What is a Redirect Chain? How to Find & Fix Them

Definition

A redirect chain occurs when a URL redirects to another URL, which in turn redirects to yet another URL, and so on, before the user or crawler finally reaches the destination page. For example: URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C, which redirects to URL D. That is a chain of three redirects.

Redirect chains are different from a single 301 redirect, which moves directly from the old URL to the new one in a single hop.

How redirect chains form

Redirect chains typically accumulate over time through a series of well-intentioned changes:

• Multiple site migrations — each migration adds a redirect layer on top of previous ones.
• URL structure changes — reorganizing categories or paths without updating older redirects.
• HTTP to HTTPS migration — adding HTTPS redirects on top of existing path redirects.
• www normalization — combining www/non-www redirects with other redirects.
• CMS slug changes — changing page slugs multiple times, each creating a new redirect.

Performance impact

Each redirect in a chain adds latency. A single redirect typically adds 50–100 ms. A chain of three redirects can add 150–300 ms or more to page load time. On mobile connections, this is even worse. Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, so redirect chains directly affect your Core Web Vitals.

SEO impact

• Link equity dilution — while Google states that 301 redirects pass link equity, long chains may result in some loss.
• Crawl budget waste — each hop in the chain consumes a separate crawl request, effectively multiplying the crawl budget cost.
• Crawl depth issues — some crawlers may stop following redirects after a certain number of hops (commonly 5–10), meaning the final destination may never be reached.

How to detect redirect chains

Use the redirect checker tool to trace the full redirect path of any URL and see every hop in the chain. For a site-wide view, run a broken link scan to identify all URLs on your site that involve redirect chains.

How to fix redirect chains

1. Update redirects to point directly to the final destination — instead of A → B → C, make A redirect directly to C.
2. Update internal links — change links in your site's content and navigation to point to the final URL.
3. Audit after migrations — after any URL change or site migration, check for new chains that may have formed.
4. Monitor regularly — redirect chains tend to grow over time. Regular monitoring catches them before they become deep chains.

Explore all features of Broken Link Scan, including redirect chain detection, or scan your site now to find redirect issues.