Redirect chain checker

What a redirect chain is

A redirect is the server saying “this page now lives at another address”. The browser takes the new address and goes there. If that answer is another redirect, you get a chain. A typical one: http://example.com → https://example.com → https://www.example.com/. Each step is a separate request, which adds tens or hundreds of milliseconds before the page starts loading.

This page walks the chain the way a browser does, one hop at a time, and shows the status code, address and timing of each request.

301, 302, 307, 308: what is the difference

• 301 is a permanent redirect. Search engines move rankings to the new address and eventually drop the old one from the index.
• 308 is also permanent, but the browser must keep the request method (a form submission, for example).
• 302 and 307 are temporary. A search engine assumes the old address will come back and may keep it in the index.
• 303 means “see another page”, usually after a form is submitted.

Moving to https, merging www and non-www, and changing page URLs all call for a permanent redirect, 301 or 308. A temporary 302 often ends up there by mistake, because it is the default in many CMSs and frameworks.

What problems we look for

• Extra hops. Every version of the address should reach the final one with a single redirect.
• No move to https. Browsers label plain http sites “Not secure”.
• Duplicates. If www and non-www (or http and https) both open without a redirect, search engines see two identical sites.
• Loops. The address redirects to itself and the browser shows an error. Conflicting redirect rules on the server and in the CDN are a common cause.
• Temporary redirects where a permanent one is needed.
• An error at the end. The chain ends on a 404 or 500 instead of a working page.

Redirects during a move or redesign

Most lost traffic comes not from broken rules but from forgotten ones. When the CMS or site structure changes, page URLs change too, and old links from search results, newsletters and other sites start leading to a 404. Over time the search engine drops those pages, along with the rankings they had earned.

To avoid that, export the list of URLs that bring traffic or have backlinks before launch (Google Search Console and similar tools show them), and assign a new address to each. After launch, run the key addresses through this tool: each should return a single 301 and land on a working page with a 200.

Check URLs with parameters and legacy forms such as /index.php or /catalog.html separately, as they are easy to forget. A couple of weeks later, look at the crawl error reports in Search Console: addresses that missed the map will show up there.

How to set it up properly

Choose one main address for the site, for example https://example.com without www, and set it in your CMS. On the server, add a single rule: any other version (http, www) goes straight to the main address with the same path and a 301. If a CDN or a service like Cloudflare sits in front of the site, do the https redirect in one place only, otherwise a loop is easy to create.

Before a move or redesign, map every old address that brings traffic to its new one, and check a few key addresses here right after launch.