303 Redirect (See Other)

TL;DR — A 303 See OtherA 303 See Other is a temporary HTTP redirect that tells the client to fetch a different URL with a GET or HEAD request, no matter what method the original request used. It's the mechanism behind the Post/Redirect/Get pattern, and search engines treat it as a weak signal like a 302 or 307. is a redirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't. that sends the browser to a different page and fetches it with a GET (or HEAD) request. Its main job is a web-dev trick: after you submit a form, the server bounces you to a results page so that refreshing the page re-fetches that results page instead of resending the original form submission. It’s almost never something you’d set up on purpose for SEO — it’s a forms-and-apps thing, not a “this page moved” thing. And here’s the honest part: Google and Bing don’t publish any special SEO advice about 303s, because there’s barely anything to say.

What a 303 redirect is

When a browser asks for a page, your server answers with a three-digit HTTP status code. 200 means “here’s the page.” 404 means “not foundA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore..” A 303 means “See Other” — don’t render what you asked for directly; instead, go grab a different URL, and retrieve it with a GET or HEAD request.

That GET-or-HEAD switch is the whole point of a 303, and it’s what makes it different from its siblings. More on that in a second.

The one thing 303s are actually for

Picture submitting a form — an order, a comment, a payment. Your browser sends that as a POST request. If the server just draws the confirmation page right there in the POST response, you’ve got a problem: hit refresh, and the browser asks “want to resend this form?” Reload without thinking and you’ve placed the order twice.

A 303 fixes that. The flow looks like this:

1. You submit the form → browser sends a POST.
2. The server processes it, then answers with a 303 pointing at a results page.
3. The browser follows the 303 with a fresh GET to that results page.

Now you’re sitting on a normal, GET-able confirmation page. Refresh it, hit back — all you do is re-fetch that page instead of resending the original POST. Developers call this the Post/Redirect/Get (PRG) pattern, and the 303 is the “redirect” in the middle. Worth being precise about what this actually buys you: PRG stops the browser-refresh replay, but it isn’t an exactly-once guarantee — retries, double clicks, timeouts, and concurrent requests can still create duplicate orders or charges unless your app also has its own safeguards (idempotency keys, transaction checks) on the write itself.

Why this rarely matters for SEO

A 303 is a web-application behavior, not a page-migration tool. You use a 301 when a URL moves for good, a 302 when it moves for now — but you almost never reach for a 303 to move a page, because that’s not what it’s built for. As I’ve put it in my own writing at Ahrefs, “You won’t typically see 303 redirects used for SEO purposes, but if you do then it will be treated just like a 302/307.”

And that’s the honest reality of this whole topic: Google and Bing don’t publish dedicated 303 SEO guidance. Google mentions it exactly once, lumped into the “temporary” redirect group with 302 and 307 — the redirect itself isn’t a signal that the target should become canonical the way a permanent 301’s redirect is, though other signals can still get the target page indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.. There’s no secret 303 behavior to learn. If a crawl tool flags a 303 on your site, it’s almost always a deliberate app pattern (a form flow), not something broken and not something to “fix.” Evidence for this claim Google groups HTTP 303 with temporary redirects, follows it, and does not use it as a signal that the destination should become canonical. Scope: Google Search canonicalization behavior for server-side temporary redirects. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 Google: Redirects and Google Search

Don’t confuse it with a broken or moved page

You’ll see some sites describe a 303 as what happens when “the page has moved” or “the browser can’t find the URL.” That’s mixing it up with a 301/302 or an error. A 303 isn’t a sign something’s wrong — it’s a deliberate response your app returns on purpose, usually right after a form goes through.

Want the technical comparison with 302 and 307, what Google’s docs actually say (and John Mueller’s blunt one-liner about it), and the developer’s-eye view of when to return one? Switch to the Advanced tab.

TL;DR — A 303 (HTTP “303 See OtherA 303 See Other is a temporary HTTP redirect that tells the client to fetch a different URL with a GET or HEAD request, no matter what method the original request used. It's the mechanism behind the Post/Redirect/Get pattern, and search engines treat it as a weak signal like a 302 or 307.”) is a temporary redirectA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore. whose defining behavior is that it directs the client to retrieve another resource with GET or HEAD, regardless of what the original request used. That’s what powers the Post/RedirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't./Get (PRG) pattern: POST → 303 → GET result page, so a refresh re-fetches the page instead of resubmitting the form. It differs from 307 (which always preserves the method) and from 302 (whose method-handling was historically ambiguous). It is genuinely rare as a page-to-page SEO redirect — it’s a web-application mechanism, not a URL-migration tool. Google documents 303 only as a member of the generic “temporary” 3xx bucket with 302 and 307 — a weak canonicalizationHow search engines pick one canonical URL among duplicates and consolidate signals onto it. signal — and publishes no 303-specific guidance; Bing publishes none I could find either. Don’t invent authority that doesn’t exist: say plainly there’s little to say.

