Redirect Chain & HTTP Status Checker

Every extra hop costs you something

Redirects are normal and necessary — sites get restructured, pages get renamed, domains get migrated. The problem is what accumulates afterwards. Old redirect points at old redirect points at new page, and each hop adds a round trip before anything renders. A redirect checker makes that invisible cost visible.

Common status codes, in plain English

• 200 — the page loaded normally. This is what you want at the end of any chain.
• 301 — permanent move. Ranking signals transfer to the new URL.
• 302 / 307 — temporary move. Search engines keep the original URL indexed.
• 308 — permanent, preserving the request method.
• 404 — page not found. Any link pointing here is wasted.
• 410 — gone on purpose, a stronger signal than 404.
• 5xx — the server failed. Repeated 5xx responses get pages dropped from the index.

What to fix first

Start with loops — those URLs can never be indexed. Then chains of three or more hops: repoint the first URL directly at the final destination. Then any 302 that has been in place for months, since a temporary redirect that never ends is just a permanent redirect losing equity. Finally, chains ending in 404, which usually mean an internal link or an old campaign URL is sending people nowhere.

Frequently asked questions