Internal Redirection (HTTP Refresh)

What This Means

The server returns an HTTP Refresh response header (e.g., Refresh: 0; url=https://destination.com) to perform a redirect. This is distinct from meta refresh (which is in the HTML) — this is a response header, but still not a standard redirect mechanism.

Why It Matters for SEO

The HTTP Refresh header is not part of any formal HTTP standard (it was never included in the HTTP specification). While major browsers and some crawlers follow it, its behavior is less predictable than a standard 3xx redirect. Search engines may not treat it identically to a 301, and link equity passing may be less reliable.

What the Platform Checks

The platform inspects HTTP response headers for the non-standard Refresh header. Fires when detected on any internal URL.

How to Fix It

Replace the Refresh header with a standard HTTP 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary) redirect. Configure this in your server or application:

# Apache .htaccess:
Redirect 301 /old-path https://yourdomain.com/new-path

# Nginx:
return 301 https://yourdomain.com/new-path;