Redirect Checker
Short answer
Trace redirect chains and identify redirect issues.
What It Does
Follows every redirect from a starting URL to its final destination, returning the status code and target URL at each hop. Flags redirect chains longer than a single hop and redirect loops.
Why It Matters
Every extra redirect adds a round trip before the page starts to load, and every hop is one more rule that can break. Site moves and CMS plugins often leave chains behind that nobody notices until a link from another site stops landing where it should. Tracing a URL shows the whole path at once.
How It Works
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Enter your starting URL and click Trace
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We follow each redirect with a fresh request, capturing status + Location
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Detect chains longer than a single hop, and redirect loops
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Return a hop-by-hop table with each status code and destination, plus the total time for the chain
Sample input + output
url: https://rankproof.eu/old-pricing
redirect chain (1 hop):
1. http://rankproof.eu/old-pricing
→ 301 https://rankproof.eu/tools
final status: 200 OK
chain length: 1 (target ≤ 1) OK
loop detected: no OK
mixed http/https: scheme upgrade only OK
temporary redirect (302): no OK Who Uses This
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Migration Lead
Post-migration sweep — trace every old URL to confirm it lands at the new equivalent in exactly one hop.
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Technical SEO
Trace the URLs that other sites link to and replace any chain with a single direct redirect.
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DevOps Engineer
Trace key URLs after every deploy that touches routing and catch new multi-hop chains.
Frequently Asked Questions
301 or 302 — which should I use?
Use 301 (or 308) when a page has moved for good; Google treats it as a strong signal that the new URL is the one to show. Use 302 (or 307) for temporary moves, such as a short campaign.
How many hops does Google follow?
Google's crawler follows up to 10 redirect hops and reports an error after that. Each hop still adds delay, so point every old URL straight to its final address.
Does meta-refresh count as a redirect?
Google treats an instant meta refresh as a permanent redirect and a delayed one as a temporary redirect. A server-side redirect is still the most reliable option, and it is the only kind this tool follows.
Why is my redirect chain so long?
Usually separate rules run one after another: www to non-www, HTTP to HTTPS, then a trailing-slash rule. Combine them into one rule in your CDN, proxy or web server.
Can it detect JavaScript-based redirects?
No — we follow HTTP-level redirects only. JavaScript-driven navigation isn't triggered because the page is never rendered.