Redirect Checker
Trace any URL’s redirect chain hop by hop — across six user-agents at once — and catch cloaking, protocol downgrades, header problems, and noindex traps.
Free · no signup · real data — provided by Keywords Everywhere, embedded live below.
What the Redirect Checker does
Redirects fail invisibly: chains grow hop by hop over years of migrations, a stray 302 sits where a 301 belongs, and authority leaks at every step. This checker traces the full chain hop-by-hop and — the differentiating part — fetches as six different user-agents simultaneously, so you see when a URL serves Googlebot something different from Chrome. That’s cloaking detection, deliberate or accidental.
Along the way it flags what other redirect tools skip: mixed-protocol downgrades (HTTPS hopping through HTTP), weak security headers, and noindex traps hiding at a chain’s destination. Run it on your money pages after any migration, and on affiliate links quarterly — half of "why did my affiliate revenue drop" turns out to be a broken redirect chain. If a destination page then needs a deeper look, the SEO Analyzer picks it up from there.
How to use it
- Enter the URL — the original, not the final destination.
- Read the hop-by-hop chain: status code per hop, chain length, and final destination.
- Compare user-agent columns — differing behavior between Googlebot and browsers is the red flag.
- Fix the pattern, not the symptom: point old URLs directly at final destinations, one 301 per hop.
Redirect Checker FAQ
How many redirect hops are too many?
Aim for one. Google follows up to ten before giving up, but each hop adds latency and dilutes link signals. Chains beyond two hops are migration debt — repoint the first URL straight at the final destination.
301 or 302 — does it still matter?
Yes. A 301 says "moved permanently, transfer the signals"; a 302 says "temporary, keep the old URL indexed". Temporary redirects that sit for years leave Google guessing at your intent. If the move is permanent, say so with a 301.
What is a noindex trap?
A redirect chain that lands on a page carrying a noindex directive — often the residue of a botched migration or a staging config in production. Every redirect pointing there quietly deletes pages from the index. It’s one of the nastiest silent SEO failures, and exactly what this checker surfaces.