301 Redirect or landing page

[Unbranded_Lee]

Hi everyone.

I'm currently doing some SEO for a client, at the moment he has some landing pages which are categorised, but the category is set as a 302 redirect. I have a dilemma whether to 301 redirect to the landing page or make a page for each category.

The link structure is as follows -

http://examplesite.co.uk/products/fire/company-1/product/

so currently this is set as a 302 redirect -

http://examplesite.co.uk/products/fire/company-1/

Do I make this page a category page and link the page to the children with some on-page optimisation or 301 redirect it?

[Mustansar]

In my opinion this could be address by using canonical tags however, 302 redirection is never been advice for this purposes.

Here is Google guide for your batter understanding. : https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/139066?hl=en

[GastonRiera]

Hi lee,

Both pages show the exact same information?

If yes, then just add a canonical declaring the correct page to index and keep updated the sitemap.xml with the correct URLs.
Here some info about those:

Canonicalization  - Moz
XML Sitemaps: Guidelines on Their Use - Moz

If no, then I don't fully understand your problem.

Hope it helps.
GR.

[Unbranded_Lee]

No, of course! The site is currently using 302 redirects which were put in place by the web team. thanks for the help!

[Mustansar]

In that case you , you really want do the canonical tag to avaid as such potential harm.

[Unbranded_Lee]

Hi Gaston,

It's a little difficult to explain without giving project details out but it's a little like this -

The company specialises in glass, they supply and fit a wide range of glass from other suppliers, so there are categories for each company that makes the glass and then the individual types of glass inside those categories.

e.g. Pilkington Glass - The Company that makes the glass. PyroClear - the product they make.

The first landing page is for fire glass (a general term), which then has a side navigation for the companies that make the glass, currently they link nowhere but on hover they show the more specific products which then link through to the pages.

But it's problematic for breadcrumbs etc, if someone click the brand of glass it just redirects with a 302 re-direct to the fire glass homepage. which could frustrate people and increase bounce rate.

Currently these categories just use a 302 redirect, I think there may be an opportunity to make these category pages into landing pages for broad search terms, which can then link to the more specific products. it would be more logical for the breadcrumbs and could serve a purpose for SEO. 

I hope this makes more sense!

Lee

[GastonRiera]

We all agree that you should get rid of those 302's .

Then, Im kind of getting the idea... So, you're saying the possible solution: Turn the category pages into landing pages.

It's logical to me too. Of course making that move, will need well organization and a bit of preparation, so as nothing gets lost.