What a 303 actually is

A 303 is an HTTP status codeAn HTTP status code is the three-digit number a server returns with every response to tell a browser or crawler what happened to its request — success, redirect, client error, or server error. For SEO the code matters as much as the content: it tells Google and Bing whether to index a page, follow a redirect, retry later, or drop the URL from the index. returned in the response headers, before any body, with a Location header pointing at the URL the client should fetch next. The semantics are narrow and specific: the response to your request is somewhere else, and you should retrieve it with GET or HEAD. Evidence for this claim RFC 9110 defines 303 See Other as directing the client to retrieve another resource identified by Location using GET or HEAD. Scope: HTTP semantics for 303 responses. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 IETF: RFC 9110 §15.4.4 — 303 See Other

That GET-or-HEAD retrieval behavior is the entire reason 303 exists as a distinct code, and it’s the axis on which the three temporary-ish redirects differ.

303 vs 302 vs 307: the method question

All three are “temporary” from an SEO standpoint — Google groups them together as weak signals. Technically, though, they answer one question differently: when the client follows the redirect, what HTTP method does it use?

303 and 307 were introduced in part to disambiguate the mess around 302. If you want the method forced to GET after a form submission, that’s a 303. If you need the original method carried through (say, re-issuing a POST to a new endpoint), that’s a 307. A 302 is the loose historical middle that neither pins down.

One more practical difference: 303 responses aren’t cacheable by default, whereas a 301 is. That matters if you’re worried about a browser or CDN cachingCaching stores a copy of a page or resource — in a browser, a CDN edge node, or a search crawler's own cache — so it can be served again without regenerating or re-downloading it. It isn't a direct ranking factor, but it feeds page speed and crawl efficiency. the redirect target inappropriately — with a 303 you don’t have that concern.

The Post/Redirect/Get pattern, precisely

PRG is the canonical use for a 303, and it’s a deliberate, correct design pattern — not an error state:

1. Client submits a form as a POST (create an order, post a comment, run a payment).
2. Server processes the side effect, then returns 303 See Other with a Location header pointing at a GET-able result URL (a receipt, a confirmation, an updated resource view).
3. Client follows with a GET (or HEAD) to that URL. The browser’s history and refresh button now point at a safe, idempotent retrieval — reloading or hitting back re-fetches the result page rather than replaying the POST.

The payoff is that a plain browser refresh stops resubmitting the form — no more “confirm form resubmission” dialog. Be precise about what that is and isn’t: PRG prevents that specific replay path, not every duplicate write. It doesn’t guarantee exactly-once processing. Retries, timeouts, double clicks, and concurrent requests can still fire the original POST twice, so anything that changes state — orders, payments, comment posts — still needs its own application-level controls (idempotency keys, transaction boundaries, duplicate-request detection) if duplication is a real risk. In RESTful APIs you’ll also see 303 after a PUT or DELETE to send the client to a representation of the affected resource.

How Google treats 303 (and why there’s so little to treat)

This is the central, honest finding for this topic: Google has no 303-specific SEO guidance. It appears in Google’s redirect documentation only as one row in the “temporary” redirect table, sitting next to 302 and 307. Google’s own framing of that whole group is precise: the crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. follows the redirect, but the indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. pipeline doesn’t use the redirect itself as a signal that the target should be canonical — though other signals can still lead Google to index the target anyway. That’s different from — and narrower than — the strong canonicalizationHow search engines pick one canonical URL among duplicates and consolidate signals onto it. a permanent 301 provides. Evidence for this claim Google groups HTTP 303 with temporary redirects, follows it, and does not use it as a signal that the destination should become canonical. Scope: Google Search canonicalization behavior for server-side temporary redirects. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 Google: Redirects and Google Search

John Mueller’s own informal writeup on redirect typesA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't. is even more telling. After walking through 301, 302, and 307 in detail, he waves 303 off in a single aside: “What about 303? 304.5? If you have strong feelings about one of the other kinds of redirects, feel free to use them.” The practical takeaway he adds is the useful bit: “We’ll have to figure out which URL to index the content under, so if you have strong feelings about that too, make sure to follow up with other canonicalization signals.” In other words — if you somehow use a 303 and you care which URL indexes, don’t lean on the redirect type; back it up with a rel="canonical", internal linksAn internal link is a hyperlink from one page on a website to another page on the same website. Internal links help search engines discover your pages and pass ranking signals (PageRank and anchor-text context) between them., and sitemapsA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing..

