There are many reasons for redirecting URLs: Web pages may have moved but their old URLs may still be bookmarked by visitors, indexed by search engines and back or reciprocally linked by other websites.
Without a redirect this traffic would be lost to a 404 Server Error, the website will not only lose visitors but search engine reputation (links, page-rank and possibly even its listing) as well.
There are several ways to redirect domains; however, some of them are not search engine friendly. The best way to redirect URLs is to use a 301 redirect, since major search engines like Google and Yahoo endorse 301 redirects.
This article sums up URL redirection methods, along with pro's and con's.
If you use redirects, you can use this tool to check exactly what redirect was used and HTTP status code definitions.
Below is a detailed explanation of URL redirects:
Parked Domains
You could register an alternate domain name, enable parking and point it to the DNS servers of your main site, so that when somebody types an alternate domain, they are directed to the main site. However, this approach may lead to search engines listing duplicated content, for the main domain and alternate domain. This kind of redirect is not recommended no matter what intentions you have, since unscrupulous webmasters use parked domains to spam search engines and link directories just to have them list the same pages multiple times under different domain names. In some cases, search engines even penalize or ban webmasters for this redirect method.
Meta-Refresh Redirect
This method redirects visitors using JavaScript within the code of the page you are redirecting. With this method, you can specify the delay before the visitor is automatically redirected to the main site. Search engines cringe at this method because it’s potentially abusive: Unscrupulous webmasters could write such a page for a non-competitive search term, and then automatically redirect an unsuspecting visitor another URL. e.g. from a blog (trusted source) to a phishing or scam site. Search engines strictly penalize or ban sites using this redirect.
302 and 301 Redirects
When a URL is visited, a request is made by the browser, agent or spider (the technology used by search engines to index pages) to the web server where the page is located, the server then checks the ‘.htaccess' file. This file contains instructions on how to handle specific requests and plays a key role in security. The '.htaccess' file can be edited using a simple program such as ‘notepad’, so that it instructs browsers, agents or spiders that the page has either permanently moved (301 redirect) or temporarily moved (302 redirect). Some web hosting providers even provide options to implement 301 or 302 redirects, which let you avoid editing the .htaccess file yourself.
From an SEO perspective, a 301 redirect is the only acceptable URL redirection method.
Search engines will index only the primary URL (main site), but will transfer link popularity from the alternate URL to the main URL so that search engine rankings are not affected. The same behavior occurs when multiple domains are pointed at the main domain using a 301 redirect.
URL Forwarding
Most domain registrars offer a URL forwarding feature that allows you to forward alternate domains to the primary domain (main site). However, most registrars do this by implementing a 302 redirect (page moved temporarily). While Google and presumably Yahoo handle 302 redirects very well, passing link popularity from the additional domain to the main one, other search engines don't do this well, reducing link popularity by dividing it between the alternate domains and in turn decreasing rankings. Therefore, it is better to avoid this method (unless you have no other choice) and implement a 301 redirect instead.
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