our auto redirects based on Accept-Language header.

      https://domain.com
      30x > https://domain.com/en
      30x > https://domain.com/ru
      30x > https://domain.com/de

      The site architecture is set up with proper inline HREFLANG.
      We have read different opinions about this, Ahrefs says 302 is the correct one:
      https://ahrefs.com/blog/301-vs-302-redirects/
      302 redirect:
      "You want to redirect users to the right version of the site for them (based on location/language)."

      You could argue that the root redirect is never permanent as it varies based on user language settings (302)
      On the other hand, the lang specific redirects are permanent per language:

      IF Accept-Language header = en
      https://domain.com > 301 > https://domain.com/en
      IF Accept-Language header = ru
      https://domain.com > 301 > https://domain.com/ru

      So each of these is 'permanent'.

      So which is the correct?

      Tom.Capper 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Scottoffroad
        Scottoffroad last edited by

        Hi Guys i am newer to SEO. my web with the 301 302 issue. anyone able help to fix it? will be high appreciated.

        Internal URL
        Yes
        Full URL
        https://myoffroadled.com/led-rocker-switch
        HTTP status code
        301 Moved permanently
        First found at
        Seed URL
        Content type
        text/html; charset=utf-8
        Depth
        0
        Redirect URL
        https://www.myoffroadled.com/led-rocker-switch/
        Not crawled
        Is redirect loop
        No
        Page rating
        100

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Tom.Capper
          Tom.Capper Subject Expert @fJ66doneOIdDpj last edited by

          @fj66doneoiddpj In some cases users may have a reason for using the site in something other than their browser language.

          For example, perhaps a shared device, or simply wishing to check a different localisation.

          If your hreflang is working correctly, they should never see the "wrong" version anyhow.

          But, there are pros and cons of course.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • fJ66doneOIdDpj
            fJ66doneOIdDpj Subscriber last edited by

            Thank you for the reply, 302 is also what we decided after many hours of reading.
            The main reason for auto redirect is that we feel it's a better user experience as user will arrive the content target to his/her browser language.

            Tom.Capper 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Tom.Capper
              Tom.Capper Subject Expert @fJ66doneOIdDpj last edited by

              @fj66doneoiddpj

              I would use a 302 here, just as an added insurance in case you ever accidentally serve Google the redirect.

              However, I'm not a huge fan of auto redirects in general - they tend to cause issues for crawlers and users alike. Can you explain a bit more when/why the user gets redirected? Perhaps instead you could serve a country selection insterstitial if a user seems to be on the "wrong" variant?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              Browse Questions

              Explore more categories

              • Moz Tools

                Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

              • SEO Tactics

                Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

              • Community

                Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

              • Digital Marketing

                Chat about tactics outside of SEO

              • Research & Trends

                Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

              • Support

                Connect on product support and feature requests.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • laurentjb

                How do I carry out a redirect? Is there a code I need to use?

                redirect redirect chain

                How do I carry out a redirect? Is there a code I need to use? Thank you in advance.

                On-Page Optimization | | laurentjb
                0
              • laurentjb

                Should I redirect or add content, to 47 Pages?

                redirect redirects

                We have an insurance agency website with 47 pages that have duplicate/low content warnings. What's the best way to handle this? I'm I right in thinking I have 2 options? Either add new content or redirect the page? Thanks in advance 🙂

                On-Page Optimization | | laurentjb
                1
              • BrandonDebison

                Is domain forwarding the same as a 301 redirect?

                domain 301 redirect

                Hi, I have an older domain with some SEO auth for varying pages and a newer domain that is for the brand. Right now there are some 301s for about 13 pages and we are currently moving servers. I was wondering if domain forwarding is the same as writing 301 redirects for each page or is it something different (302)?

