308 Redirect: Permanent Redirect with Method Preservation

What is a 308 redirect

308 Permanent Redirect is an HTTP status code standardized in RFC 7538 (2015). It tells the client: 'The requested resource has permanently moved to a new URL. Repeat the request there using the same method and body.' The key word is 'permanently': unlike 307, which is temporary, 308 is permanent and signals to search engines that they should update the index and transfer link equity.

The 308 code closes a gap in the HTTP specification: before it existed, developers faced a dilemma — 301 is permanent but browsers de-facto change POST to GET; 307 preserves the method but only for temporary moves. 308 combines the permanence of 301 with the method-preservation guarantee of 307.

308 vs 301 vs 307 vs 302: key differences

The four redirect codes differ along two axes: permanence and HTTP method preservation.

• 301 Moved Permanently — permanent redirect, transfers link equity. Method should technically be preserved, but browsers downgrade POST→GET (behavior inherited from HTTP/1.0).
• 302 Found (Temporary) — temporary redirect, no link equity transfer. Method is de-facto changed POST→GET in most browsers.
• 307 Temporary Redirect — temporary redirect, no link equity transfer. Method is strictly preserved (POST stays POST).
• 308 Permanent Redirect — permanent redirect, transfers link equity. Method is strictly preserved. The API/form-friendly equivalent of 301.

When to use 308

• Permanent API endpoint migration: when clients send PUT/PATCH/DELETE and you need to permanently move the endpoint to a new address without losing the request body.
• Permanent form URL changes: when permanently changing the address of a registration or checkout form — preserving POST data.
• API version upgrades: migrating from /api/v1/ to /api/v2/ when permanently retiring the old version, preserving the request method.
• HTTPS upgrade for POST endpoints: when permanently moving forms and APIs from HTTP to HTTPS where preserving the method and request body is critical.
• Application route restructuring: when permanently moving form handlers to a new structure within the application.

308 redirect and SEO

From a search engine perspective, 308 is a permanent redirect equivalent to 301. Google and Bing transfer link equity (PageRank) through 308: the original URL is removed from the index and the destination receives the original URL's authority. Search engine crawler behavior for 308 is identical to 301 — Googlebot follows the redirect and updates the index accordingly.

In practice, the SEO difference between 301 and 308 is negligible — both transfer equity and both are permanent. The choice matters only in the context of APIs and forms: if the application uses POST/PUT/PATCH requests and the method is critical, 308 is preferable. For regular HTML pages with GET requests, use the familiar 301.

How to configure a 308 redirect

Examples for common server environments:

# Nginx: permanent redirect with method preservation
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    # All HTTP traffic → HTTPS (308 preserves POST body and is permanent)
    return 308 https://example.com$request_uri;
}

# Permanent API endpoint migration
location /api/v1/ {
    return 308 https://example.com/api/v2/;
}

# Apache (.htaccess)
# Permanent redirect for a single URL with method preservation
Redirect 308 /old-endpoint https://example.com/new-endpoint

# or via mod_rewrite
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^api/v1/(.*)$ https://example.com/api/v2/$1 [R=308,L]

// Next.js — permanent redirect with exact 308 status
// Note: permanent: true uses 301 — use middleware for exact 308:
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';

export function middleware(request) {
  if (request.nextUrl.pathname.startsWith('/api/v1/')) {
    const newUrl = request.nextUrl.clone();
    newUrl.pathname = newUrl.pathname.replace('/api/v1/', '/api/v2/');
    return NextResponse.redirect(newUrl, { status: 308 });
  }
}

<?php
// PHP: explicit 308
http_response_code(308);
header('Location: https://example.com/new-endpoint');
exit();
?>

# Verify via curl — confirm the response is exactly 308
curl -I -X POST https://example.com/old-endpoint
# HTTP/2 308
# location: https://example.com/new-endpoint