Checking redirects
Between the link someone clicks and the page that appears there are often several stations. The browser only shows the last one.
How chains grow without anyone noticing
Hardly any chain is built on purpose. It grows because every change leaves another rule behind:
- The site moves from
httptohttps– one redirect. - Then from
wwwto the bare domain – the second. - A relaunch changes the URL structure – the third.
- An affiliate or shortening service is put in front – the fourth.
- The target shop forwards to its country version – the fifth.
Every step is right on its own. Together they form a detour nobody designed and nobody sees in daily use.
Why this is more than untidy
It costs time. Every hop is a separate request including name resolution and TLS handshake. On a mobile network that adds up noticeably before a single byte of the actual page arrives.
It costs clarity. Search engines do follow chains, but every additional station makes it less certain which address ends up counting as the authoritative one.
And it breaks quietly. If a station in the middle disappears – a discontinued shortening service, a deleted rule – the link is dead even though start and destination both work perfectly. Checking only the destination never finds it.
The cases you have to see individually
The loop
A points to B, B points back to A. Browsers give up after a few rounds with an error, search engines abandon the address. Typical cause: one rule enforces www, a second enforces the opposite.
The changed request method
With 301 and 302, browsers are allowed to turn a submitted form (POST) into a plain fetch (GET) along the way – the entered data is then gone. To prevent that, use 307 or 308: what the codes mean in detail.
The silent jump into nothing
Some chains do not end at the expected page but on a home page or an error page that still reports 200. To a search engine that looks like a valid result. Only comparing the requested and the final address reveals it.
Different answers for different visitors
Not everyone is redirected the same way. Some servers send mobile devices somewhere else than desktop browsers, and search engine bots somewhere else again. What looks clean in your own browser can be an entirely different chain for Googlebot.
How to make the chain visible
The browser is little help here: it follows every hop and shows only the result. LinkSniffer walks the chain step by step instead and records each hop with its own status code – up to 20 stations.
You can also choose what to ask as: desktop browser, mobile device or Googlebot. That is exactly where it shows whether a redirect works the same way for everyone.