PHP redirect / SEO - Google / HTTP 301

Running a click counter script on my site. The script uses PHP's header url function to redirect and count the url being clicked.

Based on http://www.webconfs.com/how-to-redirect-a-webpage.php, a HTTP 301 redirect will be more apporpriate for SEO's.

Hence I changed my PHP script from



to



Will this affect my keyword ranking? Would Google punish me in anyway?

Moved to SEO forum. Good luck.

I am going to say yes. (and here's why...)

Google and other search engines will stop indexing when they hit the redirect. In fact they really don't like being bounced around the pages. Their main objective is to follow Link data, not metatag links.

A 301 redirect is not a spider killer. They will follow the redirect and get the proper data. (where the redirect is linking to)

You should eventually drop the redirect, for as the spiders index the new material you should have no use for the old material.

The jump in results won't be instantanious, and will probably take a good amount of time, based on your current placement as well as how often and how deep the spiders hit your current site.


Hope that helps some.

Kris