Redirect Chain Checker – Trace Every Hop

See the full path from URL A to the final 200 — every redirect, every status code, every loop — with a clear recommendation for flattening the chain.

25+SEO Tools
100%Free
0Signup Required

Redirect Chain Checker

Paste a redirect map for exact, fully local analysis — or fetch a start URL for a live trace (same-origin hops exact, cross-origin summarized).

Browsers hide the Location header of cross-origin redirects. For complete hop-by-hop analysis of external sites, use the Redirect Map mode — it is exact and 100% local.

Quick Answer

A redirect chain checker walks a URL through every redirect until it reaches a final 200 response, then reports each hop, the status codes, the number of hops, and whether the chain is clean, sloppy or broken. It detects loops, flags 301→302 mixes, and recommends flattening — redirecting URL A straight to the final destination instead of bouncing through B and C.

How to Use the Checker

  1. Fetch a start URL for a live trace, or paste a redirect map (one chain per line) for exact, fully local analysis.
  2. Click "Analyze" — every hop appears in a flow diagram with its status code.
  3. Read the recommendations — loops and long chains get explicit "redirect A directly to C" guidance.

What This Tool Detects

  • Redirect chains — 2+ hops before the final response.
  • Redirect loops — a URL revisited inside its own chain.
  • HTTP → HTTPS and www → non-www normalization hops.
  • Status-code problems — 301 followed by 302, 302 followed by 301, or a chain ending in a non-200.
  • Trailing-slash changes — common, but worth standardizing.

Why Chains Matter

Each redirect hop costs users a round trip and costs engines crawl budget. Beyond performance, chains dilute link equity slightly at every link — and crawlers sometimes give up after a few hops, meaning the final page never receives the signals the old URL accumulated. After a site migration, chains are everywhere: old.com → www.old.com → new.com → www.new.com. Flattening them to old.com → www.new.com is one of the highest-ROI cleanup tasks in technical SEO.

Redirect Best Practices

  • Redirect directly to the final URL — never to another redirect.
  • Use 301 for permanent moves, 302 only for temporary ones.
  • Canonicalize hosts first — pick one of www/non-www and one of http/https — then chain everything into that form in a single hop.
  • Update internal links to point at final URLs so you stop relying on redirects for everyday navigation.
  • Re-check after every migration — new CMS rules can silently reintroduce chains.

Example: A Three-Hop Chain

http://example.com/old-page → http://www.example.com/old-page (301) → https://example.com/old-page (301) → https://example.com/new-page (200). The checker reports a 3-hop chain with two fixable inefficiencies: the HTTP→HTTPS hop is fine, but the www hop and the /old-page → /new-page hop can be merged. Recommended: http://example.com/old-page → https://example.com/new-page — one hop, one 301, done.

Common Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

  • Leaving 302s in place for months. Temporary redirects that stay permanent never transfer signals.
  • Redirecting to the homepage instead of a relevant page. A related page keeps the topic context and usually earns better outcomes.
  • Forgetting old URL variants. Trailing slashes, index.html and uppercase versions each create their own chains.
  • Trusting a browser trace for external chains. Cross-origin Location headers are hidden — use the map mode for exact analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum chain length Google tolerates?

Google says crawlers may not follow chains of more than a few redirects. In practice, keep every chain to a single 301 hop.

Do redirects pass PageRank?

301 redirects pass the majority of signals; 302s historically did not. That is one more reason to use 301 for permanent moves and flatten chains.

How do I find chains across my whole site?

Export your URLs from the sitemap, paste the start URLs here one by one (or as a map), and fix each chain. For site-wide crawling you need a dedicated crawler.

Related SEO Tools

Pair with the HTTP Status Code Checker to classify every hop, the Broken Link Checker for endpoints that 404, the Canonical URL Checker to ensure the final URLs are canonicalized, and the XML Sitemap Analyzer so the sitemap lists final destinations only.

More SEO Tools You'll Like

HTTP Status Code Checker Broken Link Checker Canonical URL Checker XML Sitemap Analyzer On-Page SEO Analyzer GSC Simulator
FAQ

Redirect Chain Checker FAQ

Quick answers to common questions

A redirect chain happens when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C, and so on, before the final 200 page loads. Each hop adds latency and slightly dilutes link equity.

Every hop costs performance for users and crawl budget for search engines, and long chains can be abandoned by crawlers. Redirecting A directly to C is faster and cleaner.

A loop occurs when redirects point back to a URL already visited — A → B → A. The URL never resolves to a page, so users and crawlers bounce forever.

Browsers hide the Location header of cross-origin redirects for security. Same-origin hops are traced exactly; cross-origin chains fall back to start → final. Pasting a redirect map gives complete, exact analysis.

Use 301 for permanent moves so engines transfer signals. Use 302 only for temporary situations. Mixing 301→302 in one chain is a common mistake this tool flags.

Related Tools

You May Also Need

More free tools to get the job done

Flatten Your Redirects

Then verify every endpoint and keep your sitemap pointing at final URLs only.

Check Status Codes All SEO Tools