How many redirects are too many?

One is normal. Google has said it will follow up to about five hops in a single crawl, but every extra hop adds latency for a real visitor and spends crawl budget you could use elsewhere. Two is worth tidying; three or more should be collapsed.

What is the difference between a 301 and a 302?

A 301 says the move is permanent: Google transfers the ranking signals and eventually drops the old URL. A 302 says it is temporary, so Google keeps the old URL indexed and may keep showing it. Using a 302 for a permanent move is one of the most common and most costly migration mistakes.

Do redirects lose link equity?

Modern Google passes full signals through a 301, so a single clean redirect is not a loss. Long chains are a different matter — not because each hop taxes you, but because crawlers may stop following, and the further the chain the more likely a link in it breaks.

What is a redirect loop?

A URL that redirects, directly or through several hops, back to itself. The browser gives up with an error and the page is effectively dead. It usually comes from two rules fighting — a www rule and an HTTPS rule each rewriting the other.

Should http:// always redirect to https://?

Yes, with a 301. Browsers mark plain HTTP as not secure, Google has preferred HTTPS for years, and serving both without a redirect splits your signals across two URLs for the same page.

SEO

Redirect Checker

Follow a URL through every hop — chain length, 302s used for permanent moves, loops, and where it actually ends up.

100% free
No sign-up

What this tool does

Shows every hop with its status code
Flags 302s used where a 301 belongs
Detects redirect loops
Warns when a chain ends on HTTP or an error page
Free, no account, no daily limit

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The short version

What is Redirect Checker?

A redirect that works in a browser can still be costing you.

One hop is normal and fine. Three or four in a row waste crawl budget and add latency for every visitor, and each hop is another chance for something in the chain to break. A 302 or 307 used for a move that is actually permanent tells Google to keep the old URL indexed, which is the opposite of what a migration is for. A loop returns a page that never resolves. And a chain that ends on plain HTTP, or on a 404, delivers whatever link equity it carried to nowhere. This tool follows the URL hop by hop and shows the status code at each step, so you can see the chain a crawler sees rather than the destination a browser quietly lands you on.

Step by step

How to use Redirect Checker

1
Enter the starting URL
Use the old URL — the one in your links or your sitemap — not the destination you expect.
2
Count the hops
One is fine. Two is worth tidying. Three or more should be collapsed so the first URL points straight at the last.
3
Check the status codes
301 and 308 are permanent and pass ranking signals. 302 and 307 are temporary and tell Google to keep the old URL.
4
Look at where it ends
A chain ending in a 404, or on http:// rather than https://, is worse than no redirect at all.

What's inside

Everything this tool
does for you

Every hop listed with its status code
Loop detection
Permanent vs temporary redirect check
Warns when the chain ends in an error
Confirms an HTTP to HTTPS upgrade
Free, no signup, no daily limit

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Questions

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