WEB1041 - The <meta http-equiv="refresh"> element is being used for redirection

Avoid using<meta http-equiv="refresh"> tags for redirection.

Explanation

Using the <meta http-equiv="refresh"> tag for redirection may reduce your search-engine ranking.

Note

Refreshing a page normally (<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0" />) will not reduce the ranking of a page.

Details

A page redirect should provide both a message with the new page location and sufficient time for users to read the message. A page redirect with a time-out period of less than five seconds may result in a lower search-engine ranking.

To redirect a page, consider using an HTTP redirect instead. An HTTP redirect is more likely to transfer the authority of the old page to the new page.

Example

The following is an example of a page redirect if you can't use an HTTP redirect.

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;url='https://www.proseware.com/'" />

See also

Concepts

Page and site guidelines for SEO
Search Engine Optimization

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