Pass-through Vs. 301 redirects

Hi all,

I'm redesigning my website.
Most of my old URLs end in .html, and my new site was built using Wordpress.

My developer has instructed me to use a "pass-through" redirect, and I wonder what impact (if at all does that have on SEO).
I read that a 301 redirect is the most preferable way to redirect from old URLs for SEO, but can't find anything on pass-throughs, and what their impact is.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

 

You can install Live HTTP Headers firefox addon
and check if "pass-through" redirect is 301 or 302 redirect.

 

Thanks, but I can't get how it works...I installed the addon, closed and re-opened Firefox, and I don't see any addon on the screen...I know it has been installed because when I go to the add-on menu, it's asking whether I want to remove it...

 

Firefox --> Tools --> View HTTP headers
Or write here a link to your page with a "pass-through" redirect and I'll tell you if it is a 301 or 302 redirect.

 

http://test.voicecrafters.com/voice_over_za.html

Thanks!

 

There are no redirects
Server response code:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK

 

Thanks very much!
So you're saying that a search engine regards this as a regular link?
because I know for a fact that this link has a target url that is: http://test.voicecrafters.com//language/english-za/

 

http://test.voicecrafters.com/voice_over_za.html
This is the regular page without a redirect
You can see in the browser address bar url does not change, there is no redirect.

Search engine regards this as a regular page.
Search engine will not know about http://test.voicecrafters.com//language/english-za/

When there is a redirect,
You type in browser address bar olq_url
and olq_url there changes to new_url.
In Your case, there is no URL changes in address bar of browser, and there is no redirect.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Conclusion.
If on your site you change old_url to new_url,
where new_url is accessible (ie You can write it in a browser and go it without errors)
and new_url, old_url are related with using "pass-through" redirect, as in your example,
then for a search engine different pages (new_url, old_url) have the same content.
This is duplication of content, and this is not good.
In this case it is better to use a 301 redirect old_url --> new_url