Skip to the content

Free crawlability check

Redirect Checker: trace redirect chains and HTTPS

Follow every redirect of an address, hop by hop. Find chains that slow crawlers down, loops that break pages, and host variants that split your signals across duplicates.

Trace redirects

Enter an address. The checker follows its redirects and tests the http and www variants of the host.

Runs 4 checks. A bare domain works, https:// is added for you.

Checks in this tool:crawl.http-statuscrawl.redirect-chaincrawl.httpscrawl.host-canonical

Why use the Redirect Checker

Every hop

Each redirect is followed and re-validated, up to five hops, with the status code of each step.

HTTPS enforced

The http version of the address is requested to confirm it redirects to https.

One canonical host

The www and bare variants, with and without a trailing slash, must all end at the same address.

Loops caught

A redirect that comes back to an address it already visited is reported as a loop.

When to use the Redirect Checker

Domain moves

Confirm that the old domain sends every visitor to the new one in a single hop.

HTTPS migration

Check that no page is still reachable over plain http.

www decisions

Make sure only one of www and bare serves pages and the other redirects.

Short links and campaigns

See where a marketing link really ends before you print it.

After CDN changes

Proxies and CDNs add their own redirects. Look for new hops after a configuration change.

Slow first loads

Each redirect costs a round trip. Chains make the first visit noticeably slower on mobile.

Understanding Redirect

Why redirect chains matter

Every redirect is a full round trip before the page starts to load. Two or three hops add a visible delay on mobile networks. Crawlers follow a limited number of hops and may give up on long chains.

Point every old address straight at its final destination, and update internal links so that they never need a redirect at all.

301, 302, 307 and 308

  1. 1301 and 308. Permanent. Search engines move the signals to the new url. Use them for moves that will not be undone.
  2. 2302 and 307. Temporary. The old url stays canonical. Use them for short campaigns or maintenance.
  3. 3307 and 308. Keep the request method, which matters for forms and APIs. 301 and 302 may turn a POST into a GET.
  4. 4Meta refresh and JavaScript. Slower and less reliable. Use a server redirect whenever you can.

One host, one version

https://example.com, https://www.example.com and http://example.com are three different urls to a crawler. If more than one of them serves the page, links and signals are split between duplicates. Choose one and redirect the rest to it permanently.

Privacy, safety and limits

The check runs on Aback servers as AbackAuditBot. It sends ordinary GET and HEAD requests, never a cookie, a password or a form, and it never changes anything on the site.

The result is stored as a report that anyone with its link can open, and it is deleted after 30 days. Do not check addresses that carry secrets in the path or the query string.

Related tools and guides

SSL and HTTPS CheckerA trusted certificate is only part of HTTPS. Check that the handshake succeeds, that http redirects to https, that HSTS keeps browsers on https and that no resource is loaded insecurely.Canonical CheckerThe canonical link tells search engines which url is the real one when several show the same content. Check that it exists, that it is absolute and that it points at a working page.Indexability CheckerA page can be blocked from the index in four places: the status code, a noindex directive, robots.txt and the canonical link. Check all four at once and see exactly which one is the problem.Broken Link CheckerDead links frustrate visitors and waste crawl budget. Check a page for internal links that answer with errors or long redirect chains.Security Headers CheckerSecurity headers tell browsers to stay on HTTPS, refuse to be framed, stop guessing content types and limit what scripts may do. Check which ones your site sends and how they are set.SEO CheckerFind the technical problems that keep a page out of search results. The checker reads the page the way a search crawler does and lists what to fix first, with the evidence behind every verdict.Guide: The technical SEO checklistA practical technical SEO checklist in the order that matters. Crawling, indexing, on-page signals, structured data, speed, AI search and security, with a way to check each item.

Frequently asked questions

How many redirects are too many?

One hop is normal. Two or more on an internal link or a sitemap url is worth fixing, because each hop costs time and crawl budget.

Should I use www or not?

Either works. What matters is choosing one and redirecting the other to it with a permanent redirect, so there is only one canonical host.

Do redirects lose ranking signals?

Permanent redirects pass signals to the destination. What causes losses is redirecting many pages to an unrelated page, such as the home page, which search engines may treat as a soft 404.

Why does the checker report a loop?

The redirects led back to an address that was already visited. Browsers show an error such as too many redirects. The usual cause is conflicting rules between the server and a CDN or plugin.

Does it follow JavaScript redirects?

No. It follows HTTP redirects, the ones crawlers trust most. A JavaScript redirect only works after the page renders.

Is HSTS checked too?

The security headers checker and the SSL checker report the Strict-Transport-Security header, which tells browsers to use https without the first redirect.

Can I check a list of urls?

Use the bulk audit to check several addresses in one go, then open each report for the redirect details.

↑ ↓ to move↵ to openesc to close