A redirect chain occurs when a series of redirects link together, moving users and search engine bots from one webpage to another. While a small number of redirects can be quite common and even necessary, long chains of redirects are typically harmful to user experience as well as search engine rankings. In this article, we will discuss what a redirect chain is, how it affects both users and SEO, and provide steps to avoid or fix long redirect chains.
What is a Redirect Chain?
A redirect chain forms when one URL redirects to another, and that URL redirects to another, ad infinitum. For example, when Page A redirects to Page B, and Page B redirects to Page C, this creates a basic 3-step redirect chain. While this may seem harmless on the surface, long or poorly managed redirect chains can have a range of negative effects. Below is a simple illustration of a 3-step redirect chain:
| Step | Redirect Flow |
|---|---|
| 1 | Page A redirects to Page B |
| 2 | Page B redirects to Page C |
| 3 | Page C is the final destination |
Simple redirect chains of two or three links may not cause too many issues, but when the chains get long, they can cause significant slowdowns and other issues, particularly for search engine crawlers and user experiences.
Understanding the Types of Redirects
There are two common types of HTTP redirects:
- 301 Redirect: This is a permanent redirect, signalling to browsers and search engines that the page has moved to a new, permanent location. When implemented correctly, a 301 redirect passes nearly all of the original page’s SEO value to the new page.
- 302 Redirect: This indicates a temporary move. Search engines still consider the original page's SEO value intact, though there are risks that come with using it over the long term.
The key point here is that multiple redirects, whether 301 or 302, can slow down crawl rates and lead to a degraded user experience.
How Do Redirect Chains Affect SEO?
While redirects themselves don't inherently harm SEO, chains of redirects can. Search engines like Google don't just view a webpage once. They crawl it multiple times, and if more time is spent crawling through redirect chains, less time is available to index your actual content. This issue, commonly called crawl budget waste, can lead to parts of your site being poorly indexed or even left out of Google’s search index entirely.
Additionally, there is evidence that PageRank, a ranking signal integral to Google's algorithm, may decrease with each successive redirect in a chain. This would mean that some of the value from the original page is lost as the chain increases in length.
In short, long redirect chains can lead to slower crawling, less frequent indexing, and a decrease in SEO value. Major knock-on effects include:
- Poor user experience caused by slow loading times.
- Negative SEO impact as fewer pages get crawled effectively.
- Potential loss of rank for important pages due to reduced PageRank flow.
- Increased server load due to repetitive requests.
How Redirect Chains Affect User Experience
From a user perspective, redirect chains can also result in slow loading times and confusing browsing experiences. When a person clicks on a link and is bounced through multiple URLs before landing on the final page, this process consumes time. Each redirect adds to the page’s total load time, causing frustration and increasing the likelihood that the user might abandon the session.
Consider this: Google confirmed that page speed is a ranking factor for its search algorithm, and for mobile search, speed is even more crucial. So, even if SEO wasn't immediately affected, you'd still want fast-loading pages to retain visitors. High bounce rates can negatively impact your website's performance in an era where users have increasingly short attention spans.
How to Detect and Fix Redirect Chains
Now that you understand the dangers of redirect chains, it’s essential to proactively manage and resolve these issues. Here are some simple steps to detect and fix redirect chains on your website.
Use Audit Tools
Several tools can help identify redirect chains, making it easy to find and fix these issues across your site. Some popular choices include:
- Ahrefs: Ahrefs' site audit tool can detect redirect chains in bulk and will also highlight other technical SEO issues.
- Screaming Frog: A downloadable SEO tool that crawls websites and provides extensive reports on your redirect chains, broken links, and more.
- SEMrush: SEMrush's Site Audit project also scans for redirect chains and loops, flagging them for correction.
Check Your Web Server Log Files
In addition to using tools, check your web logs, as they can help you trace user and bot interactions with your site and identify points of failure where redirect chains cause problems.
Try Browser Redirect Plugins
There are also browser extension tools that make it easy to trace redirects in real-time as you navigate through a site. Redirect Path is an extension available for Google Chrome that lets you see the exact path a redirect chain takes in real-time.
Best Practices to Avoid Redirect Chains
Once you've identified and fixed the existing redirect chains, it's important to follow best practices to avoid them in the future:
- Minimize URL Changes: Where possible, limit changes to your URLs. Changing page names, slugs, or paths without careful consideration can add to multiple redirects over time.
- Implement Direct Redirects: If you're updating a page URL, try to point all incoming links directly to the final URL in one step. Avoid redirecting to a temporary or interim page.
- Review External Backlinks: Backlinks to older versions of your content may link into multi-step redirect loops. Try to have those backlinks updated to direct links, reducing the redirection layers.
- Monitor Your Redirects Regularly: Keep an eye on changes through regular site audits. Every major update should come with a quick review to ensure no additional unnecessary redirect chains were triggered.
- Use Canonical URLs: Setting canonical URLs can help reduce duplicate content and unnecessary redirects when search engines find multiple versions of the same page.
Should You Remove All Redirects?
The goal is not necessarily to remove all redirects—redirects can be helpful for many reasons, particularly when migrating pages or domain names. Instead, focus on reducing how many redirects there are and ensuring they are used efficiently. For example, having a single 301 redirect from an old page to a new page is fine. But you should avoid linking multiple redirects together unnecessarily, which creates redirect chains.
If you’re managing a website migration or performing a major website update, take extra care to plan out your redirect strategy ahead of time to make sure you minimize the creation of redirect chains.
Conclusion
Redirect chains can harm your site's performance, SEO, and user experience. By understanding what a redirect chain is and the damage it can cause, website owners can take defensive action to audit and fix faulty redirects. Using the appropriate tools and following best practices ensures that your redirects are clean, reducing load times and maximizing user experience.
If you're interested in learning more about SEO best practices related to redirects, check out the Google Search Central guide on 301 redirects, which provides further details on how to manage your redirects efficiently for search engines.
By reducing and properly managing redirect chains, you ensure that both users and search engine bots have a smooth and seamless experience on your website.
