What Is a Redirect Chain? How It Hurts SEO & How to Fix It
A redirect chain is a sequence of two or more redirects between the original URL and the final landing page. For example, URL A → URL B → URL C. While each redirect may serve a specific purpose (like site migrations or fixing broken links), chaining them can negatively impact page load time, crawl efficiency, and SEO authority transfer. Googlebot may stop following after multiple hops, potentially neglecting important pages. Even worse, long chains can break entirely, causing 404 errors, high bounce rates, and loss of rankings.
Traffic dropped? Find the 'why' in 5 minutes, not 5 hours.
Spotrise is your AI analyst that monitors all your sites 24/7. It instantly finds anomalies, explains their causes, and provides a ready-to-use action plan. Stop losing money while you're searching for the problem.
Use Cases
Redirect chains often emerge when URL structures shift temporarily or in phases during replatforming or domain changes. Mapping URLs correctly prevents multi-hop redirects that hinder SEO performance.
Design overhauls often lead to multiple iterations of URLs. If updates stack on outdated redirects, they accumulate and form chains unless closely managed.
Quick patches on dead links sometimes result in temporary redirects. Without revising original source links, redirect chains balloon behind the scenes.
Adding SSL (HTTP to HTTPS)
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are redirect chains bad for SEO?
Redirect chains slow down page load times, dilute link equity, and can cause crawling issues for search engines. Google may not follow all redirects, meaning critical content could be ignored.
How many redirects are too many?
One or two redirects are usually fine. Anything beyond three risks being ignored by Googlebot and degrading site speed. Aim for one clean, direct redirect whenever possible.
How can I find redirect chains on my site?
Use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs Site Audit, or Google Search Console to crawl your site and flag multi-hop redirects. Many tools provide step-by-step redirect paths.
Do 301 redirects cause redirect chains?
Yes. Each redirect adds delay before the final content loads. On mobile connections especially, even a half-second delay can impact user experience and conversion.
Can redirect chains hurt page speed?
A redirect chain progresses through multiple URLs before resolving. A redirect loop continuously points URLs back to each other without resolution, causing infinite loading and browser errors.
Related Terms
Tired of the routine for 50+ clients?
Your new AI assistant will handle monitoring, audits, and reports. Free up your team for strategy, not for manually digging through GA4 and GSC. Let us show you how to give your specialists 10+ hours back every week.