Does a 302 pass SEO value to the target page?
Search engines treat 302 as temporary and usually keep the original URL in their index. If the move is permanent, a 301 or 308 is the clearer signal.
HTTP 302 FOUND
A temporary redirect. Clients may change POST to GET; use 307 to forbid that. 302 belongs to the 3xx redirection class and is defined in RFC 9110.
Loading the workbench.
About HTTP 302
What Does HTTP 302 Found Mean?
A temporary redirect. Clients may change POST to GET; use 307 to forbid that. The code is registered with IANA and defined in RFC 9110.
Redirection: the client must take another step to finish the request. Every code from 300 to 399 shares that general meaning, so a client that does not recognise 302 must treat it like 300.
When Do You See a 302 Response?
302 Found is a temporary redirect: the resource currently lives at another URL, but the original address stays the canonical one. Login walls, A/B tests, geo-routing, and short links commonly use it. Although the specification originally said the method should be kept, browsers changed POST to GET when following 302, and RFC 9110 now permits that. 303 and 307 were introduced to make each behaviour explicit, which leaves 302 as the ambiguous middle option.
How Do You Handle a 302?
Send a Location header with the target. If you redirect after a form POST and want the browser to GET the result page, 303 states that intent clearly. If the method and body must be preserved, use 307. Search engines generally keep the original URL indexed for a 302, so switch to 301 or 308 once a move becomes permanent. Avoid caching a 302 unless you add explicit Cache-Control.
What Does a 302 Response Look Like?
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: /login?next=%2Faccount
Cache-Control: no-store302 is not cacheable by default: a browser or CDN stores it only when Cache-Control or Expires explicitly allows it.
To inspect a real one without sending it anywhere:
- Copy the response headers from your browser Network tab, or from
curl -i. - Paste them into the Header decoder to see every header explained.
- Check caching in the Cache lane and the Location target in the decoder.
Which Status Codes Are Related to 302?
- 303 See Other: Go GET a different URL, typically after a form POST (post/redirect/get).
- 307 Temporary Redirect: A temporary redirect that keeps the method and body: a POST stays a POST.
- 301 Moved Permanently: The resource has a new permanent URL. Search engines move ranking to it. Clients may change POST to GET.
Browse every code on the HTTP status codes page.
What Other Lanes Are in the Reference Section?
- HTTP status codes: Every IANA-registered status code, with a page per code.
- MIME types: File extensions to Content-Type, searchable both ways, plus a Content-Type parser.
- HTTP methods: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE and the rest: safe, idempotent, cacheable.
Elsewhere in 2http: Header decoder, Cookie decoder, Cache-Control decoder, CORS checker, User-agent parser, and all eleven lanes on the 2http home page. Part of the 2suite.io privacy-first ecosystem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my POST become a GET after a 302?
Browsers and many HTTP libraries switch to GET when following 301 and 302, which the specification allows for historical reasons. Use 307 or 308 to keep the POST.
Is HTTP 302 an error?
No. 302 is a redirection response, not an error.
Is a 302 response cacheable by default?
No. Caches store a 302 only when Cache-Control or Expires explicitly allows it.
How Can You Verify That Nothing Leaves This Browser?
You do not have to take our word that your headers stay here. Developer tools show every request a page makes, so you can watch this page work and confirm that nothing is sent. The check takes under a minute.
- Open your browser developer tools with
F12, orCmd+Option+Ion a Mac, and select the Network tab. - Reload the page and let it finish. You will see the page's own files, its web fonts, and one anonymous page-view request. Nothing has been typed yet, so none of them can contain your headers.
- Click the clear icon in the Network tab so that the log is empty.
- Paste real headers into any lane and read the result.
- Look at the Network tab again. It is still empty. For extra proof, turn on offline mode after the page loads and every lane keeps working.
Only two things can add a line to that log, and neither carries your headers. Submitting the feedback form sends the vote and comment you typed. Typing characters in a script the page has not displayed yet, such as Cyrillic or Greek, can make the browser fetch the matching font file, and that request names only the font.
2http never sends a request on your behalf: the request builder writes code for you to run, and the meta inspector reads source you paste instead of fetching a URL. The production site also sends a Content-Security-Policy header that tells your browser to refuse connections to anywhere except this site and the anonymous analytics endpoint.