Redirect Chain Checker

Why check a redirect chain?

Trace HTTP redirects to diagnose unnecessary hops, loops and mismatches between the destination and its canonical.

Each HTTP redirect requires another request, so unnecessary chains add latency and make migrations harder to debug. Inspect the status and target of each hop, then verify the final page content and canonical. A canonical need not match the fetched URL when an equivalent alternate version is intentional. Use 301 or 308 for permanent moves and 302 or 307 for temporary moves. These signals help search engines select URLs; they do not guarantee a ranking outcome. The checker follows HTTP responses, not every navigation performed by JavaScript.

• Shows every hop with its HTTP status code
• Detects redirect loops
• Compares the canonical URL against the final destination

Example: interpret a finding and fix it

Illustration only, not a check of your website.

A redirect chain checker for domain migration should start with a real old URL that has links or traffic. Record each HTTP status and Location through to the final address. A completed chain is different from a redirect loop, which returns to an address already visited.

To check canonical after redirect, inspect the final page HTML and compare it with the equivalent content you intended to move. A new page still declaring the old domain needs a migration review. If the destination is missing, do not send every old URL to the homepage merely to obtain a 200 response; review the destination, internal links and sitemap together.

Suppose an old URL redirects through HTTP, HTTPS on the old domain, the new domain and finally a new slug. Where intermediate steps are unnecessary, redirect the old address directly to the final equivalent page.

Verify that the destination returns 200, serves the intended content and declares an appropriate canonical. Complete translations normally use their own canonicals and reciprocal hreflang links.

301/308 indicate a permanent move; 302/307 indicate a temporary one. Canonical is a URL-selection signal and Google may choose differently. Fewer hops reduce latency and simplify diagnosis without guaranteeing unchanged rankings.

Google Search Central