Redirect Chain Checker
Trace any URL's full redirect path hop by hop. Detect chains, loops, and unnecessary hops that hurt crawl budget and link equity. Free, no login required.
A redirect chain means a user or bot follows multiple redirects to reach a final URL. This happens when URL A redirects to URL B, and then URL B immediately redirects to URL C, and so on. These chains hurt your site’s crawl budget, making Googlebot spend more time on redirects than on new content. Every hop in a redirect chain also diminishes PageRank, or link equity, passed to the final destination. Google confirms 301 redirects pass most PageRank, but a chain of them definitely lessens the total value transferred. You can manually trace these hops using browser developer tools, but it’s slow and impractical for an entire site. What Is a Redirect Chain Checker? A Redirect Chain Checker is a free browser-based tool that instantly traces the complete redirect path for any URL you provide. It shows every single hop, the HTTP status code (like 301, 302, 307), and the `Location` header for each redirect in the sequence. You'll see exactly how a URL gets from its starting point to its final destination. The Redirect Chain Checker at https://scrawl.tools/tools/redirect-chain-checker provides this information without requiring any login or account creation. It's built for speed and clarity, giving you actionable data fast. Why It Matters for SEO Redirect chains aren't just an annoyance; they directly impact your SEO performance in several ways. You're losing efficiency and potentially rankings when these chains exist. First, they waste crawl budget. Googlebot has a finite amount of time and resources to spend on your site during each crawl cycle. If Google needs to follow 3-4 redirects to reach a single page, it's consuming significantly more crawl budget than if it went directly. For a large site with millions of URLs, Google might only allocate 100,000 URLs to crawl daily; long redirect chains can quickly eat…
Read the full guideA redirect chain checker traces every hop from your URL to its final destination. Paste a link below to see status codes, spot loops, and find extra hops that waste crawl budget and PageRank.
Fix redirect chains across your site
After tracing a chain, validate bulk redirects on migration URL lists and confirm final destinations return 200. Pair with canonical and status checks so link equity reaches the right page.
What is a redirect chain?
A redirect chain is when a URL passes through two or more redirects before reaching its final destination — for example, URL A returns a 301 to URL B, which returns a 301 to URL C. A single redirect (A straight to C) is normal and expected after a URL changes. A chain means extra, avoidable steps have built up, usually from successive migrations, an HTTP-to-HTTPS rule stacked on top of a www rule, or old redirect entries that were never consolidated when new ones were added. The checker shows the exact sequence so you can see where the extra hops were introduced.
Why redirect chains hurt SEO
Redirect chains hurt SEO in two ways. Each hop adds roughly 100–300ms of latency, which compounds on mobile connections where every extra roundtrip is amplified — slowing the page and weakening Core Web Vitals. Each hop also dilutes the link equity passed to the final destination, so a three-hop chain transfers less authority than a direct redirect. On large sites, long chains waste crawl budget, and Googlebot may stop following a path before it reaches the end, leaving the destination uncrawled and unindexed. Google's own guidance is to keep redirects to a single hop.
How we check this (worked example)
Paste http://www.example.com/old-page. A typical broken chain looks like: hop 1 = 301 to https://www.example.com/old-page, hop 2 = 301 to https://example.com/old-page, hop 3 = 301 to https://example.com/new-page. That is three hops where one would do. The fix is a single rule: http://www.example.com/old-page → https://example.com/new-page as a 301, then update internal links so the redirect never fires. Re-run this tool until you see one hop ending on a 200.
How to fix a redirect chain
Update the redirect rule at the source so it points directly to the final destination, skipping every intermediate hop. In Apache .htaccess or Nginx config, find each rule in the chain and replace them with one rule from the original URL straight to the live destination. Where the redirect is internal to your own site, also update the source link to the final URL so the redirect never fires at all. After editing, re-run this checker to confirm the chain has collapsed to a single 301 before you consider the fix complete. Pair with the Bulk Redirect Checker when you have a spreadsheet of old-to-new URLs after a migration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a redirect chain and how do I fix it?
A redirect chain is when a URL passes through two or more intermediate redirects before reaching its final destination. Fix it by updating the redirect rule at the source to point directly to the final destination, skipping all intermediate steps. The Redirect Chain Checker shows the exact chain so you know which rules to update.
How many redirect hops is too many?
More than two hops is considered problematic for SEO. Each additional hop adds latency and dilutes PageRank passed to the final destination. Aim for a single 301 hop from source to final destination wherever possible, and treat any chain longer than two hops as a bug to fix.
What causes a redirect loop?
A redirect loop occurs when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects back to URL A. Common causes include misconfigured .htaccess rules, CMS permalink settings conflicting with server-level redirects, and HTTPS redirect rules that catch the already-redirected URL. The tool detects loops and shows the exact cycle.
Do redirect chains hurt SEO?
Yes. Each hop reduces PageRank passed to the final destination and adds 100–300ms of latency per step. A three-hop chain can meaningfully slow page load and reduce link equity transfer. Chains also increase the chance that Googlebot abandons crawling before reaching the final URL.
How do I tell if a redirect is a 301 or 302?
The Redirect Chain Checker shows the HTTP status code at every hop in the chain. A 301 indicates permanent; a 302 indicates temporary. If a redirect that should be permanent is returning 302, update your server configuration or .htaccess — most CMS platforms let you set the redirect type explicitly in their redirect manager.
Do redirect chains lose PageRank?
Yes. Each hop in a redirect chain dilutes the link equity passed through. A 301 from A to B to C loses more authority than a direct A-to-C redirect. The additional latency from each hop also hurts crawl efficiency. Fix chains by updating the origin redirect rule to point directly to the final destination URL, bypassing every intermediate step.
What is the fastest way to fix a redirect chain?
Update the source redirect rule to point directly to the final destination URL, skipping all intermediate hops. In Apache .htaccess or Nginx configuration, locate every redirect rule in the chain and consolidate them into a single rule from the original source to the final destination. After updating, use this tool to confirm the chain has collapsed to a single hop before considering the fix complete.
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