What It Means & When to Use It

What Is a 308 Permanent Redirect?

A 308 Permanent Redirect is an HTTP response status code—a three-digit number sent by a web server in response to a client’s request—that tells browsers and search engines that a resource has permanently moved to a new URL.

Other HTTP response status codes you might be familiar with include the 404 error, which means the server can’t find the requested page.

As a user, it’s usually obvious when you encounter a 404 HTTP response status code. You’ll see an error page (like the one pictured below).

But you typically won’t notice a 308 HTTP response status code.

That’s because when you encounter a 308 Permanent Redirect, the browser redirects you to the correct URL automatically.

And in terms of SEO, link equity—the value passed by links—and authority may be passed on to the new page as well.

How to Check Your Website for 308 Permanent Redirects

To see if you have any 308 Permanent Redirects on your site, use Semrush’s Site Audit tool.

To start, set up a new project or click on the project you’d like to check your redirects for.

After the audit loads, click the number beside “Redirects.”

This report lists all your redirects, including their HTTP status codes.

Review this report and make note of which pages use 308 Permanent Redirects.

Later, we’ll go over when you should use a 308 Permanent Redirect. You can refer back to your Site Audit to ensure you’ve used the 308 properly.

308 vs. Other 3xx Redirects

A 3XX redirect is a type of HTTP...