Effect of 302 redirects from empty parent page to sub page

[driftingbass]

A client's website has links to their service pages which then redirect (302 through a php "Location:" header) to that service's first sub-page. For example, our-services/service-x redirects to our-services/service-x/about-service-x

I can only think this has been done because there is no actual content for the parent page and to maintain some kind of structure for navigation and URLs. Really there's no reason why the 'about-service-x' page can't be removed and its content transferred to the main 'service-x' page. Then the redirects can be removed also - it's not how a 302 should be used for a start.

I'm just wondering what kind of effect this current redirection has on SEO, as I know 302s don't pass any link juice?

Thanks for your help.

[Highland]

Are people linking to the original URL? If not, it's likely not a big deal. Still, it would be better if you had it do a 301.

The good news here is that there's a simple fix if you want your script to return a 301. You need an extra header sent. Here's a PHP snippet of how this works

header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location:http://www.newurl.com");

Understand that moving your URLs is difficult. Even with 301s, you lose any SEO momentum and only preserve most of the rank the page has. You need to be prepared to take a short term hit if you move URLs.

[driftingbass]

Thanks Highland, none of the original URLs have inbound links. I agree it would be better to have a 301 so thanks for the fix. Though I still think it would be even better to get some content on the original URLs and do away with the need for any redirect, but from what you say perhaps keep the 'About' pages too so nothing is moved?

The About pages contain copy that describes what the client does in that area, but only after the general 'about' info. This copy could be moved to the original URL to better sell the service they offer. Then the About page really is just extra information for those who want it.

Thanks again.