🔄 HTTP Redirect Checker

Trace and analyze HTTP redirects to see the complete redirect chain for any URL.

💡 Tip: Enter a URL and click "Check Redirects" to trace the redirect chain.
Enter a URL and click "Check Redirects" to view results.

What gets followed

Give it a URL and our server requests it, follows each Location header it is handed, and reports the hops and how many there were. Everything here happens at the HTTP level, which is the same level a crawler works at, and it is worth knowing what that leaves out: a <meta http-equiv="refresh"> tag or a location.href in JavaScript will not appear, because no HTML is parsed and no script is executed. If a browser lands somewhere this tool does not, one of those two is the reason.

Reading the status codes

CodeMeaning
301Moved permanently. Search engines pass the old URL's signals to the new one and eventually swap it in the index.
302Found, temporary. The original URL stays the indexed one, which is right for a sale page and wrong for a migration.
303See other. Sends the client to a page it must fetch with GET - the standard cure for a form resubmitted on refresh.
307Temporary, but the method survives. A POST stays a POST rather than quietly turning into a GET.
308Permanent, method preserved. The strict version of a 301.

In practice Google reads 301 and 308 as one thing and 302, 303 and 307 as another, so the permanent-versus-temporary choice matters far more than the number you pick within each pair.

Browsers cache a 301 hard, often until the profile is cleared, and there is no way to reach out and undo one you sent by mistake. When a move might be reversed, ship a 302 first and promote it to 301 once you are sure.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use a 301 or a 302 redirect?

Use 301 when the old address is finished with - a page renamed, a domain moved, HTTP going to HTTPS. Use 302 when the original will be back: an item out of stock, a country splash page, maintenance. Sending a 302 for a permanent move leaves the old URL in the index competing with the new one, which is the usual reason a migration stalls.

Do redirects cost me ranking?

Google has said since 2016 that no PageRank is lost through any 3xx redirect, so a single clean hop costs nothing in signal. What it does cost is time and crawl budget: every hop is a round trip the visitor waits through, and a chain of four adds up to a real delay on mobile. Point old URLs straight at the final destination rather than through each other.

Is a meta refresh redirect a problem?

Google follows one with a zero-second delay and treats it much like a 301, but it is the worst option available. The browser has to download and parse the page before it learns to leave, the back button behaves oddly, and a delay of more than zero seconds is not treated as a redirect at all. Use a server-side status code where you can.