Check your web redirects and HTTP responses
HTML Redirect — Meta refresh
The HTML redirect (meta refresh tag) tells the browser to load another page after a set delay. It requires no server access — a simple HTML file is enough.
If the delay is zero, the redirect is immediate. If no URL is specified, the page reloads itself.
SEO note: search engines consider it less reliable than an HTTP 301 redirect. Reserve it for situations where you have no access to the server configuration.
HTML Redirect (Meta refresh)
Place between the <head> and </head> tags:
Immediate redirect (0 seconds):
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=https://www.example.net/new-page.html">
Redirect after 5 seconds:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;URL=https://www.example.net/new-page.html">
Reload the same page every 30 seconds (no URL change):
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30">
JavaScript Redirect
Client-side alternative, to place in a <script> tag:
Immediate redirect:
window.location.href = "https://www.example.net/new-page.html";
Redirect after 5 seconds:
setTimeout(function() {
window.location.href = "https://www.example.net/new-page.html";
}, 5000);
For users with JavaScript disabled, add a <noscript> tag with a meta refresh fallback:
<script>
window.location.href = "https://www.example.net/new-page.html";
</script>
<noscript>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=https://www.example.net/new-page.html">
</noscript>
These client-side methods (HTML and JavaScript) send no HTTP redirect code to the browser.