HTTP status + redirect chain checker
Trace every hop in a URL's redirect chain — see exactly where 302s become 301s and where chains run too long.
Paste a URL above to trace every redirect step-by-step.
Why redirect chains matter for SEO
Every redirect costs you time and link equity. A direct 200 OK passes 100% of incoming link value to your page. A 301 redirect passes nearly all of it. A chain of 301 → 301 → 302 → 301 → 200 leaks value at each hop and slows crawlers down. Google's public guidance is that link equity passes through about 5 redirects before it gives up.
Most SEO regressions from chain bloat are silent — your rankings slowly slide as Google catches the inefficiency over weeks. Tracing the chain explicitly catches it before the slide starts.
Status codes the tool flags
- 200 — success. Final destination served correctly.
- 301 — permanent redirect. Use for site-wide moves (HTTP→HTTPS, www→non-www). Passes ~95% of link equity to the target.
- 302 — temporary redirect. Use for A/B tests, geo-redirects, or short-term campaigns. Does NOT pass link equity cleanly. Most 302s on production should actually be 301s.
- 307 / 308 — modern equivalents of 302/301 that preserve the HTTP method. Useful for API endpoints. SEO-equivalent to 302/301.
- 404 — not found. The page doesn't exist. Search engines drop this URL after repeated 404s.
- 410 — permanently gone. Tells Google “forget this URL faster than 404”. Use for deliberately retired pages.
- 5xx — server error. Usually a temporary problem on the destination server. Repeated 5xx responses can de-rank a URL.
How to fix common chain problems
- Long chains — point the first URL directly at the final destination. If A → B → C → D, change A's redirect to go straight to D.
- Mixed 301/302 — pick one. For permanent moves, use 301 throughout. For temporary, use 302 throughout. Mixing confuses Google.
- Loops — something in your config (Apache rewrites, server-side framework router, CDN rules) is sending a URL back to itself after a hop. Trace the rule, fix the condition, re-test.
- HTTP→HTTPS hop in the middle — your final URL should always be HTTPS. If your chain includes both http:// and https:// hops, consolidate so the first hop goes straight to the final HTTPS URL.
FAQ
Should I use 301 or 302 for moved pages?
If the move is permanent (site relaunch, URL restructure, HTTPS migration), use 301. Search engines memo it and pass link equity. Use 302 only for genuinely temporary redirects (maintenance pages, A/B tests, geographic detours).
How many redirects does Google follow?
Up to 10 hops in a single request, but quality drops after about 5. Each hop slightly reduces the link equity Google passes through. Aim for at most 1 hop on important canonical paths.
Why does my homepage show 2 redirects?
Almost certainly the HTTP→HTTPS upgrade plus a www→non-www (or vice versa) consolidation. That's normal. The fix is to update your initial redirect to go straight from http://example.com to https://www.example.com (or whichever is canonical) in one hop instead of two.
Do redirects affect Core Web Vitals?
Indirectly. Each redirect adds latency before the final page starts rendering, which inflates your Largest Contentful Paint metric. A site that takes 1.2s to LCP from the canonical URL might take 2.4s from a 3-hop chain.
Why does the tool sometimes show '0 ERR' as a status?
The hop timed out or the server returned no usable HTTP response (DNS failure, connection refused, SSL error). Usually means the redirect target points at a domain that's down or doesn't resolve. Fix the target.
Will my URL be saved?
No. Each request is processed and discarded. The rate-limit counter is the only thing that persists, and it resets within minutes.
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