Free SEO tool
Redirect Chain Mapper
Map redirect chains visually, detect loops and excessive hops, and clean up redirect paths that waste crawl budget.
Redirect Entries
Summary
Chain Visualization
Issues
Redirect Best Practices
301 vs 302: When to Use Each
Use 301 (permanent) when the page has permanently moved and you want to pass link equity to the new URL. Use 302 (temporary) only for genuinely temporary moves, such as A/B tests or maintenance pages. Google treats 302s as temporary and may keep the old URL indexed.
Avoid Redirect Chains
Every hop in a redirect chain adds latency (typically 50-200ms per hop) and dilutes link equity. Googlebot follows up to 10 hops but may not pass full PageRank through long chains. Aim to resolve every redirect in a single hop: old URL → final URL.
Watch for Mixed Protocol Redirects
Redirecting from HTTPS to HTTP (or vice versa) mid-chain can trigger security warnings and break referrer data. Always ensure chains end on HTTPS. Mixed protocol redirects also add unnecessary latency from the TLS handshake.
Redirect Loops Are Critical Errors
A redirect loop (A → B → A) makes the page completely inaccessible to users and crawlers. Browsers will show ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS after ~20 cycles. Always test redirect implementations with curl -IL or browser dev tools before deploying.
Audit Redirects Regularly
Redirect maps accumulate over site migrations, CMS changes, and URL restructuring. Audit quarterly using crawl tools (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb) to flatten chains, remove obsolete redirects, and ensure no redirect points to a 404.