Reverse 301 redirect - how will that work?

[AndersDK]

Hi

We have done some testing where we have changed our URL to a new name and 301 redirected the old to the new.

It has now been decided to go back to the old url again but is there an seo risk to this? Will all the inbound links that as redirected in the first change be lost or?

[David_ODonnell]

Obviously not a best practice, but should be fine.

What motiveated the change in the first place, then to reverse it?

[AndersDK]

Hi David.

Thank you for the answer. The reason behind behind it was to see the effect on conversions if the name was more in tune with the product.

[MattAntonino]

Hindsight is 20/20 but I would've thought this was a classic example of when to use a 302 Redirect instead of a 301.  As Matt Cutts says here: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-discussing-302-redirects/

"By definition, those are redirects from one domain A.com to another domain B.com that are claimed to be temporary; that is, the web server on A.com could always change its mind and start showing content on A.com again."

This is an old link so let me give you his similar answer 4 yrs later:

"Eric Enge: Let’s briefly talk about 302 Redirects.

Matt Cutts: 302s are intended to be temporary. If you are only going to put something in place for a little amount of time, then 302s are perfectly appropriate to use. Typically, they wouldn't flow PageRank, but they can also be very useful. If a site is doing something for just a small amount of time, 302s can be a perfect case for that sort of situation."

http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-012510.shtml

So while I agree with David that you should be fine, if you test like this again, probably 302 it instead?

[jasontay]

Recently I used 301s to redirect all my 404 errors on google web master and ended up with visibility zero on google search. I do not recommend 301. Not tested 302 but I think indexing the new link is much better than redirection in any way just to make sure you got juice passed thru.