Free Redirect Chain Checker

Trace every 301 and 302 redirect hop with status codes, response times, and SEO issue detection. Detect loops, excessive chains, and non-301 HTTPS upgrades that hurt your rankings.

Who uses this tool?

SEO specialists — audit redirect chains that leak link equity and slow crawling
Site migrators — verify 301s are set up correctly during domain moves
Developers — debug www/apex, HTTP/HTTPS, and canonical redirect issues
Performance engineers — find redirect chains that hurt Core Web Vitals
Compliance teams — ensure legacy URLs still resolve to current content

How to use (step-by-step)

Step 1 — Enter URL or domain: Type a full URL or bare domain. Bare domains start from http:// so you see any HTTPS upgrade.
Step 2 — Click Check: Each hop is fetched with redirect: manual and up to 10 hops.
Step 3 — Review issues: See the full timeline, plus auto-detected issues: loops, excessive hops, mixed 301/302, non-301 HTTPS upgrades.

Frequently asked questions

What is a redirect chain?

A redirect chain is the sequence of HTTP redirects between an initial URL and the final destination. For example: http://example.com -> https://example.com -> https://www.example.com is a 3-hop chain with 2 redirects.

Why does redirect count matter for SEO?

Each redirect adds ~50-300ms latency and dilutes link equity in Googles eyes. Best practice: 1 redirect max (e.g., HTTP->HTTPS or www->apex), never chain multiple redirects. Every extra hop hurts Core Web Vitals.

What is the difference between 301 and 302?

301 = Permanent (Google passes 100% of link equity, caches aggressively, crawlers update the URL). 302 = Temporary (link equity is not passed reliably, crawlers keep the old URL). For permanent moves like HTTPS upgrades or domain migrations, always use 301.

How is a redirect loop detected?

The tool tracks every URL visited. If the chain revisits a URL already seen, a loop is flagged. Real-world loops often happen with misconfigured www/apex, HTTP/HTTPS, or canonical tag conflicts — they cause browsers to abort with ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS.

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Try it on popular domains: github.com, google.com, cloudflare.com, openai.com.