ℹ️ Browser limitation: Due to browser security policies (CORS), live HTTP redirects cannot be fetched client-side. Use this tool to simulate and document your redirect chain manually, or use our recommended server-side tools below to retrieve live status codes.

🔗 Build Your Redirect Chain

Add each hop in your redirect chain. Assign the status code for each step, then click Analyze.

📖 HTTP Redirect Status Code Reference

301

Moved Permanently — Permanent redirect. Passes ~99% of link equity to the destination. Use for permanent URL changes. Google eventually stops crawling the old URL.

302

Found (Temporary) — Temporary redirect. Google continues to index the original URL and may not transfer link equity. Use only when the move is genuinely temporary.

307

Temporary Redirect — Modern equivalent of 302, strictly preserves request method. Google treats similarly to 302 for SEO purposes.

308

Permanent Redirect — Modern equivalent of 301, strictly preserves request method. Treated like 301 by Google.

200

OK — Final destination with successful response. This is where your redirect chain should end.

404

Not Found — The requested URL doesn't exist. If your redirect chain ends here, fix it immediately.

410

Gone — Page is permanently removed. Stronger signal to Google than 404 that the content will not return.

500

Server Error — The server failed to process the request. Can temporarily harm rankings if persistent.

📊 Link Equity Flow Estimator

Estimate how much PageRank passes through your redirect chain. Each redirect hop loses approximately 1-5% of link equity.

Number of redirect hops

Redirect type

Estimated equity passed

~97%

1-hop 301

🔗 Recommended Live Redirect Testing Tools

🌐

httpstatus.io

Check live HTTP status codes and full redirect chain for any URL.

↪️

redirect-checker.org

Full redirect chain visualization with response time per hop.

🔍

Google Search Console URL Inspection

See how Google crawls and indexes any specific URL, including redirects.

🔦

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Desktop crawler that maps all redirects across your entire site.

How Redirects Affect SEO: 301 vs 302 and Everything In Between

Redirects are a fundamental part of web architecture — they tell browsers and search engines that a URL has moved. Done correctly, redirects preserve your SEO value during site migrations, URL structure changes, and content reorganizations. Done incorrectly, they can cause link equity loss, crawl budget waste, and ranking drops.

The most important distinction for SEO is between permanent and temporary redirects. A 301 redirect signals that a URL has permanently moved and Google should update its index to point to the new URL. Over time, Google consolidates ranking signals — including backlinks — onto the destination URL. A 302 redirect tells Google the move is temporary, so it continues to index the original URL and typically doesn't transfer link equity to the destination.

Redirect chains — where A redirects to B, which redirects to C — are a common SEO problem. Each additional hop in a chain introduces latency (slowing page load), increases the risk of a broken link breaking the entire chain, and may dilute link equity. Google recommends flattening redirect chains to a maximum of one or two hops wherever possible.

Redirect Best Practices for SEO

Use 301 for permanent moves — Any permanent URL change — page rename, HTTP to HTTPS migration, domain change — should use a 301 redirect.
Flatten redirect chains — If you have A → B → C, update A to redirect directly to C. Never let chains grow longer than 2 hops.
Update internal links — Don't rely on redirects for internal links. Update your CMS to point internal links directly to the final URL to avoid unnecessary redirect overhead.
Monitor your redirect map — Keep a spreadsheet of all active redirects. When you add a new redirect, check whether the source URL is the destination of an existing redirect — this is how chains grow silently.

↪️ Redirect Checker (301/302)