Google’s docs also add a note worth internalizing across all these codes: even though it treats them the same, it asks you to “keep in mind that they’re semantically different. Use the status code that’s appropriate for the redirect.” So the “SEO doesn’t care” reality isn’t a license to slap a 303 on a permanent move — use the code that actually matches your intent so other clients behave correctly.

How Bing treats 303

Plainly: I couldn’t find any Bing-specific public guidance on 303 handling beyond generic HTTP status-code references in Bing Webmaster ToolsMicrosoft's free portal for monitoring and improving how a site appears in Bing search — the peer to Google Search Console, plus IndexNow instant indexing, richer backlink data, and keyword volumes. Because Bing's index also feeds Microsoft Copilot, it doubles as a window into AI-search visibility. help. There’s no verified statement from Fabrice Canel or anyone else at Microsoft singling out 303. This is a legitimate “we don’t have documentation on this” data point, not a gap to paper over — and I’m not going to fill it by assuming Bing simply mirrors Google’s stated behavior. Absence of documentation isn’t evidence that the handling is identical; if you need a definitive answer for Bing specifically, that’s an open question rather than a settled one.

Does 303 matter for SEO? Rarely.

Here’s my honest bottom line, and it matches what I’ve written publicly. A 303 is not a page-migration tool. In 11 Types Of Redirects & Their SEO Impact I put it this way: “A 303 redirect forwards the user to a resource similar to the one requested and is a temporary form of redirect. It’s typically used for things like preventing form resubmissions when a user hits the ‘back’ button in their browser. You won’t typically see 303 redirects used for SEO purposes, but if you do then it will be treated just like a 302/307.”

I’ll flag one honest tension in my own back catalog. In HTTP Status CodesAn HTTP status code is the three-digit number a server returns with every response to tell a browser or crawler what happened to its request — success, redirect, client error, or server error. For SEO the code matters as much as the content: it tells Google and Bing whether to index a page, follow a redirect, retry later, or drop the URL from the index. & Their SEO Impact I described 303 treatment as “undefined… They may be treated as 301 or 302, depending on how they function.” I’d frame that more precisely today: Google’s documentation is confident that 303 sits in the temporary/weak bucket with 302 and 307. The reason “undefined” ever felt true in practice is that 303s are so rare in the wild that Google has never had reason to clarify edge cases publicly — not because there’s a hidden, stronger behavior. Lead with the documented default (weak/temporary, grouped with 302/307); treat any surprise as a consequence of rarity, not a secret rule.

When could it matter at all? Really only on sites with heavy form/checkout flows or API-driven apps where 303s show up in a status-code crawl. Even then the answer is usually “that’s working as intended, leave it alone.” If you’re deliberately moving a URL, don’t use a 303 — use a 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary), and use a 308/307 if you specifically need method preservation.

303 vs 201, 202, and 204: picking the right status for a write

303 isn’t the only option after a state-changing request, and it’s easy to reach for it out of habit. In an API (as opposed to a browser form flow), three 2xx codes often fit better:

• 201 Created — the request created one or more resources synchronously, and the response should identify the primary one, in Location if provided, otherwise the target URI itself. Use this when creation finished and you want the client to have the new resource directly, not a separate GET round-trip.
• 202 Accepted — the request was accepted but processing isn’t done yet (queued work, async jobs). The response is deliberately noncommittal: describe the current status, and ideally point the client at a status monitor it can poll.
• 204 No ContentHTTP 204 No Content is a 2xx success status meaning the server fulfilled the request but is intentionally sending back no message body. It's correct for APIs and beacons — but on a page meant to be indexed, Google treats it like a soft 404. — the action succeeded and there’s nothing more to send back: no body, no redirect needed. The response ends at the header section.

303 fits a different shape than all three: it’s for when the client should retrieve a separately identified result resource after the write — most often the PRG pattern in a browser. It isn’t a drop-in replacement for synchronous creation (201), asynchronous acceptance (202), or a plain successful no-op (204); each of those communicates a distinct outcome that a redirect doesn’t.

