Traffic Control

Redirects

Redirects are the traffic signs of the internet. They tell users and search engines that a page has moved. Using the wrong sign can lead to traffic jams (loops) or dead ends.

Trace My Redirects

Detect loops, chains, and status codes

01 Moving House

When you delete a page or change your domain, you don't want visitors to land on a "404 Not Found" error. You use a redirect to automatically send them to the new location. But technically, not all moves are the same.

02 The "Mail Forwarding" Analogy

Imagine you move to a new house and fill out a form at the post office based on how long you're staying:

301 Moved Permanently
"I've sold the old house. Send all my mail to the new address forever." (Update your address book)

302 Found (Temporary)
"I'm on vacation for a month. Send mail here for now, but I'll be back." (Don't update address book)

03 The Codes in Detail

301

Permanent

Use this for site migrations, HTTP to HTTPS, or www to non-www. It tells Google to transfer all SEO ranking to the new URL.

302 / 307

Temporary

Use this for A/B testing, maintenance pages, or geo-targeting. Google will keep the OLD page indexed.

Meta Refresh

Client-Side

Redirects done in HTML (delay of 5s). Avoid these! They are bad for SEO and user experience.

04 Redirect Chains & Loops

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Every extra "hop" slows down your site.

The Chain (Bad)

http://site.com ➔ https://site.com ➔ https://www.site.com. This forces the user to wait for 2 round-trips to the server.

Fix: Redirect the first link directly to the final destination.

The Loop (Broken)

/page-a redirects to /page-b, which redirects back to /page-a. The browser will give up after ~20 tries.

Fix: Identify the conflicting rule in your .htaccess or config file.

05 Why Clean Redirects Matter

Speed Killer: On a mobile network, each redirect adds hundreds of milliseconds to the load time. A 3-hop chain can make your site feel sluggish before pixels even appear.
Audit regularly: Old redirects pile up over years. Use our homepage scanner to find and prune the dead wood.

06 Frequently Asked Questions

How many redirects are too many?

Google recommends keeping redirect chains to under 3 hops. Anything more than 5 is considered a 'Redirect Chain' issue and may cause the crawler to stop following.

What is a 'Redirect Loop'?

It's when Page A redirects to Page B, and Page B redirects back to Page A. The browser gets stuck in an infinite loop and eventually crashes with an 'ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS' error.

Does a 301 redirect pass SEO value?

Yes. A 301 (Permanent) redirect passes almost all of the 'Link Juice' (ranking power) from the old URL to the new one. A 302 (Temporary) redirect does not.

What is mixed content in a redirect?

This happens when an HTTPS site redirects to an HTTP (insecure) page, or vice-versa. It breaks the 'Secure Lock' icon in the browser.

Untangle Your Links

Ensure your users take the direct route to your content.

Check Redirect Path