Google: We Recommend You Not Use Meta-Refresh

Jul 21, 2011 - 8:35 am 3 — by

meta refreshGoogler, JohnMu said in a Google Webmaster Help thread that you are better off not using the meta refresh HTML tag.

In response to why one webmaster was seeing unusual error reports in Google Webmaster Tools, John noticed the site was using the meta refresh tag. In response, he said:

In general, we recommend not using meta-refresh type redirects, as this can cause confusion with users (and search engine crawlers, who might mistake that for an attempted redirect). This is likely where the warning you saw came from. This is currently not causing any problems with regards to crawling, indexing, or ranking, but it would still be a good idea to remove that.

John made a point to say that this is not impacting his rankings or crawling but he did recommend the site remove the meta tag.

There are many sites out there that use it, for no real good reason, so if you do, maybe drop it.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 19, 2026

Oct 19, 2026 - 10:00 am
Blog Administration

Is It New? AI Scan Tool

Oct 19, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google Moves Google Posts Higher Up On Local Panel

Oct 19, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Now In AI Mode With Personal Intelligence

Oct 19, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google AI Mode Citations With Preferred Source Preferences

Oct 19, 2026 - 7:21 am
ChatGPT Ads

ChatGPT Ads New Ad Formats, Updated Conversion Page, Performance Emails...

Oct 19, 2026 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: A Fresh Noogler Zurich
Next Story: Goodbye Google Labs