A redirect chain happens when URL A redirects to B, which redirects to C. A loop happens when redirects send visitors in a circle. Both slow pages and can confuse search engines.
How chains appear
- Several redesigns, each adding redirects.
- HTTP to HTTPS plus www to non-www plus old URL to new URL.
- Plugins adding automatic redirects.
Why fix them
- Each hop adds load time.
- Search engines may stop following long chains.
- Loops make pages inaccessible.
How to find them
- Website crawling tools report redirect chains.
- Browser developer tools show each redirect step.
- Break down URLs with our URL parser to spot protocol and www differences.
How to fix
- Point every old URL directly to the final URL.
- Update internal links to the final URL, so no redirect is needed.
- Consolidate rules; generate clean rules with our redirect generator.
Read 404 errors and redirects.
Want the full picture? This article is part of SEO: the complete guide, our in-depth guide with everything in one place.
