Redirect Chain Checker
Trace an HTTP redirect chain end-to-end. Paste cURL output and see every hop with status codes, Location headers, and automated issue detection for loops, long chains, protocol downgrades, www inconsistencies, and 302 misuse. Fix redirect bloat and recover lost SEO link equity.
How to Use This Tool
- Run cURL in your terminal with the command
curl -I -L https://your-url.com. The-Iflag sends a HEAD request (fast, no body) and-Ltells cURL to follow redirects until it reaches a final response. - Copy the full output which will contain one HTTP response block per hop. Each block starts with a line like
HTTP/2 301and lists response headers including Location. - Paste it into the cURL tab of this tool. Optionally enter the starting URL in the Starting URL field so the first hop gets a proper label (otherwise it says "initial request").
- Click Parse Chain to see the full visual redirect chain. Each hop shows its status code (color-coded green for 2xx, yellow for 3xx, red for 4xx/5xx), the URL it was requested against, and the Location header if any.
- Review the Analysis panel for automatic issue detection: redirect loops, chains longer than three hops, HTTPS downgrades, www inconsistencies, 302 used for permanent moves, and trailing-slash changes. Every issue includes a specific fix suggestion.
- Copy or export results as plain text for a bug report or CSV for your technical SEO audit spreadsheet. Your input is saved locally in your browser so you can return to a partial audit later without losing work.
About Redirect Chain Analysis
HTTP redirects are one of the most common technical SEO issues on the web, and also one of the most invisible. When a user types in or clicks a link to http://example.com, their browser silently negotiates through a series of redirects before finally rendering https://www.example.com/. Each hop in that chain is a round trip to a server, adding latency, consuming crawl budget, and leaking a small amount of SEO link equity. A healthy site has zero or one redirect. A broken site has three, four, or even more redirects stacked behind a single URL \u2014 a condition our tool identifies instantly.
The distinction between 301 and 302 is the single most misunderstood concept in redirect SEO. A 301 Moved Permanently tells search engines that the old URL should be fully replaced by the new one; ranking signals transfer, the old URL drops from the index, and browsers cache the redirect aggressively. A 302 Found is temporary \u2014 Google keeps indexing the old URL and does not transfer signals to the new one. If you mistakenly use 302 for a permanent migration, Google may hesitate for weeks before updating, during which time your rankings can stall or slip. This tool flags every 302 in the chain and suggests using 301 (or 308, which also preserves the request method) whenever the redirect is truly permanent.
Chain length directly impacts both user experience and SEO. Each redirect adds 100 to 500 milliseconds of latency depending on DNS, TLS handshake, and server response time. On mobile networks with higher round-trip times, a four-hop chain can easily add two full seconds to Time to First Byte. Google has publicly stated that its crawler may stop following redirects after about five hops in a single crawl pass, meaning the final destination might not get indexed promptly. The fix is simple but requires discipline: whenever you discover a chain A \u2192 B \u2192 C, update the server rule that produces A \u2192 B so it points directly to C, eliminating the middle hop entirely.
Redirect loops are rarer but catastrophic. A loop occurs when A redirects to B and B redirects back to A (directly or through other hops). Browsers abort with "ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS" after about 20 hops, meaning users never reach your page at all. Loops usually come from conflicting rewrite rules \u2014 for example, an .htaccess rule adding a trailing slash while the CMS removes it, or a www-enforcing rule colliding with an SSL-enforcing rule that stripped the www. Our tool detects loops by tracking every URL it has seen and flagging the first duplicate.
The HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect is mandatory in 2026 for security, browser trust indicators, and SEO ranking. Always 301, never 302, and always pair with an HSTS header (Strict-Transport-Security) so browsers skip the plaintext HTTP request entirely on future visits. The reverse \u2014 HTTPS to HTTP \u2014 is a security red flag: it exposes users to man-in-the-middle attacks and signals a misconfigured site. This tool flags every HTTPS-to-HTTP downgrade as a warning. Similarly, www-versus-non-www needs a consistent choice site-wide; flapping between the two forms creates redirect chains and splits canonical signals between two hostnames.
