The 301 redirect has a few uses. If you decide for some reason to change your domain name or the name of an individual directory or page, it allows you to redirect your traffic in a way that search engines prefer. It can also be used to forward other links.

Many hosts make the 301 direct easy to use. If you have cPanel, just look for “Redirects,” which should be under Site Management. Type in the location to be redirected and where you want it to be redirected to. Choose “Permanent” to make it a 301 redirect. Don’t use the “Temporary” selection in most cases, unless this truly is a temporary redirect.

If you don’t have cPanel, don’t give up hope. If you are able to change your .htaccess file, you can easily create a 301 redirect. Here’s the code, which should be all on one line, no matter how it appears on your screen:

Redirect 301 /example.htm http://www.site.com/page.html

Whatever you do, don’t create your .htaccess file in a regular word processor. Use a basic text editor. This will keep errors caused by the word processor. If you find you cannot save your file as .htaccess directly, save it as htaccess.txt, upload it to your server and then change the name.

Not sure if there’s an .htaccess file already on your server? Go to your favorite FTP program and take a look in the folder your site is kept in; probably public_html, although this may vary by host.

301 redirects are great for affiliate links. They allow you to clean up the appearance of your links, which can make users more comfortable and make your site feel more professional.

Yes, it is easy to get lazy and just paste in your affiliate links. However, using the 301 redirect can protect your links in more ways than one. If the site you are redirecting to doesn’t show your affiliate link at the end, it is much harder for other affiliates to go through your link but switch out your link for their own. Some customers will have programs on their computers that will hide obvious affiliate links on your site, which makes your site look bad and costs you sales. Using the 301 redirect improves your chances of getting around this - although there’s still no guarantees.

No, I don’t use 301 redirects as often as I should. They do take some extra time. However, when I do use them I find it much easier to add in affiliate links, as I only have to remember the filename I gave it, rather than looking up the entire link.

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