Redirect chain checker
Paste a URL and see every hop it takes: each 301, 302, 307, 308 and meta refresh, in order, down to the final page and its canonical tag.
Why one redirect is fine and four are not
Chains rarely come from one bad decision. They pile up: someone forces HTTPS, someone else adds a www rule, a migration adds a map, and a CMS appends a trailing slash. Each rule is correct on its own. Together, an old backlink bounces through all of them.
Google's documentation on redirects and Google Search says Googlebot follows up to 10 hops, and recommends avoiding chains because every hop adds latency and a chance to fail. Visitors on a phone pay a round trip for each one.
Try it: switch rules on and off, then combine them. The fix is almost always the same: a single rule that sends every variant straight to the final URL.
What the visitor or old backlink requests
How the server's rules are written
- 301Requested
http://example.com/shop/blue-mug
- 301Rule 1: force HTTPS
https://example.com/shop/blue-mug
- 301Rule 2: add www
https://www.example.com/shop/blue-mug
- 301Rule 3: migration map
https://www.example.com/mugs/blue
- 200Rule 4: add trailing slash → canonical
https://www.example.com/mugs/blue/
4 hops Each rule fires on its own and hands the visitor to the next one. Switch to "One combined rule" to see the same fixes collapse into a single hop.
Status codes this checker reports
| Code | Meaning | Google treats it as |
|---|---|---|
| 301 | Moved Permanently | Permanent: strong signal that the target is canonical |
| 308 | Permanent Redirect (keeps method) | Same as 301 |
| 302 | Found | Temporary: weak canonical signal; the source may stay indexed |
| 307 | Temporary Redirect (keeps method) | Same as 302. Browsers also show an internal 307 for HSTS upgrades that never reach the server. |
| 303 | See Other | Temporary |
| meta | <meta http-equiv="refresh"> | Instant: permanent. Delayed: temporary. |
Source: Google Search Central, "Redirects and Google Search". JavaScript redirects are not followed here because this tool does not render pages. 301 vs 302 vs 308, explained.
Questions
How many redirects can a URL have before it hurts SEO?
Googlebot follows up to 10 redirect hops, then gives up. Well before that, each hop adds a network round trip. Aim for zero or one: link straight to final URLs internally and point every old URL at its final destination in one step.
Why does the checker start at http:// when I type a bare domain?
A bare link like example.com/page is requested over HTTP first by most clients and many old backlinks use http://, so starting there reveals the HTTP-to-HTTPS hop too. Type https:// explicitly to skip it.
Does this follow JavaScript redirects?
No. It reports server-side HTTP redirects and HTML meta refresh redirects, which are what crawlers see before rendering. Google can follow JavaScript redirects after rendering, but recommends server-side redirects when you can set them up.
Why do I see a different result in my browser?
Browsers cache 301s, apply HSTS upgrades internally (shown as a 307 that never reached the server) and may be served a geo- or cookie-dependent redirect. Switch "Request as" to Googlebot or Chrome to compare how the server responds to each.
Is my URL stored?
No. The server fetches the URL once, returns the result and keeps nothing. Your last few checks are saved only in your own browser so you can rerun them; clear them any time.