Is a 302 redirect the correct redirect from a root URL to a detail page?

[CPU]

Hi guys

The widely followed SEO best practice is that 301 redirects should be used instead of 302 redirects when it is a permanent redirect that is required.

Matt Cutts said last year that 302 redirects should "only" be used for temporary redirects.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-interview-googles-matt-cutts-on-redirects-trust-more

For a site that I am looking at the SEO Moz Crawll Diagnostics tool lists as an issue that the URL /  redirects to www.abc.com/Pages/default.aspx with a 302 redirect.

On further searching I found that on a Google Support forum (http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=276539078ba67f48&hl=en) that a Google Employee had said "For what it's worth, a 302 redirect is the correct redirect from a root URL to a detail page (such as from "/" to "/sites/bursa/"). This is one of the few situations where a 302 redirect is preferred over a 301 redirect."

Can anyone confirm if it is the case that "a 302 redirect is the correct redirect from a root URL to a detail page"? And if so why as I haven't found an explanation.

If it is the correct best practice then should redirects of this nature be removed from displaying as issues in the SEO Moz Crawll Diagnostics tool

Thanks for your help

[TellThemEverything]

I don't understand why you want the redirect at all?  Why not put the final content on the home page.

Regardless, I don't agree that 302 should be used in this circumstance (no matter what a "google employee" says!) - it's a "temporary redirect" - is this temporary?

IMO, all redirects should be there to fix a specific problem - stop 404's, fix canonical problems, etc.

[CPU]

Hi James, I don't want the redirect, the content is where it is due to the way the site has been set up in the past, long before anyone thought about SEO for the site.

I just wanted to make sure that if it has to be a redirect then it is the correct type of redirect after my advice that it should be a 301 redirect was questioned and it was suggested to me that a 302 should be used in this circumstance.

Thanks for your response.

[baptisteplace]

Disagree with that, the only case when this could be used is the following case :

Service in unavailable (503) for any reason, and you can't display a 503 on the homepage. In this case this could make sense to 302 to another page displaying a 503, because your home page will soon be back.

[baptisteplace]

If you are planning to put the content on the deep page very soon on the home page, you may use a 302. If this is not the case, you have to 301.

[Goetzman]

I don't see anything wrong with just a 301..?

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Lewis,

We're going through old, unanswered questions and wondering what you ended up doing here and if you have any results to share with us (such as changing from a 302 to a 301 and seeing rankings change, etc.).

Thanks!