Common myths

• “A 303 means the page moved or is broken.” No. It’s a deliberate, method-changing response — usually after a POST/PUT/DELETE — not a “content relocated” or error signal. Sites that describe it as “the browser can’t find the URL because the page moved” are conflating it with a 301/302 or a 404.
• “A 303 passes SEO value like a 301.” It doesn’t. It’s temporary/weak, in the same bucket as 302 and 307 per Google’s own docs.
• “SEOs should reach for 303 as a general redirect.” It’s not designed for that. It’s a narrow forms/API pattern; using it for ordinary URL migrations is atypical.
• “Google has detailed 303-specific rules.” It doesn’t. One grouped mention, and Mueller’s “feel free to use them” shrug. That’s the whole record.
• “303 and 302 are technically identical.” They’re SEO-equivalent but not technically the same: a 303 changes the follow-up request to GET or HEAD, while a 302’s method-handling was historically inconsistent — which is exactly why 303 and 307 were introduced to disambiguate it.

Where this sits

A 303 is one code in the temporary-redirect neighborhood. Its closest relatives are the 302 (the loose temporary redirect it’s often grouped with) and the 307 (its method-preserving opposite number — 307 keeps the method, 303 switches to GET or HEAD). It stands apart from the 301, the permanent redirect that actually consolidates ranking signals and does the URL-migration work a 303 was never built for. For the full family — 301/308 permanent, 302/303/307 temporary, 404/410 goneA 410 Gone status code tells search engines a page was intentionally and permanently removed, prompting slightly faster de-indexing than a standard 404., 5xx errors — see the HTTP status codes cluster this page lives in.

Validating a 303 flow safely

Before you trust a 303 in the wild, check it without blindly auto-following: inspect the Location value itself (is it absolute, relative, resolvable), watch for redirect loopsA redirect loop is a chain of redirects that circles back on itself instead of ever reaching a live page — URL A redirects to B and B redirects back to A (or a longer cycle). No page ever returns a 200, so browsers show ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS and crawlers can't index anything. or unnecessary chains, confirm the actual follow-up request uses GET or HEAD, and check the final response’s status and content. For a form or API flow, also check your application logs to confirm the original write wasn’t replayed.

One caution: don’t generalize a single client’s behavior into a universal rule. Browser, HTTP client, and framework auto-follow behavior varies by product, version, and configuration — a report against one named client/version isn’t evidence for all of them. And a URL-level checker can confirm the redirect and destination shape; it can’t validate idempotency, credential handling, or cross-origin security for you — that still requires testing the actual submission flow.

AI summary

A condensed take on the Advanced version:

• 303 = HTTP “303 See OtherA 303 See Other is a temporary HTTP redirect that tells the client to fetch a different URL with a GET or HEAD request, no matter what method the original request used. It's the mechanism behind the Post/Redirect/Get pattern, and search engines treat it as a weak signal like a 302 or 307.” — a temporary redirectA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore. whose defining behavior is that it directs the client to retrieve another resource with GET or HEAD, whatever the original request’s method was.
• It exists for the Post/RedirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't./Get (PRG) pattern: POST (form submit) → 303 → GET/HEAD result page. Refreshing or hitting back then re-fetches the result page instead of resending the original POST. That stops the browser-refresh replay specifically — it is not an exactly-once guarantee; retries, timeouts, double clicks, and concurrent requests can still duplicate a write unless the app itself has its own controls (idempotency keys, transaction checks).
• Method is the axis of difference: 303 switches to GET/HEAD; 307 always preserves the method; 302 was historically ambiguous. 303 and 307 were introduced to disambiguate 302.
• Not heuristically cacheable by status alone (unlike a 301) — the separately retrieved result resource has its own, independent cache policy.
• Not a substitute for 201/202/204: 303 fits when the client should retrieve a separate result resource; it doesn’t replace synchronous creation (201), asynchronous acceptance (202), or a plain no-content success (204).
• SEO reality — say it plainly: Google documents 303 only as one row in the “temporary” redirect group with 302 and 307. The redirect itself isn’t a signal that the target should be canonical, though other signals can still get the target indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. — that’s narrower than the canonicalizationHow search engines pick one canonical URL among duplicates and consolidate signals onto it. a permanent 301 provides. There is no dedicated Google 303 guidance, and none found from Bing either (absence of Bing documentation isn’t evidence Bing treats it identically to Google). John Mueller’s own writeup dismisses it: “What about 303? … feel free to use them,” adding that if you care which URL indexes, back it up with other canonicalizationHow search engines pick one canonical URL among duplicates and consolidate signals onto it. signals.
• Rarely relevant to SEO: it’s a web-application pattern, not a URL-migration tool. Patrick’s own Ahrefs guidance: “You won’t typically see 303 redirects used for SEO purposes, but if you do then it will be treated just like a 302/307.”
• Don’t confuse it with a broken/moved page — a 303 is deliberate, not an error. For actually moving a URL, use a 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary), not a 303.