Redirect configuration lives in one of three places: your server config (.htaccess for Apache, server block for Nginx, web.config for IIS), your CMS (WordPress, Shopify, and others handle their own canonicalization), and your CDN (Cloudflare Rules, Fastly VCL). Audits usually reveal overlapping rules between these layers, which is how chains and loops accumulate over years of site changes. Use our .htaccess Generator to rebuild redirect rules cleanly, and our HTTP Header Checker to verify HSTS and canonical headers are set correctly after you fix each chain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a redirect chain?
A redirect chain is a sequence of HTTP redirects where one URL points to another, which points to another, and so on, before finally reaching the destination page. For example: http://example.com might redirect to https://example.com, which redirects to https://www.example.com, which finally returns a 200 OK. Each hop in the chain adds latency (one full round trip to the server) and a small amount of SEO link equity loss. Ideal chains have zero or one hop. Chains of three or more hops should be flattened directly to the final destination.
What's the difference between 301, 302, 307, and 308?
301 Moved Permanently is the standard permanent redirect and passes full ranking signal. 302 Found is temporary and tells search engines not to update their index. 307 Temporary Redirect is like 302 but guarantees the HTTP method is preserved (POST stays POST). 308 Permanent Redirect is like 301 but preserves the request method as well. For SEO, use 301 (or 308) for permanent moves and 302 (or 307) only for genuinely temporary redirects like A/B tests or maintenance pages. Using 302 for a permanent move can delay ranking consolidation for weeks.
Why do long redirect chains hurt SEO?
Long redirect chains hurt SEO in four ways. First, each hop adds 100-500ms of latency, slowing page load and hurting Core Web Vitals. Second, Google may stop following chains after five hops in a single crawl pass, leaving the final destination un-indexed. Third, a small amount of PageRank is lost at each hop due to dampening. Fourth, mobile networks amplify the latency penalty. The fix is straightforward: whenever you discover a chain A → B → C, update the A-side rule to point directly to C, eliminating the middle hop.
How do I find redirect loops?
A redirect loop is when URL A redirects to B, and B redirects back to A (or somewhere upstream in the chain). Browsers eventually abort with "ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS" after 20 hops. To detect loops: run curl -I -L on the URL and watch the output — if you see the same URL twice, you have a loop. Our tool highlights duplicate URLs automatically. Loops are usually caused by conflicting rewrite rules in .htaccess or server config, or CMS settings that disagree with the web server's canonical URL.
What are HTTP to HTTPS redirects?
An HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect (http://example.com → https://example.com) is mandatory for security and SEO in 2026. Browsers mark HTTP pages as "Not Secure", and Google explicitly favors HTTPS in rankings. Always use a 301 for this redirect, not 302, and pair it with an HSTS header so browsers skip the HTTP request on future visits. Avoid the reverse — HTTPS to HTTP — under any circumstances; it exposes users to man-in-the-middle attacks and signals a misconfigured site to search engines.
How do browsers handle redirects?
Browsers follow redirects automatically up to about 20 hops (the exact limit varies by browser). On each redirect, the browser makes a new HTTP request to the URL in the Location header, using the method specified by the status code (301/302/303 may change POST to GET; 307/308 preserve the method). Each redirect adds a full round trip, which on mobile networks can mean 200-600ms of added latency. Browsers cache 301s aggressively, meaning users who once followed a permanent redirect will skip it on future visits.
How do I test redirects with cURL?
Run curl -I -L https://example.com in your terminal. The -I flag issues a HEAD request (just headers, no body), and -L tells curl to follow redirects. The output shows every HTTP response block in the chain, separated by blank lines. Each block starts with an HTTP status line and lists response headers including Location. Paste the full output into the cURL mode of this tool to get a visual chain, status color coding, and automated issue detection.
Can Google follow unlimited redirects?
No. Google's crawler typically follows up to five redirects in a single crawl pass. If a chain is longer, Google may defer the remaining hops to a later crawl, delaying indexing. Google has publicly stated that redirect chains of "more than a few" hops can cause issues. The practical rule is: keep chains to one hop whenever possible, two as an absolute maximum. Use this tool to audit your chains regularly, especially after migrations, CMS upgrades, domain changes, or when merging www and non-www hosts.