Redirect path inspection

Redirect Chain Detector

Trace 301, 302, 303, 307, and 308 redirects step by step to find long chains, loops, temporary hops, and HTTP-to-HTTPS inconsistencies.

Free to use Protected URL fetching Mobile friendly

Tool guide

What is the Redirect Chain Detector?

The Redirect Chain Detector follows a URL through each 301, 302, 303, 307, or 308 response and shows the path to the final destination. It helps uncover unnecessary hops, loops, protocol changes, and temporary redirects used where a permanent move is intended.

Every extra redirect adds another request and can complicate crawling, analytics, caching, and migration debugging. A single correct redirect is usually acceptable; long chains should be consolidated whenever you control the source.

Audit coverage

What this SEO tool checks

Each redirect status and Location destination

The final HTTP status and URL

Repeated URLs that indicate a loop

HTTP-to-HTTPS and hostname transitions

The total number of redirect hops

Step-by-step

How to use the Redirect Chain Detector

1
Enter the starting URL
Use the old or suspicious address exactly as it appears in links or reports.
2
Trace the request
The tool follows redirects one step at a time within strict limits.
3
Review the chain
Identify loops, temporary status codes, and avoidable intermediate URLs.
4
Update redirects and links
Point internal links to the final URL and replace multi-hop server rules with one direct rule.

Interpretation

How to understand the results

A short chain ending in a successful final page is usually functional.
A loop prevents the destination from loading and requires immediate server-rule correction.
A temporary 302 or 307 may be correct, but permanent migrations usually use 301 or 308 based on server behavior.

Practical advice

SEO best practices

Redirect old URLs directly to the closest relevant final page.
Avoid redirecting every removed page to the homepage.
Update canonical tags, sitemaps, hreflang, and internal links after a migration.
Keep redirects in place long enough for users, search engines, and external links to transition.
Test query strings and trailing-slash variants when they matter to the routing system.

Before you act

Limitations of this automated check

The trace reflects the response seen by the testing server. Geolocation, cookies, user-agent detection, JavaScript navigation, and authentication can produce a different path in a browser. The tool follows only a limited number of hops to prevent loops and abuse.

Common questions