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Surfilby Adam Hafez
Free tool

Redirect chain checker for hops, loops and mixed codes

Redirect chain checker: paste the hops you collected and check hop count, loops, mixed 301 and 302 codes and https drops. Free, runs in your browser.

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or stored.

This tool does not fetch any URL itself. Nothing you paste here is sent anywhere; it is parsed in your browser only. Collect the real chain first, for example from your browser's dev tools Network tab, curl -IL, or a redirect-checking service.

    Key takeaways

    • Google documents that Googlebot can follow up to 10 hops, but advises keeping a redirect chain to no more than 3 and fewer than 5 hops.
    • A redirect chain that revisits the same URL twice is a loop that no crawler or browser will finish following.
    • Mixing 301 and 302 codes within one chain makes the intended permanence of the move ambiguous, since Google treats the two codes as distinct signals.
    • A chain that drops from https to http, or switches between the www and bare host, adds an avoidable extra hop each time it happens.
    • This tool analyzes a chain you paste in rather than fetching URLs live, since cross-origin restrictions make client-side redirect-following unreliable in a browser.

    What it takes

    • A pasted redirect chain, one hop per line as "URL -> status code"

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    How to use it

    1. 1Collect the real chain firstThis tool has no server to fetch through, so open your browser's dev tools Network tab, reload the page with "Disable cache" on, and read each request's status and its Location header, or run curl -IL against the starting URL from a terminal.
    2. 2Paste each hop as "URL -> status"One line per hop, in order, ending with the final page's own status. The prefilled example shows a mixed 301/301/302 chain ending at a 200 so every check has something to flag.
    3. 3Read the chain-length verdictThe tool counts only the 3xx hops and compares that count against Google's documented guidance, warning once the chain passes 3 hops and flagging it as a hard problem at 5 or more.
    4. 4Review the flagged issuesBelow the verdict, the tool lists any loop, mixed 301/302 usage, https-to-http downgrade, or www and non-www inconsistency it found, each with the line numbers involved.

    A redirect chain builds up by accident: a site move, then an https migration, then a www change, each adding a hop on top of the last. None of it is visible from clicking a link, only from the status codes underneath. This redirect chain checker reads that sequence and tells you what it implies, in your browser, with nothing sent anywhere.

    What the analyzer checks

    The tool does not fetch URLs. A page on this site cannot read the response headers of a request to another origin, so instead of reporting a partial live result it analyzes a chain you already collected with curl -IL, your browser’s Network tab, or a crawler. On that chain it checks:

    • Chain length. Google’s site move documentation says Googlebot can follow up to 10 hops, and advises keeping chains “ideally no more than 3 and fewer than 5”. Only 3xx hops count.
    • Loops. Any URL that appears on two lines.
    • Mixed 301 and 302. Google’s redirects documentation treats 301 and 308 as permanent, a signal the target should be canonical, and 302, 303 and 307 as temporary, where the source URL may stay in results. A chain combining 301 and 302 sends both signals.
    • All 302s. A chain of only 302s gets a note that a permanent move should use 301 or 308.
    • Protocol downgrades. A hop from an https URL to an http one.
    • www switching. A chain that moves between www. and the bare form of the same host.

    How to read the results

    The verdict line gives the redirect count and the final URL with its status. Below it, each finding is coloured by weight. Green means the chain length is within Google’s ideal of 3 or fewer. Amber is a warning: a 4-hop chain, mixed codes, a downgrade, www switching, or a skipped line. Red is a problem: 5 or more redirects, or a loop. When nothing is wrong, the tool says it found no structural issues.

    The fix for almost every finding is the same: point the first URL straight at the final destination with one permanent redirect, and update internal links to the final URL.

    Worked example

    The tool opens with four lines. Line 1 is https://example.com/old-page returning 301. Line 2 is the same path on plain http, also 301. Line 3 is https://www.example.com/new-page returning 302. Line 4 is https://www.example.com/final-page returning 200. The verdict reads: 3 redirects ending at “https://www.example.com/final-page” (200). The findings:

    • 3 redirects in the chain, within Google’s ideal of 3 or fewer.
    • Mixes 301 (permanent) and 302 (temporary) hops.
    • Protocol downgrade: line 1 is https but line 2 drops to http.
    • The chain switches between the www and non-www form of the same host.

    Replace all of it with one 301 from https://example.com/old-page to https://www.example.com/final-page and every warning clears.

    Common mistakes it catches

    • Stacked migrations. Each past move left its own rule in place, so an old URL passes through every one of them before it lands.
    • Redirect loops. Two rules that send a URL back to an address already in the chain. No crawler or browser reaches a destination.
    • A 302 left over from testing. A temporary code in the middle of a permanent move.
    • An http hop inside an https site. Usually a rule that hard-codes the old protocol.

    Two limits to know: the mixed-code check looks for the 301 and 302 pair specifically, so a 307 or 308 in the mix is counted but not flagged, and the www check runs only when every hop is on the same host once www. is removed. The tool also does not check whether the destination itself is a real page.

    Sources

    1. 1.Redirecting an entire site or section of a site - Google Search CentralPrimary
    2. 2.301 redirects and Google Search - Google Search Central

    Common questions

    How many redirects in a chain is too many?

    Google says Googlebot can follow up to 10 hops, but advises redirecting to the final destination directly, and otherwise keeping the chain to ideally no more than 3 and fewer than 5. This tool passes 3 or fewer, warns at 4, and flags 5 or more as a problem.

    Why doesn't this tool fetch the URL itself?

    A web page cannot read the response headers of requests to other sites, so a browser tool cannot follow redirects reliably. Collect the chain with curl -IL or your browser's dev tools Network tab, then paste it here.

    Is a 302 redirect bad for SEO?

    Not when the move really is temporary. Google says that for a 302, 303 or 307 its indexing pipeline does not use the redirect as a signal that the target should be canonical, so the old URL may stay in results. For a permanent move, Google recommends 301 or 308.

    What format does each line need?

    A URL, a separator and a three-digit status: ->, =>, the arrow character or a comma all work, as in https://example.com/a -> 301. Lines that do not match, or whose URL cannot be parsed, are skipped and listed as warnings.

    Does the final 200 count as a hop?

    No. Only lines with a 3xx status count toward the chain length. The last line is reported as the destination along with its own status.

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