Why is a meta refresh redirect a problem?
A meta refresh is a line inside a page telling the browser to load a different address, sometimes after a delay. It works for most visitors, but it is the slow, unclear way to move someone, and machines are not obliged to follow it.
What it actually is
There are two ways to send someone from one address to another. The server can answer straight away with "this has moved, go here", before any page is sent. Or the server can send a page whose only job is to tell the browser to go somewhere else. The second is a meta refresh: a full page load spent on a signpost.
Why it matters
A server move is understood by everything: browsers, crawlers and assistants all know what it means and what to carry across. A move written inside the page is understood less reliably — a crawler may read the signpost page as the page, or follow it without knowing whether the move is permanent. The accessibility guidelines count a timed refresh as a failure, because it can pull a page away from someone still reading it with a screen reader, and even an instant one is described there as the fallback for when a server redirect is not possible.
What good looks like
Pages that have moved are moved by the server, with a clear statement of whether the move is permanent, and the address people land on is the page itself. No page reloads or redirects itself after a pause.
Being honest about it
One meta refresh on an old page is not a crisis, and the major crawlers usually follow it in the end. We flag it as worth a look rather than a failure. Where it matters is on a page that matters: a moved product page, an old campaign address, a homepage that sends visitors on to a language version this way.
Where most sites go wrong
The usual source is a platform or a site builder that cannot set server moves, so somebody used the one tool the page itself allowed. The other is a timed refresh left on a page to keep a news ticker or dashboard current, which reloads it under anyone trying to read it.
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