FREE TOOL / NO ACCOUNT / RUNS ON THE PAGE YOU GIVE IT
Redirect checker
Trace the whole 301, 302, 307 and 308 chain for any URL. Every hop, every status code, and the ones that cost you: loops, chains longer than two, and temporary redirects doing a permanent job.
We follow up to 10 hops by hand, one request each, and check at every hop that the next address is a real public site. Nothing is followed automatically.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS TOOL
- What is the difference between a 301 and a 302?
- A 301 says the page has moved for good, so search engines index the new URL. A 302 says the move is temporary, so the original URL stays the one indexed. Using a 302 for a permanent move leaves the old address in search results.
- What about 307 and 308?
- They mean the same as 302 and 301 respectively, with one difference: 307 and 308 require the browser to keep the original request method, so a POST stays a POST. 301 and 302 historically allowed it to become a GET.
- Why does a long redirect chain matter?
- Every hop is another round trip before anything renders, which visitors feel on a slow connection. Crawlers also stop following after a handful of hops, so a page at the end of a long chain can go uncrawled. Point the first URL straight at the last one.
- What is a redirect loop?
- Two or more URLs that redirect to each other, so the chain never ends. Browsers give up and show an error page, and crawlers drop the URL. This checker flags the exact address that repeats.
- Do you follow redirects to internal addresses?
- No. Before each hop we resolve the next hostname and refuse it if it points at a loopback, private or link-local address. A public URL that redirects to 127.0.0.1 stops there and is reported rather than followed.
A TOOL CHECKS ONCE. SEOBUILDER KEEPS WATCH.
We can watch this for you.
Redirects break on deploys, and nobody notices until traffic to a section disappears. We check your important URLs on a schedule and tell you when a chain grows, loops or starts ending on a 404.