free tool

Redirect & canonical checker

Long redirect chains and the wrong canonical leak crawl budget and link equity. Paste a URL — we follow every hop and read the final page's canonical tag.

What this tool checks

A redirect checker traces every hop a URL takes — 301, 302 — from the address you enter to the page that actually loads, and reports the final canonical at the end of the chain. It flags redirect loops, chains longer than one hop, http→https upgrades, and cross-domain or cross-canonical jumps that quietly bleed link equity and slow down crawlers. Long or broken chains cost you: search bots may drop pages from the index, and AI engines resolving your URL can land on the wrong page — or nothing — and cite a competitor instead.

What it looks at

Redirect chain length
The number of hops between the URL you enter and the page that finally loads; each extra hop adds latency and dilutes the authority passed through, so a single 301 is ideal.
Redirect loop
An A→B→A cycle that never resolves, leaving the page unreachable and returning an error to both users and crawlers.
http→https upgrade
Whether an insecure address redirects to its secure equivalent in one clean hop, rather than through a messy multi-step chain.
Cross-canonical redirect
When the final page's canonical tag points to a different URL than where the chain ended — a contradictory signal about which address is the authoritative one.
Final canonical tag
The rel=canonical the destination declares, telling search and AI engines the single URL they should index and cite.
Status code (301 vs 302)
Permanent versus temporary; using a 302 for a permanent move leaks equity and keeps the old URL lingering in the index.

How to use it

  1. Paste your URL — ideally an http:// or a known old/redirecting address — and run the trace.
  2. Review the flagged hops: loops, chains longer than one hop, and any cross-canonical or protocol mismatch.
  3. Fix the chain so it resolves in a single 301 to the final canonical URL, then re-run to confirm one clean hop.

Frequently asked questions

What's wrong with a long redirect chain?

Each hop adds latency and can dilute the link equity reaching the final page, and Google may stop following after several hops, leaving the destination unindexed. Aim for a single 301 straight to the final URL.

301 vs 302 — which should I use?

Use 301 (permanent) when a URL has moved for good: it passes authority and tells engines to update their index. 302 (temporary) is for short-lived redirects; using it for a permanent move keeps the old URL indexed and leaks equity.

What is a cross-canonical redirect?

It's when the page you finally land on declares a rel=canonical pointing to yet another URL — so the redirect ends in one place but the canonical says the real page is elsewhere. That contradiction confuses which URL search and AI engines should index and cite.

Why do redirects affect AI citations?

When an AI engine resolves your link, a loop or broken chain can leave it with no reachable page, and a cross-canonical mismatch can send it to the wrong URL — so it cites a competitor whose path resolves cleanly. A single clean redirect to a self-consistent canonical keeps you the citable source.

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