Redirects in Yahoo Search

When one webpage redirects to another, Yahoo Search will sometimes index the page content of the entry or "source" page, and sometimes index the final destination or "target" page. The list below explains the details.

Yahoo Search recognizes standard HTTP result codes, including these basic types:

  • 301 - Permanent Redirect
  • 302 - Temporary Redirect
  • META Refresh: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content=...> will be recognized as a 301 redirect if it specifies little or no delay, or as a 302 redirect if it specifies noticeable delay.

Yahoo Search redirect rules

These examples show how Yahoo Search handles common redirects.

  1. A page in one domain redirects to a page in another domain.
    • HTTP Status codes used: 301 or 302.
    • Yahoo indexes the target.
  2. A top-level page in a domain permanently redirects to a page deep within the same domain.
    • HTTP Status code used: 301.
    • Yahoo indexes the source.
  3. A page deep within a domain permanently redirects to another page deep within the same domain.
    • HTTP Status code used: 301.
    • Yahoo indexes the target.
  4. A page in a domain temporarily redirects to another page in the same domain.
    • HTTP Status code used: 302.
    • Yahoo indexes the source.

Other considerations

  • Yahoo Search isn't always able to discard URLs that have been seen as 301s, so Web servers can still see crawler traffic to the pages that have been permanently redirected.
  • There are special cases where Yahoo Search will not follow the rules outlined above.
  • Learn more about the update frequency of the Yahoo Search index.