How many redirects are too many?

Aim for one hop at most: http to https, or old URL to new URL, straight to the final page. Google follows up to 10, but every hop slows discovery and page loads.

Should http:// and www redirect?

Yes. Each variant should redirect with a 301 or 308 to the one version you want indexed. Run the checker on each variant to confirm.

Does it follow meta refresh or JavaScript redirects?

No. It follows HTTP redirects only: 3xx responses with a Location header. Meta refresh and JavaScript redirects need a browser.

Yes. Every tool is free with no signup.

Do you store what I enter?

Browser tools never leave your device. Live tools fetch the URL you enter and don’t save the result.

How is this different from the site audit?

This tool checks one thing in depth. The site audit checks everything at once and scores SEO, AI Search and Agent Readiness.

Tools / Crawling & indexing

Follow every redirect hop

Trace a URL from the first request to the final page with the status code of each step. Catch loops, long chains, temporary redirects and HTTPS downgrades.

Free, no signup.

URL

Example result: github.com · checked 2026-09-30

Redirect chain (2 hops)

1. [301] http://github.com/ → https://github.com/
2. [200] https://github.com/

Clean — no chains, loops or downgrades.

Why it matters

Google stops at 10 hops

Googlebot follows up to 10 redirect hops, then reports a redirect error. Every extra hop also adds a round trip for users and crawlers.

301 and 302 mean different things

Google treats 301 and 308 as a strong signal that the target should be canonical, and 302 and 307 as a weak one. Use permanent redirects for permanent moves.

Downgrades drop encryption

A redirect from https to http sends that hop unencrypted and can trigger browser warnings. It usually comes from a proxy or CMS setting.

What it checks

Every hop

Each URL requested, its status code and its Location header.

Chain length

Flags more than two redirects before the final page.

Loops

Stops and reports a loop when a hop points back to a URL already visited.

Temporary redirects

302 and 307, which should be 301 or 308 for permanent moves.

HTTPS downgrades

Any hop that sends an https URL to http.

Safe fetching

Each hop is requested separately, up to 10, and private or internal addresses are refused.

How it works

Enter a URL

A domain or page address. No install, nothing to add to your site.

We fetch it live

Our servers request the page read-only, the way a crawler would.

Read and fix

Get the results in seconds, with what each one means.

Questions

More in Crawling & indexing

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Check everything at once

The site audit checks your whole site and scores SEO, AI Search and Agent Readiness in about 30 seconds.

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