Redirect chain

What is a redirect chain?

A redirect chain is a series of redirects in which one URL forwards to a second URL, which forwards to a third, instead of going straight to the final destination. Visitors and search engines have to pass several steps before they reach the page that finally loads.

Why is a redirect chain a problem?

• Slower pages: every extra step costs loading time.
• Wasted crawl budget: Googlebot follows a limited number of hops and then stops.
• More room for errors: with every change, something in the chain can break.

Examples of a redirect chain

• http://example.com to https://example.com to https://www.example.com
• An old URL that, after two redesigns, reaches the newest page via two in-between pages
• A product page that leads via an old category to the new product

How do you deal with a redirect chain?

Find chains with a crawler and make every old URL redirect directly to the final page. Also update internal links so that they point to the last URL. Read more under migration.