What is a 302 redirect?
A 302 redirect is the HTTP status 302 Found, used when a URL temporarily points somewhere else. Browsers follow it just like a 301, but the message to search engines is different: the original URL is still the real one and should stay in the index, because the content is expected to come back.
Use a 302 when the move really is temporary: a product out of stock and pointed at a category for a few weeks, a page under maintenance, a limited-time campaign URL, or A/B testing where visitors are split between URLs.
How it works
When Google sees a 302, it generally keeps the original URL indexed and does not transfer the canonical to the target. Google has said it treats all redirect types as passing PageRank, so a 302 does not "lose" link value. The difference is which URL is shown in results.
If a 302 stays in place for a long time, Google may decide the move is effectively permanent and start treating it like a 301, indexing the target instead. The status code should honestly describe your intent, because Google eventually acts on what the redirect actually does.
Related codes: 307 Temporary Redirect behaves like 302 but guarantees the request method is kept, and it is also what browsers show internally when HSTS upgrades a request to HTTPS. 303 See Other is used after form submissions. For SEO, Google treats 302, 303, and 307 as temporary.
Example
A seasonal page for a holiday sale:
$ curl -I https://example.com/sale/
HTTP/2 302
location: https://example.com/holiday-sale-2026/
In January the redirect is removed and /sale/ serves its own content again. Because it was a 302, /sale/ stayed in search results the whole time.
Contrast this with renaming /seo-tips/ to /wordpress-seo-checklist/ for good. That is a 301: you want the new URL indexed.
In WordPress
Many WordPress functions, including wp_redirect(), default to a 302 unless a status is passed, which is why plugin-generated redirects are sometimes temporary by accident. In Hydrogen SEO's Redirection Manager you choose 302 - Temporary Redirect or 301 - Permanent Redirect for each rule. The 301 vs 302 guide has a decision table for common situations.
Common mistakes
- Using a 302 for a permanent move, which keeps the old URL in results longer than necessary.
- Leaving a "temporary" redirect for years.
- Choosing 302 to "hold" link equity. It does not preserve anything a 301 would lose.
- Redirecting a page during maintenance instead of returning
503 Service Unavailable, which is the correct code for short outages.
Common questions
Does a 302 redirect hurt SEO?
Not when it is used for a temporary move. The problem is using one for a permanent change, which delays the new URL replacing the old one in results.
Will Google treat a long-running 302 as a 301?
It can. If a temporary redirect stays in place long enough, Google may treat it as permanent and index the target URL.