Trace every redirect hop
Follow the full redirect chain for any URL — see every HTTP status code, Location header, and response time per hop. Detects redirect loops that silently break your SEO and slow down users. Uses HEAD requests so traces are fast and don't download page bodies. Free, no account required.
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What is a redirect chain?
A redirect chain occurs when a URL redirects to a second URL, which then redirects to a third,
and so on before reaching the final destination. Each step is a "hop" — the server returns a
3xx HTTP status code with a Location header pointing to the next URL. Most browsers
follow these automatically, but each hop adds latency and PageRank dilution.
Common causes: old CMS migrations where URLs were never updated at the source, short-link services chained together, HTTP-to-HTTPS followed by www-to-non-www redirects (2 hops where 0 are needed), and campaign tracking URLs layered on top of existing redirects.
Why redirect chains hurt SEO
Each redirect hop reduces the amount of link equity (PageRank) that passes through. Google has confirmed that some PageRank is lost at each hop. A chain of three redirects passes noticeably less authority than a single direct redirect.
Googlebot and other crawlers have a crawl budget — a limit on how many pages they'll fetch per day. Each redirect hop consumes a crawl request. Long chains mean the crawler spends budget on redirects instead of indexing real content.
Every redirect hop adds an extra HTTP round trip. On a 100ms network, a chain of 3 redirects adds 300ms before the first byte of content arrives — before render even starts. This hurts Core Web Vitals, particularly LCP.
A redirect loop occurs when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects back to URL A (or further down the chain). Browsers give up after 20 hops. Search engines stop indexing pages involved in loops entirely.
Common redirect status codes
- The resource has permanently moved. Browsers and search engines cache this redirect indefinitely (until the cache expires). Use 301 when you've moved a URL permanently and want to transfer full link equity. Most SEO-safe migrations use 301 redirects.
- The resource is temporarily at a different location. Browsers don't cache 302s by default, and search engines may not pass full PageRank through them. Use 302 only for genuinely temporary redirects — A/B tests, maintenance pages, or geo-based routing.
- Like 302, but guarantees the HTTP method (POST, PUT, etc.) is preserved on the redirected request. A 302 technically allows the client to change a POST to a GET; 307 forbids this. Mainly relevant for API calls and form submissions, not HTML page navigation.
- The permanent-redirect equivalent of 307. Preserves the HTTP method across the redirect, unlike 301 which allows method changes. Use when permanently moving an API endpoint and you need clients to continue sending the same HTTP verb to the new URL.
How to fix redirect chains
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1
Trace the chain
Use this tool to identify every hop from the original URL to the final destination. Note the final URL.
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2
Update source links directly
Find all internal links pointing to intermediate redirect URLs and update them to point directly to the final URL. This eliminates the chain at the link level.
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3
Consolidate server-side redirects
In your web server or CDN config, replace multi-hop redirect rules with a single rule from the original URL directly to the final URL. Never chain redirect rules.
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4
Re-trace to verify
Run the trace again after your changes. The hop chain should now show only one hop (or zero if you updated all links to the final URL directly).
Frequently asked questions
- A redirect chain is a sequence of HTTP redirects where one URL redirects to another, which may redirect again. Each step has a 3xx status code and a Location header. The chain ends when a non-redirect status is returned or the maximum hop limit (20) is reached.
- Each hop in a redirect chain dilutes the link equity (PageRank) that passes through, wastes crawl budget on your site, and adds latency for users and search engine bots. Google recommends a maximum of one redirect. Chains of three or more hops can measurably reduce how well a page ranks.
- Every HTTP status code is shown: 301 (permanent), 302 (temporary), 307 (temporary, method-preserving), 308 (permanent, method-preserving), 200 (OK), 404 (not found), 410 (gone), 5xx (server errors), and any other code the server returns. Network-level failures (timeouts, connection refused) show as ERR.
- Up to 20 hops. Most real-world redirect chains have 1–4 hops. The tracer also detects redirect loops (when the same URL appears twice) and stops immediately with a loop warning rather than looping forever.
Related tools
- → Link Checker — find all broken links and redirect chains across your whole site
- → Page Speed Inspector — measure TTFB, DNS, TCP, and TLS timing for any URL
- → Sitemap Validator — detect redirect URLs listed in your sitemap