Redirecting Your Blog to RealTown.com with 301

September 11, 2007

In the near future, RealTownBlogs.com will begin redirecting visitors to the new RealTown Blogs hosted by RealTown.com. In order to keep our members from losing any SEO rankings or searchability, we will be using a 301 Header Redirect.

What is a Header Redirect?
When your web browser communicates with web servers, it uses "headers" to pass data back and forth in the background. Usually headers will contain things like:

• Which page was requested.
• When the page was last updated.
• Who owns the page (the web server).

Headers can also contain instructions for your browser. In the case of RealTownBlogs.com, we will be pointing your browsers to the new RealTown Blogs location at RealTown.com. Most browsers will have no problem following this instruction because they understand that the world wide web is an ever-evolving place. Sometimes, pages move, and that's what Header Redirects are for.

What is a 301 Header Redirect?
Headers Redirects can also provide information your browser as to why the page was moved. I won't go through the complete list here, but the code 301 means the page has permanently moved to a new location.

Why is a 301 Header Redirect important?
Search engines such as Google and MSN use Header Redirect codes to help them index their pages. When their web-crawling bots visit RealTown Blogs, they will receive a 301 Header Redriect to the new web address. The 301 tells them to update their records, and that the content has moved. It's the best way of guaranteeing that search engines will still be able to find you.

For more information as to why we're initiating this 301 Header Redirect, please visit http://beta.realtown.com/hector/blog/blog-development/realtown-blogs-beta

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