Merged Website / 301 Question
Hi there,
A few years ago, we merged a website into our primary website. All pages were 301 redirected to the corresponding/similar pages on the primary website. Over the course of time, our primary website has evolved. With that said, there is one page/URL from the merged site that I feel might be better if it were directed to another page than the current 301 redirect states.
My Question:
If I were to update the 301 redirect for this link and direct it to another URL via the .htaccess file, would SERPs acknowledge the change? Or has it been too long that it is already cemented in place? Additionally, if they recognized the change, would there be any risk from a technical perspective of doing this? (Updating a 301 Redirect over a course of time). Also, if there is no harm in doing this, are there any additional steps I can take to expedite the process of the 301 update getting recognized?
Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
The change will be recognized by Google. The timeframe is as always with Google - from hours to days, sometimes even longer. You can always use GSC to request indexing of both the redirecting URL and the new destination URL. That should speed up the process. Give it some time and fetch the URLs using GSC's URL inspection tool.
I don't see possible harm in such a change unless you create some longer redirect chain.
Okay, thank you for the detailed explanation. Appreciate it.