What Is a Redirect Chain?
A redirect chain happens when one URL redirects to another, which redirects again:
A → B → C → D
Search engines dislike this because each hop slows down crawling and page loading.
Why Redirect Chains Are Bad
- Poor loading performance
- Google may stop following after 5 hops
- Social platforms truncate previews
- Analytics and tracking break
How to Detect Redirect Chains
Use the Redirect Chain Checker from the Webmaster Toolbox. It shows every hop and HTTP status along the path.
Best Practices
- Always redirect directly to the final target
- Use 301 for permanent redirects
- Clean old redirect tables regularly