How to Do a 301 Redirect: Keeping Old Links Alive When You Move Your Charity or Nonprofit Website
Key takeaways
- Any URL that changes during a relaunch without a redirect becomes a broken link that harms visitors, search rankings, and the grant references and funder communications that point to your pages.
- A 301 is a permanent redirect that sends visitors to the new page, and Google documents that permanent redirects do not cost the old URL its PageRank.
- A 302 is temporary, and Google keeps showing the old address in search results. Some tools produce a 302 unless told otherwise, so check the status code.
- Build the redirect map before design or development starts, using a crawl (for example with Screaming Frog) to inventory every existing URL.
- Sort URLs into three categories (recreated at a new address, retired, or unchanged) and record old-to-new pairs in a spreadsheet that becomes the source of truth for setup and testing.
- Rules commonly live in a redirect manager in the website platform, a `_redirects` file deployed with the site, or the web server's configuration.
- A rule does nothing until it is live, so test priority URLs (homepage, donation, contact, and grant-referenced pages) straight after launch and monitor Search Console for remaining 404s.
Summary
How to do a 301 redirect on a charity or nonprofit website: map old URLs to new ones, add the rules wherever your site keeps them, choose 301 over 302, test them after launch, and fix the ones that do not work.
How to Do a 301 Redirect
To do a 301 redirect, list every address on your charity or nonprofit website that is about to change, decide the new address for each, add each pair as a permanent rule wherever your site keeps its redirects, publish, then visit each old URL to confirm it lands on the right page.
A rule holds three things: the old path, the new path and the status code. In a _redirects file, one example of the format, it reads:
/about-us/our-team /team 301
Why a Charity Needs Redirects When It Launches a New Site
A new website almost always changes the URL structure, and every URL that moves without a redirect becomes a broken link.
For visitors. Anyone following an old link from a grant application, a funder's website or a newsletter lands on a 404 page. For a grant officer checking your registration details, or a funder reviewing a renewal, that is a credibility failure.
For search rankings. The search authority the old URL built up is lost, along with the value of links other sites point at it.
A 301 solves both: it says this page has moved permanently, and search engines update the original URL to match.
301 vs 302 Redirects
Both send a visitor to the new page. They tell search engines different things.
| 301 | 302 | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Moved permanently | Moved temporarily |
| Google shows in results | The new address | The old address |
| Use it for | A relaunch, a renamed page, a new domain | A page that is unavailable for now |
The search row comes from Google's redirect documentation, which treats a 308 like a 301 and a 307 like a 302.
Some tools produce a 302 unless told otherwise. A _redirects line on Cloudflare Pages with no code is a 302. Visitors still reach the right page, so nothing looks wrong until someone checks the code.
301 Redirects and SEO
Google documents that permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank and asks you to keep them for at least a year. The same guidance names two habits to avoid:
- Sending everything to the homepage. Many old URLs pointing at one unrelated page can be treated as a soft 404. Old pages merged into one new page may redirect to it.
- Chaining redirects. Point each old URL straight at its final destination.
Build the Redirect Map First
Before any design or development begins, crawl the existing site with Screaming Frog and export every URL as a spreadsheet, filtered to HTML pages. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs.
Sort the list into three: pages recreated at new URLs (a direct 301), pages being retired (redirect to the most relevant equivalent), and pages staying at identical URLs (nothing needed).
Old URL and new URL, as two columns, is your redirect map, the source of truth for setup and testing.
Where the Rules Live
How you set up a 301 redirect depends on how the site is built. The rules commonly live in:
- A redirect manager in the website platform, where you enter pairs or import a file
- A
_redirectsfile deployed with the site's code - The web server's configuration, which your developer or host edits
If you do not know which, ask whoever holds full control of the site. Take the exact steps from your platform's or host's documentation, and check four things:
- Status code. Each rule is set to 301.
- Folders. Whether one pattern rule can move a whole folder.
- Order. Where rules run in sequence, a specific redirect goes before a wildcard that would catch it.
- Bulk import. Whether an import adds to the existing rules or replaces them. If you cannot tell, export them first and add your rows to that file.
301 Redirect to a New Domain
If the domain itself is changing, the redirects can only run while the old domain is registered and pointing at something that serves them. Google asks you to submit a Change of Address in Search Console for the old site as well.
Test Redirects Straight After Launch
A rule does nothing until it is live on whatever answers for the old address, so test immediately after launch, before announcing the new site.
Visit each old URL in a private window, because your browser may be holding an earlier answer. For larger migrations, crawl the list in Screaming Frog and check the response codes.
Test by hand every time: homepage, donation page, contact page, any page named in a current grant application, and any page with significant organic traffic.
After Launch: Monitoring for 404 Errors
Some 404s will appear even so. Monitor them in Google Search Console under Pages → Not Found (404) in the weeks after launch, and add redirects for any legitimate old URLs.
On Webflow? The platform-specific steps are in Platform Notes.
Next Step
Next, work through the rest of the launch: How to Prepare Your Nonprofit Website to Go Live.
Related resources:
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Frequently asked questions
- What does a 301 redirect mean?
It means the page at an old URL has moved permanently to a new one. Browsers go to the new address, and search engines update the original URL to the new one. When a charity launches a new website the URL structure almost always changes, and every URL that changes without a redirect becomes a broken link.
- Does a 301 redirect affect SEO?
Done properly, it protects your search position rather than harming it. Google says permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank and asks you to keep them for at least a year. The same guidance warns against sending many old URLs to one unrelated page such as the homepage, which can be treated as a soft 404, so point each old URL at its real equivalent.
- Which URLs does our nonprofit need to redirect?
Every URL that is changing. Crawl the current site with a tool such as Screaming Frog before any design or development starts, export the HTML pages, and sort them into three categories: pages recreated at new URLs, which need a direct 301; pages being retired, which redirect to the most relevant equivalent; and pages staying at identical URLs, which need nothing. Record old URL and new URL in a spreadsheet. For the decisions and sign-off around that map on a larger relaunch, see migration planning and governance.
- Where do we add a 301 redirect?
Wherever your site keeps its redirect rules. They commonly live in a redirect manager in the website platform, a
_redirectsfile deployed with the site, or the web server's configuration. If you do not know which applies, ask whoever holds full control of the site, and take the exact steps from your host's or platform's own documentation.- Can we add all the redirects at once instead of one at a time?
Where your redirect manager offers a bulk import, yes, and the redirect map doubles as the source for that file with minimal reformatting. Check first whether an import adds to the existing rules or replaces them. If you cannot tell, export what is already there and add your rows to that file.
- Why is my 301 redirect not working?
Work through five causes. The rule may not be published, since it does nothing until it is live. It may be on a system that no longer answers for the old address, such as the previous host. The old path may not match the address exactly. An earlier wildcard rule may be catching the URL first. Or the redirect may be working as a 302: visitors arrive at the right page, but the status code is not permanent. Test in a private window as well, because your browser may be holding an earlier answer.
- What do we do about broken links that appear after launch?
Expect some, even with a thorough redirect map. Monitor them in Google Search Console under Pages, then Not Found (404), and review that report in the weeks after launch. Add redirects for any legitimate old URLs that should be pointing somewhere. A technical SEO audit is the wider version of the same check.