redirect-chain

name	redirect-chain
description	Use when auditing site redirects after URL migrations, domain changes, or CMS upgrades. Applies to any site that has had multiple rounds of structural changes over time.
metadata	{"category":"seo","priority":"high","difficulty":"intermediate","estimatedTime":"15","source":"frontendchecklist.io","url":"https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/redirect-chain"}

Avoid multi-hop redirect chains

Redirect chains waste crawl budget, reduce PageRank flow to destination pages, and add latency that harms user experience—Googlebot may abandon long chains entirely, leaving destination pages undiscovered.

Quick Reference

• A redirect chain is A→B→C — Googlebot may stop following after 5 hops
• Each hop loses PageRank and adds page load latency
• Flatten chains by pointing A directly to C with a single 301
• Audit after every URL migration to catch newly created chains

Check

Follow all redirect rules configured on the site. Identify any URL where the redirect target itself also redirects (chain of 2+ hops). Report the full chain (URL A → URL B → URL C → final), the number of hops, and the HTTP response code at each step.

Fix

For each redirect chain, update the first redirect to point directly to the final destination URL. Example: if A→B→C, update A's redirect to point directly to C, eliminating the B hop. Verify the chain is gone by following the URL and confirming a single 301 or 302 followed by a 200.

Explain

A redirect chain occurs when page A redirects to page B, which also redirects to page C. Googlebot follows redirect chains up to a certain number of hops (reportedly 5), then stops—meaning the final destination may not be crawled. Each redirect also loses a portion of the PageRank that would have passed through a direct link.

Code Review

Test each redirect rule configured on the server. For each source URL, follow all redirect hops and record the full chain. Flag any chain with 2 or more hops (source → intermediate → final). Check for redirect loops (A→B→A). Verify that the final destination returns 200. Report: source URL, intermediate URLs, number of hops, final URL, and HTTP status at each step.

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For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance, see references/rule.md.

Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/redirect-chain