Redirect Chain Checker
See every redirect between your URL and its final destination — 301, 302, 307, 308. Catch loops, spot WWW vs non-WWW issues, and measure how long each hop takes.
💡 Try http:// URLs to see HTTP → HTTPS upgrades. Chains up to 10 hops.
Following redirects one hop at a time…
🔀 What Is a Redirect Chain?
A redirect chain is a sequence of HTTP responses where each one points to the next, until a page finally returns a 200 OK. Chains form when a site has been restructured over time — old URLs point to newer ones, HTTP upgrades to HTTPS, and WWW prefixes get toggled without collapsing the original redirects.
Every extra hop adds latency (typically 100–500 ms per hop) and dilutes link equity. Google recommends chains of 3 hops or fewer. This tool shows you exactly what your chain looks like and where it can be tightened.
Redirect status codes you'll see
301 Moved Permanently— the canonical move. Passes ~99% of link equity. Use this.302 Found— temporary. Does not pass link equity the same way 301 does. Use only for A/B tests or short-term moves.307 Temporary Redirect— like 302 but preserves the HTTP method (POST stays POST). Rare in SEO.308 Permanent Redirect— like 301 but preserves the HTTP method. The modern replacement for 301 when method matters.
What good redirects look like
- Single 301 from the old URL directly to the final destination
- No HTTP → HTTP → HTTPS → HTTPS+WWW multi-hop chains
- No loops (A → B → C → A)
- No 302s used for permanent site moves
- Final hop returns 200, not 404 or 5xx
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Google's John Mueller has said that keeping redirects under 3 hops is ideal. Search engines will follow up to 5, and most browsers cap at 20. Beyond 3 hops you're wasting crawl budget and slowing down users.
Yes, but minimally for 301s. Each hop in a chain loses a small percentage of the incoming ranking signal. A single 301 typically preserves ~99% of link equity. A 5-hop chain can lose 15–20% cumulatively.
A loop is when URL A redirects to URL B, and URL B (directly or indirectly) redirects back to URL A. Search engines stop following and mark the page as an error, usually resulting in it being dropped from the index. This tool detects loops and shows you exactly where.
Some CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify) default to 302 for slug changes. This is a common misconfiguration. 302s tell search engines the move is temporary, so they may keep indexing the old URL. Change to a 301 for permanent moves.
No — an HTTPS upgrade is a good thing. Google prefers HTTPS. Just make sure it's a single permanent redirect from HTTP to HTTPS, not a multi-hop chain through WWW first.
Any hop that takes over 3 seconds. Slow redirects hurt both user experience and crawl efficiency. Common causes include slow origin servers, missing cache headers on the redirect, or an unstable target host.
No. The URL is fetched live, traced hop by hop, and the result is returned to your browser. Results are cached for 6 hours server-side to keep the tool fast, but no user identifiers are attached. IP addresses are hashed only for rate limiting.