A meta refresh is an instruction placed in a page’s HTML that tells the browser to reload the page, or to go to a different URL, after a set number of seconds. It is often used as a redirect when the person setting it up has no access to the server.
How meta refresh works
The tag sits in the head of the page and looks like <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://example.co.uk/new-page/">. The number is the delay in seconds. With a delay of zero, the browser moves on almost immediately; with a delay of five or ten, the visitor sees the original page first, often with a “you will be redirected” message.
The key difference from a 301 redirect is where it happens. A 301 is sent by the server before any page loads, so browsers and crawlers get the instruction straight away. A meta refresh needs the old page to be downloaded and read first, which is slower and depends on the browser following it.
Google does follow meta refreshes. Its guidance says an instant meta refresh is treated much like a permanent redirect, and a delayed one is treated as temporary, more like a 302 redirect. Other crawlers and SEO tools handle it less consistently, which is one more reason to prefer a server redirect.
A meta refresh with no URL simply reloads the same page, a pattern older news and sports sites used to refresh scores.
Why it matters
For SEO, a meta refresh is a weaker way to move a page. During a site migration or URL change, you want search engines to transfer signals cleanly and quickly, which server redirects do best.
There is also an accessibility issue. A page that changes or reloads on a timer can disorientate people using screen readers and anyone who reads slowly. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines treat timed refreshes the user cannot control as a failure, which matters to UK public sector bodies under the accessibility regulations and is good practice for everyone else.
Meta refreshes still turn up on UK small business sites built on hosted platforms, on old holding pages left from a domain move, and in tracking or affiliate links.
Common mistakes
- Using a delayed refresh for a permanent move. A five-second delay signals a temporary change, so the old URL may stay in the index.
- Stacking it on top of other redirects. A server redirect that lands on a page with a meta refresh creates a redirect chain that slows visitors and wastes crawling.
- Auto-refreshing content pages. Reloading an article every minute to inflate page views distorts analytics and frustrates readers.
- Forgetting old holding pages. A “we have moved” page from years ago can still be live and still sending people around in circles.
How to act on it
Crawl your site with a tool that reports meta refreshes, such as Screaming Frog, and list every page that uses one. For each, decide where it should go and replace it with a server-side 301 through your host, your CMS’s redirect settings or a plugin. If you genuinely cannot set server redirects, use a meta refresh with a delay of zero and include a visible link on the page as a fallback.
Remove any timed refresh on normal content pages. Then recheck that every old URL now reaches its destination in a single step. Cleaning up redirects like these is part of the crawl and indexing work in my technical SEO service.