Redirect Checker
Trace redirect chains for any URL
Redirect Checker follows a URL through up to 10 redirect hops, showing the status code at every step and the final destination it lands on — so you can confirm a redirect goes straight to the right place instead of chaining through several unnecessary steps.
How to use Redirect Checker
- 1
Enter the URL you want to check.
- 2
Click "Check Redirects" to follow the chain.
- 3
Review each hop's URL and status code in order.
- 4
Check the final destination matches what you expect.
Everything you need to know about redirect chains
What is a redirect chain?
When a URL redirects to another URL, which redirects to yet another, that's a redirect chain — each hop adds latency, and a long chain can confuse both users and search engines about which URL is actually the final destination.
When you actually need this
- Auditing old links after a site migration to make sure they resolve correctly, not through a long chain.
- Debugging a slow-loading page that might be hopping through multiple redirects before landing.
- Verifying a 301 vs. 302 redirect is actually the type you intended (301 for permanent, 302 for temporary).
Why chains matter for SEO
Each redirect hop dilutes link equity slightly and adds load time — a direct A→B redirect is always preferable to A→B→C→D, which is worth cleaning up whenever it's found.
Related SEO Tools
Meta Tag Generator
Generate complete HTML meta tags for any webpage
Robots.txt Generator
Generate robots.txt file to control search engine crawling
Sitemap Generator
Generate XML sitemaps from a list of URLs
Open Graph Generator
Generate Open Graph tags for social media sharing previews
Twitter Card Generator
Generate Twitter Card meta tags for rich link previews
Canonical URL Generator
Generate canonical link tags to prevent duplicate content
Frequently Asked Questions
How many redirects will it follow?
Up to 10 hops. If a chain is still redirecting after 10 steps, that's almost always a sign of a loop or a configuration problem worth fixing on its own.
What's the difference between a 301 and a 302?
A 301 means the move is permanent, and search engines transfer most of the old page's ranking value to the new address. A 302 means temporary, and the original address stays the one search engines index. Use 301 for anything that moved for good.
Why does a redirect chain matter for SEO?
Each extra hop adds load time and a small chance the chain breaks somewhere. The ideal is one redirect straight to the final address — see our guide to canonical URLs, redirects and hreflang for the full picture.
Does this tool send the URL to a server?
Yes — the URL is fetched from our servers to trace the chain; the URL itself isn't stored.
Is this tool free to use?
Yes — completely free, with no signup and no usage limits for casual use.