Official documentation

There is very little primary-source SEO documentation on 303 specifically — it’s mentioned only in passing, grouped with other temporary redirectsA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore.. These are the relevant references.

Google

• Redirects and Google Search — lists HTTP 303 (see other) in the “temporary” redirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't. group alongside 302 and 307; no 303-specific handling notes.
• How HTTP status codes, network, and DNS errors affect Google Search — enumerates 303 (see other) under the 3xx section, and states the general rule that Google treats these temporary codes as a weak signal while reminding you they’re “semantically different.”

Bing / Microsoft

• No 303-specific guidance located. Bing Webmaster ToolsMicrosoft's free portal for monitoring and improving how a site appears in Bing search — the peer to Google Search Console, plus IndexNow instant indexing, richer backlink data, and keyword volumes. Because Bing's index also feeds Microsoft Copilot, it doubles as a window into AI-search visibility. help covers HTTP status codesAn HTTP status code is the three-digit number a server returns with every response to tell a browser or crawler what happened to its request — success, redirect, client error, or server error. For SEO the code matters as much as the content: it tells Google and Bing whether to index a page, follow a redirect, retry later, or drop the URL from the index. generically but doesn’t single out 303.

Technical reference (not an SEO source)

• MDN — 303 See Other — a fast, useful reference for the PUT/POST/DELETE and PRG use cases, though its “always GET” phrasing is looser than the current spec (see below).
• RFC 9110 — HTTP Semantics, §15.4.4 — the controlling technical definition: the Location target is not equivalent to the original target, and the user agentA user agent is the HTTP request header a client (browser, crawler, or bot) sends to identify itself. For crawlers, a short user-agent token — a substring of that string — is what robots.txt rules actually target. retrieves it with GET or HEAD, not always GET.

Quotes from the source

On-the-record statements bearing on 303. There are only a few — that scarcity is the story for this topic, so these are the honest extent of it rather than a padded list. Each link deep-links to the quoted passage.

Google / John Mueller — the (very brief) record on 303

• “What about 303? 304.5? If you have strong feelings about one of the other kinds of redirectsA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't., feel free to use them. We’ll have to figure out which URL to indexStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. the content under, so if you have strong feelings about that too, make sure to follow up with other canonicalizationHow search engines pick one canonical URL among duplicates and consolidate signals onto it. signals.” — John Mueller, personal blog, A search-engine guide to 301, 302, 307…. This is the most direct statement about 303 from anyone at Google, and it’s a deliberate shrug. Jump to quote

Google — the “temporary bucket” treatment 303 inherits

• “By default, Google’s crawlersA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. follow the redirect… Google systems use the redirect as a weak signal that the redirect target should be processed.” (Google’s stated handling of temporary redirectsA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore., the group 303 belongs to.) — Google Search Central, How HTTP status codesAn HTTP status code is the three-digit number a server returns with every response to tell a browser or crawler what happened to its request — success, redirect, client error, or server error. For SEO the code matters as much as the content: it tells Google and Bing whether to index a page, follow a redirect, retry later, or drop the URL from the index.… affect Google Search. Jump to quote
• “While Google treats these status codes the same way, keep in mind that they’re semantically different. Use the status code that’s appropriate for the redirect…” Jump to quote

MDN — a common phrasing worth correcting

• “The method used to display this redirected page is always GET.” — MDN, 303 See OtherA 303 See Other is a temporary HTTP redirect that tells the client to fetch a different URL with a GET or HEAD request, no matter what method the original request used. It's the mechanism behind the Post/Redirect/Get pattern, and search engines treat it as a weak signal like a 302 or 307.. Jump to quote — Worth flagging rather than repeating uncritically: the current spec is more permissive than “always GET.” RFC 9110 §15.4.4 defines the follow-up retrieval as GET or HEAD, and the Location target as a different, non-equivalent resource — that’s the technical fact that actually distinguishes 303 from 307 (preserves method) and 302 (historically ambiguous).

