Client asked me to temporarily replace homepage for product list, until he decides what should be on the homepage (that's not my business :))I would like to know, how big impact it will have on the SEO ranking if I just use URL: www.example.com for product list and after several months it changes to homepage and product list will move to other URL (www.example.com/product/list)I think it's not good idea to do it this way. I would rather redirect every request that lands on www.example.com to www.example.com/product/list . Is this solution more SEO friendly? Or do you have another ideas?
Temporarily use different URL
seo;redirects;url;homepage
You can make a 302 - temporary redirect. Example in PHP: header(Location: /product/list, true, 302); // temporal redirectThe browsers requests the /home url, gets status 302, new url: /example back from the server. Your browser now says Oh ok, I'll now open /example for now.Bots understand the redirect; the 302 makes them understand this is temporary. A 301 - status redirect would've said The requested url is no longer used, use /example from now on. In terms of SEO this means your homepage won't be forgotten, just checked less often (which isn't a problem as it contains nothing valuable).Alternatively, make a hybrid page. Make a generic homepage with some generic welcome text and some simple explanation about the company, slam a productlist beneath/nextto that and add Quick pick: above, making it seem like this is the way it should work.Technically not a big difference, but for users it is; you've just skipped the unexplainable redirect (for them it is; they wanted home). In SEO terms this is also preferred, a homepage can create some valuable content you might need, especially for a product site.This also gives you a start on what to do on the homepage. Installing a redirect will only be forgotten.