There are many ways to redirect site visitors from one page to another. However there are very few ways that are considered proper and recommended by the Search Engines.

The 301 Redirect

By far, the most Search Engine Friendly way to redirect from one page to another is the 301 redirect. The 301 redirect, initially can look a bit like a two headed monster to even a web designer, let alone an average website owner. But once you figure it out, it is both simple to implement and in and had the added benefit of passing along the old page’s rankings to the new page (Note other changes from the old to new page may affect your rankings in the (SERPs).

What does it mean?
301 notifies browsers and search engine spiders that the page they are trying to get has been permanently movied.

When do I use it?
Anytime that you need to change the file name of a web page, change the extension (eg. from .html to .php), or change the location of a page on your website.

There are a few ways to implement a ’301′ redirect for your page(s). The most accepted method is to redirect from your server: If you use an Apache web server then you would use the .htaccess method, Window’s servers use the IIS redirect method. It’s not always possible to have access to these methods, if you do not then you can also redirect using PHP or ASP.

Here’s how to do it:

.htaccess redirect

• Create a text file (notepad is recommended) save it as .htaccess
• In the .htaccess file put the following code:
  redirect 301 /pathto/oldpage.ext http://www.domain.com/newpage.ext
• Save the file
• upload the .htaccess file to the directory the file you are redirecting is in or the root directory of your website
• Done – Check to make sure it works

IIS redirect

• In your IIS manager, right click on the file or directory that you want to redirect
• Select the radio button ‘a redirection to a URL’
• Enter the URL of the new page
• Make sure that both ‘The exact url entered above’ and ‘A permanent redirection for this resource’ are selected
• Click on ‘Apply’
• Done – test to make sure it works

PHP redirect

• Place the following code into the web page you wish to redirect:
  < ?
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.domain.com/pathto/newpage.ext" );
?>
• Done – test to make sure it works

ASP .NET redirect

• Place the following code into the web page you wish to redirect:
  
• Done – test to make sure it works