Patrick (Ahrefs) — the practical SEO bottom line

• “A 303 redirect forwards the user to a resource similar to the one requested and is a temporary form of redirect. It’s typically used for things like preventing form resubmissions when a user hits the ‘back’ button in their browser. You won’t typically see 303 redirects used for SEO purposes, but if you do then it will be treated just like a 302/307.” — Patrick Stox, 11 Types Of Redirects & Their SEO Impact (Ahrefs). Jump to quote

Misusing 303 See Other

Treat 303 as a generic “page moved” code

A 303 is built to send the client to another resource with GET or HEAD, usually after a state-changing request. Use 301 for a permanent page move and 302 for a normal temporary page redirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't..

Use 303 when the original method must survive

The code deliberately discards the original method for the follow-up request. If a POST, PUT, DELETE, webhook, or API payload must reach the target intact, use 307 (temporary) or 308 (permanent).

Describe 303 as a strong permanent SEO signal

Google groups 303 with temporary redirectsA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore., not 301/308. Do not use it to consolidate a URL migration or claim it behaves like a permanent move.

Assume Google or Bing publishes detailed 303 rules

Google provides only grouped temporary-redirect treatment, and Bing has no dedicated public guidance identified in this article. Keep conclusions narrow instead of filling the documentation gap with certainty.

Call 302 and 303 technically identical

Their search treatment may be grouped, but their method semantics are not the same. A 303 follows up with GET or HEAD; 302 has historically allowed ambiguous POST-to-GET behavior.

Assert universal client, credential, or cross-origin behavior

Don’t state as fact how “browsers” or “clients” handle request bodies, headers, cookies, or credentials across a 303 without naming the specific client, version, and configuration. Auto-follow and credential-forwarding behavior varies; a single issue thread or anecdote isn’t evidence for every client, and it isn’t a substitute for your own security review of the actual flow.

Post/Redirect/Get in raw HTTP

This simplified flow shows the narrow job a 303 does well.

1. The browser submits a form

POST /orders HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

item=book&quantity=1

2. The server processes it and points to the result

HTTP/1.1 303 See Other
Location: /orders/confirmation

The 303 does not repeat the POST at the new URL. It explicitly tells the client to fetch the other resource with GET (or HEAD) — a browser following the link does so with GET.

3. The browser retrieves a safe result page

GET /orders/confirmation HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html

<h1>Order received</h1>

Refreshing now repeats the GET, not the order-creating POST. By contrast, a 307 would preserve POST and its body—useful for moving an API request, wrong for this PRG outcome.

Test yourself: 303 See Other

Five quick questions on the 303 redirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't.. Pick an answer for each, then check.

303 See Other

A 303 See Other is a temporary HTTP redirect that tells the client to fetch a different URL with a GET or HEAD request, no matter what method the original request used. It's the mechanism behind the Post/Redirect/Get pattern, and search engines treat it as a weak signal like a 302 or 307.

Related: 302 redirect, 307 redirect

303 See Other

A 303 See Other (HTTP status codeAn HTTP status code is the three-digit number a server returns with every response to tell a browser or crawler what happened to its request — success, redirect, client error, or server error. For SEO the code matters as much as the content: it tells Google and Bing whether to index a page, follow a redirect, retry later, or drop the URL from the index. “303 See Other”) is a temporary redirectA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore. that instructs the client to retrieve a different, non-equivalent resource using GET or HEAD, regardless of the method the original request used. It’s most commonly the engine behind the Post/RedirectA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't./Get (PRG) pattern: a form is submitted with POST, the server processes it, then returns a 303 pointing at a GET-able result page — so refreshing or hitting “back” re-fetches that page instead of resending the original POST. PRG stops that specific refresh-replay risk; it isn’t a guarantee against every duplicate write.

The defining technical detail is the method: a 303 directs the follow-up request to GET or HEAD. That’s what separates it from a 307, which always preserves the original method, and from a 302, whose method-handling was historically inconsistent across clients.

For SEO, there is very little to say — and that’s the honest story. Google documents 303 only as a member of the “temporary” 3xx bucket alongside 302 and 307: the redirect itself isn’t a signal that the target should be canonical, though other signals can still get the target indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. — narrower than the canonicalizationHow search engines pick one canonical URL among duplicates and consolidate signals onto it. a 301 provides. There is no dedicated Google or Bing guidance for 303 specifically (and Bing’s silence isn’t evidence it matches Google). It’s a web-application pattern, not a URL-migration tool — you won’t typically see it used for SEO redirects, and if you do, it’s treated like a 302/307.

Related: 302 redirect, 307 redirect

Changelog