Difference between 301 redirection and rel=canonical ?

[sonvi.belani]

Hi,
Though there are a few gray areas, Google provides some clear guidelines to make sure we all know how they want us to manage redirections. In very simple terms, here is what each communicates to Google and search engines:

301 – Hey, Search Engines: My page is no longer here, and has permanently moved to a new page. Please remove it from your index and pass credit to the new page.

Canonical – Hey, (most) Search Engines: I have multiple versions of this page (or content), please only index this version. I’ll keep the others available for people to see, but don’t include them in your index and please pass credit to my preferred page.
Thanks