Redirect Chain Tracer
Enter any URL and trace every hop in its redirect chain, with status codes and response times. Flags chains longer than 2 hops (search engines may stop following) and loops.
Technical SEO Intelligence
Every redirect hop drains link equity. The second one is still fine. The fifth isn't.
Google follows up to 5-10 redirect hops before giving up. Every extra hop also adds latency on first page load. The ideal is one 301 from old to new. Chains of 3+ hops usually mean the redirect map was never cleaned up through multiple site changes.
URL
We follow up to 10 hops before stopping.
Next steps
Clean up long chains with the redirect map tool
If chain > 2 hops, rewrite your rules so the original URL points directly to the final destination.
Frequently asked questions
What is a redirect chain?
A and B and C and final. Multi-hop redirects. Google follows up to about 10 hops before giving up.
Why are chains bad?
Each hop adds latency, slows crawling, and dilutes signals slightly. Also brittle: any middle hop breaking kills the chain.
How many hops is "too many"?
More than 2 is a smell. More than 5 is a problem. Google stops following at 10.
What causes chains?
Platform migrations, HTTP and HTTPS plus www and root plus trailing-slash normalisation can stack three redirects when one would do.
How to fix a chain?
Rewrite each middle hop to point directly to the final destination. Keep the original source redirect pointing to the final URL in one hop.
Does the tool detect loops?
Yes. If any URL repeats in the chain the tool reports a LOOP.
Should www and non-www both redirect to a canonical?
Yes, but to the same canonical in one hop each. Don't make www and non-www and https and trailing-slash four separate hops.
Can CDN rules cause chains?
Yes. Cloudflare Page Rules and origin server rules can double up. Audit both.
How long is a safe chain?
Zero chains ideally. One hop (301) is fine. Two is noticeable. Three plus is technical debt.
What is a redirect loop?
A and B and A. Breaks the request. Loops happen when two systems try to canonicalise differently (CMS says A, CDN says B).
Does the tool support HTTP methods beyond GET?
No. All redirects are checked via GET. Chains for POST are rare and usually a different problem.
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