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Redirect Chain Checker

SEO and marketing

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Every hop from the first URL to the last, with codes and timings.

Why trace the chain

A browser only shows the final page. How many hops it took, and with which codes, is visible only when you trace it.

Lost link equity Every extra hop drains some of the signal. A three-step chain delivers noticeably less than a direct link.
Speed Each hop is a separate round trip. On a poor mobile connection a person notices it.
302 instead of 301 A temporary redirect transfers no equity. The page opens, everything looks fine, and rankings slip.
A loop The URL leads back to itself after a few hops. The browser gives up and the visitor sees an error.
Dropped parameters UTM tags vanish along the way and the traffic source is lost in analytics. Hard to spot without tracing.

Redirect codes

301 Permanent. Equity transfers and the old URL eventually leaves the index. What you want in nine cases out of ten.
302 Temporary. Equity stays with the old URL. Right for promotions and maintenance, wrong for a move.
307 / 308 The same temporary and permanent, but preserving the request method. More common in APIs.
meta refresh A redirect via a tag in the markup. Search engines handle it poorly — configure it on the server instead.

How to shorten a chain

1 Find every intermediate URL The trace shows every hop. Each of those URLs is referenced somewhere: menus, old links, the sitemap.
2 Point every rule at the final URL Instead of A → B → C, set A → C and B → C. One hop instead of two for every path.
3 Fix internal links If the site links to the old URL, the redirect fires every time. Links should go straight to the destination.
4 Check again After the edits the chain should be zero hops for internal links and one for external ones.

FAQ

How many redirect hops are acceptable?
Ideally zero for internal links and one for external. Two hops already show, and past five Google usually abandons the chain without reaching the destination. Each hop is another round trip and some lost signal.
Why is a 302 harmful if the page opens?
Because a temporary redirect transfers no link equity: Google keeps it on the old URL expecting a return. Everything looks fine while rankings slide weeks later, and the cause gets attributed elsewhere.
How do I fix a long chain?
Point every rule at the final URL: instead of A → B → C, set A → C and B → C. Also fix internal links to old addresses, or the redirect fires on every click within the site.
Why do UTM tags disappear?
The redirect rule rewrites the URL without preserving parameters. It is hard to spot: the page opens, the ads run, yet analytics shows every visit as direct. Fix it by configuring the rule to pass the query string through.
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