Do redirected links still provide the same value as a regular link?

[Muhammad-Isap]

This post is deleted!

[TomRayner]

If the redirected link is a 301 redirect, then it will pass on the same amount of strength as a normal link would.

There was a video from Matt Cutts about this not so long ago and proved to be quite a contentious issue:

http://searchengineland.com/google-pagerank-dilution-through-a-301-redirect-is-a-myth-149656

Here's the best way that I can explain it.

Let's say the PageRank score (what Google sees, not us) of Website A is 1000.  It has one link on its site that points to Website B.

Every time there is a link, some of that PR is lost.  So if Website A has 1000 PR, Website B inherits 950, for example.

What people used to think was that a 301 redirect lost some additional PR in this process.  For example, if Website A was redirected to Website B, 50 PR would be lost with the link (as before), but an additional 100 would be lost due to the redirect - so Website B would have 850 PR.

However, as explained in the video above this is not the case - a redirect passes on the same amount of "link juice" as a normal link would.

Hope this helps to explain - obviously these figures are just for illustrative purposes and there are hundreds of other factors at play, but in terms 301s vs links, this should clear things up.

However, that link you have provided results in a 302 redirect.  A 302 redirected is a "temporary" redirect and, as such, Google will not pass on the PageRank or "juice" of the previous page immediately.  There have been studies to show that it might pass link equity after a number of months, but I would not expect to see an immediate benefit from them and wouldn't fully rely on them providing SEO value at any point.

If you want to check the redirect path, I highly recommend Ayima's Redirect Chrome Extension - it will show you how you were redirected from a link and show you the response code used (301, 302 etc).

Remember, 301 redirects pass on the strength straight away, 302s may do so after a number of months and so aren't quite as valuable.

Hope this helps.

[Chris.Menke]

John,

Most blog comments are nofollowed or in some way redirected due to the overwhelming amount comment spam out there.  Not saying that you may be adding to it, but, working to get links from blog comments is not worth the time or effort.   By the way, I did a site:cellularsavealife.squarespace.com/blog search in google and only saw a handful of indexed posts--didn't say any comments on any of them.

[AlanMosley]

I don't think that is correct, I have watched the video also, and I think matt has been deliberately vague.

If you have a link that points to pageA that is 301 redirected to pageB, then you lose PR with the link to pageA then lose again when it is 301 redirected to pageB. You have made 2 requests both lose PR

True the lose is the same, but it is twice.

If you link directly to pageB, them you only leak PR once.