URL & Website Utilities
Redirect Checker
Follow a URL's full redirect chain, hop by hop.
- Free to use
- No sign-up
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About this tool
Trace every hop a URL takes before it reaches its final destination. You see each status code and address in order, so long chains, loops and temporary redirects that should be permanent are easy to spot.
How to use it
- Paste the URL to trace.
- Run the check.
- Read the chain from first request to final page.
Common status codes
- 301 – moved permanently; the right choice for changed URLs.
- 302 / 307 – temporary; search engines may keep the old address indexed.
- 308 – permanent, preserving the request method.
- 200 – the final page loaded successfully.
Why chains are a problem
Each extra hop adds delay and gives crawlers more work. A path such as http → https → www → new-slug can usually be replaced by a single 301 straight to the final address.
When to use it
- After a site migration or URL restructure
- Checking HTTP to HTTPS and www rules
- Investigating short or affiliate URLs before you click
- Debugging redirect loops that stop a page loading
Limitations
Some forwards depend on cookies, location, language or JavaScript and may behave differently in a browser. Meta-refresh and script-based redirects are not always detected.
A worked example
After moving a blog to a new structure, an author notices traffic dipping. Tracing an old article address reveals a four-hop chain: http → https → www → old slug → new slug. Updating the rules to send every old address straight to its new slug restores a single, fast 301.
Fixing common problems
- Long chains: point the first address directly at the final destination.
- Loops: two rules sending traffic back and forth — remove or reorder one.
- 302 instead of 301: change temporary rules to permanent when the move is final.
- Redirect to the homepage: send old pages to their closest equivalent instead.
Migration checklist
- List every old address before launching a new site.
- Map each one to its best new equivalent.
- Test a sample of old addresses after launch.
- Keep the rules in place for at least a year.
Related tools
- WWW Redirect Checker – test www and non-www
- Broken Links Checker – find dead destinations
- Link Extractor – collect old addresses before a migration
Glossary
- Hop – one step in a chain, from one address to the next.
- Canonical address – the single preferred version of a page.
- Meta refresh – a redirect written into the page's HTML instead of the server response.
- Location header – the server header that tells the browser where to go next.
SEO impact in brief
Permanent redirects pass most ranking signals to the new address, but every extra hop wastes crawl budget and adds delay for visitors. Keeping chains to a single hop is one of the simplest technical SEO improvements you can make.