Redirect Checker
Trace every hop in a URL's redirect chain. See status codes (301, 302, 307, 308), intermediate URLs, and the final destination. Diagnose redirect loops and chains instantly.
Enter a URL above and click Check to trace its redirect chain.
Redirect SEO Guide
How redirects affect SEO and what each status code means
Redirects are one of the most powerful — and most misused — tools in SEO. A correctly implemented 301 redirect passes near-full link equity to the destination. A chain of 5 redirects loses equity at each hop and slows page load. Redirect loops make pages inaccessible entirely. Knowing your redirect chain is prerequisite to diagnosing any of these issues.
301 Permanent redirect — SEO preferred
A 301 tells search engines and browsers that a resource has permanently moved. Google transfers "most" of the link equity (PageRank) from the old URL to the new one — historically estimated at 90-99%. Use 301 for any permanent URL change: domain migrations, HTTPS upgrades, URL restructuring.
302 Temporary redirect — use with caution
A 302 signals a temporary move — search engines keep crawling and indexing the original URL. If you intend a permanent redirect but accidentally use 302, Google will continue pointing search traffic to the old URL. 302s are correct for A/B testing (briefly), maintenance pages, and genuinely temporary URL changes.
307 Temporary redirect — preserves method
A 307 is functionally similar to 302 but is stricter: the browser must repeat the request using the same HTTP method (GET stays GET, POST stays POST). Useful when redirecting form submissions where the POST body must not be converted to a GET. For SEO purposes, treated similarly to 302.
308 Permanent redirect — preserves method
A 308 is the method-preserving equivalent of 301. Like 307 for temporary, but signals permanence. Relatively uncommon — used in API design and application-level redirects where POST redirects must preserve the POST method. For typical web page redirects, 301 remains the standard.
Redirect chains and link equity loss
Each hop in a redirect chain adds latency and potentially loses some link equity. A chain of A→B→C means Googlebot crawls A, follows to B, follows to C before indexing the final destination. Google recommends eliminating redirect chains — point all old URLs directly to the final canonical URL.
Redirect loops — the worst case
A redirect loop (A→B→A or A→B→C→A) makes a page completely inaccessible — both to users and search engines. Browsers show a "redirect loop" error. Google stops crawling the URLs involved. This tool detects loops by tracking visited URLs and stops at 10 hops maximum.
Pro Tips
If you see a chain of 3+ redirects, update the source to point directly to the final destination. Every intermediate hop is wasted server time and potential equity loss. For WordPress sites, the Redirection plugin or .htaccess direct-mapping can eliminate chains efficiently.
When moving from HTTP to HTTPS, the correct pattern is one 301 redirect: http://example.com → https://example.com. If your site has http → http://www → https://www as three hops, that chain should be collapsed to http → https://www directly.
After any domain migration or URL restructure, audit all redirects within 30 days. Temporary caching by CDNs and browsers can mask redirect chain issues at launch. Re-check with a fresh browser session or set Cache-Control: no-cache headers during migration validation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many redirects can this tool follow?
- The tool follows up to 10 redirect hops. If a URL has more than 10 hops (extremely unusual and always a misconfiguration), the tool stops and reports what it found. Browsers typically limit redirects to 20 before showing a "too many redirects" error.
- Does a 301 redirect pass 100% of link equity?
- Google has stated that 301 redirects pass "most" link equity, and has said in recent years that the difference between a 301 and a canonical is minimal. Third-party studies (Moz, Ahrefs) estimate 99%+ equity transfer for 301s. In practice, treat a single 301 as equivalent to the original URL for link equity purposes.
- Why does the tool show a different final URL than my browser?
- Your browser may have cached a redirect from a previous visit and not be following the live chain. The tool always makes a fresh request without caching. JavaScript-based redirects (window.location, meta refresh) are also not followed — this tool only follows server-side HTTP redirects.
- Can I check redirects for HTTPS URLs?
- Yes. The tool checks any publicly accessible URL including HTTPS. It follows the redirect chain regardless of whether individual hops use HTTP or HTTPS. SSL certificate validity is not checked — the tool follows redirects without verifying the certificate.