                SEO Tactics | | BrandonDebison
                0
              • lcourse

                Baidu Webmaster Tools: How to setup in "Site Properties" the field "Affiliate subject"?

                baidu china baidu webmaster tools

                Hi ,
                finally I managed to setup my site in Baidu Webmaster Tools with the help of a freelance staff member in China. Site is verified and sitemap submitted. In section "Site Properties", field "Affiliate subject" I can't figure out after extensive search what I need to setup here for a foreign company without any presence and without company registration in China. Anybody can help? When I click on this field, it indicates "Site association subject is a necessary link for mobile resources to enter search." so my site will not show up in mobile results without it? Grateful for any tips on how to resolve this piece of puzzle of the baidu setup.
                Thanks

                International SEO | | lcourse
                0
              • Kate_Nadeau

                What is the difference between "document" and "object" moved redirect errors?

                redirect chain redirect

                What is the difference between "document" and "object" moved redirect errors? I'm used to see "object moved" as a redirect chain issue that needs to be fixed, but this week my report contained a "document moved" redirect chain issue. And it's on our homepage. Looks like it might be a HTTP versus an HTTPS issue.

                Reporting & Analytics | | Kate_Nadeau
                0
              • DocdataCommerce

                How to best set up international XML site map?

                Hi everyone, I've been searching about a problem, but haven't been able to find an answer. We would like to generate a XML site map for an international web shop. This shop has one domain for Dutch visitors (.nl) and another domain for visitors of other countries (Germany, France, Belgium etc.) (.com). The website on the 2 domains looks the same, has the same template and same pages, but as it is targeted to other countries, the pages are in different languages and the urls are also in different languages (see example below for a category bags). Example Netherlands:
                Dutch domain: www.client.nl 
                Example Dutch bags category page: www.client.nl/tassen Example France:
                International domain: www.client.com 
                Example French bags category page: www.client.com/sacs When a visitor is on the Dutch domain (.nl) which shows the Dutch content, he can switch country to for example France in the country switch and then gets redirected to the other, international .com domain. Also the other way round. Now we want to generate a XML sitemap for these 2 domains. As it is the same site, but on 2 domains, development wants to make 1 sitemap, where we take the Dutch version with Dutch domain as basis and in the alternates we specify the other language versions on the other domain (see example below). <loc>http://www.client.nl/tassen</loc>
                <xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
                hreflang="fr"
                href="http://www.client.com/sacs"
                /></xhtml:link<br> Is this the best way to do this? Or would we need to make 2 site maps, as it are 2 domains?

                International SEO | | DocdataCommerce
                0
              • SOS_Children

                Subdomains or subfolders for language specific sites?

                We're launching an .org.hk site with English and Traditional Chinese variants. As the local population speaks both languages we would prefer not to have separate domains and are deciding between subdomains and subfolders. We're aware of the reasons behind generally preferring folders, but many people, including moz.com, suggest preferring subfolders to subdomains with the notable exception of language-specific sites. Does this mean subdomains should be preferred for language specific sites, or just that they are okay? I can't find any rationale to this other than administrative simplification (e.g. easier to set up different analytics / hosting), which in our case is not an issue. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

                International SEO | | SOS_Children
                0
              • Francisco_Meza

                Google Webmaster Tools - International SEO Geo-Targeting site with Worldwide rankings

                I have a client who already has rankings in the US & internationally. The site is broken down like this: url.com (main site with USA & International Rankings) url.com/de url.com/de-english url.com/ng url.com/au url.com/ch url.com/ch-french url.com/etc Each folder has it's own sitmap & relative content for it's respective country. I am reading in google webmaster tools > site config > settings, the option under 'Learn More': "If you don't want your site associated with any location, select Unlisted." If I want to keep my client's international rankings the way it currently is on url.com, do NOT geo target to United States? So I select unlisted, right? Would I use geo targeting on the url.com/de, url.com/de-english, url.com/ng, url.com/au and so on?

                International SEO | | Francisco_Meza
                0

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              • Digital Marketers
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.