What is a Redirect Chain?
A redirect chain is a series of redirects that are set up on a website. This can happen when there are multiple pages on a website that have been moved to different locations, or when the website has been redesigned. Redirect chains can also occur when there are errors in the code.
When this happens, it can cause problems for your SEO efforts, and you may be faced with a “redirect chain too long” error. In this article, we will discuss what redirect chains are, how they affect SEO, and how to fix them!
Redirect Chain too Long
“Redirect chain too long” is a common error that can occur when setting up redirects on a website. The problem occurs when there are multiple redirects in place, causing the browser to go through a series of steps before finally reaching the intended destination.
This can result in a significant delay, and in some cases, the browser may even give up and display an error message.
Here’s an example of a redirect chain that is too long: page A is redirected to page B; page B is redirected to page C; page C is redirected back to page A. In this chain, the Googlebot doesn’t know which page is valid and therefore it cannor crawl the pages properly. This can impact your SEO.
If you have this kind of chain on your website, try replacing it with this: page A and page B redirected to page C. If page C isn’t valid either, then you should find a page D that is valid and redirect all pages there.
The good news is that redirect chains can usually be fixed relatively easily. In most cases, it simply involves removing unnecessary redirects or consolidating redirects that are going to the same destination.
By doing this, you can help ensure that your website loads quickly and smoothly for all users.
How to Fix Long Redirect Chains?
Long redirect chains can cause a number of problems for your website, including:
- Slower loading times
- SEO penalties
- Lost traffic
To avoid these problems, it is important to fix redirect chains as soon as possible by:
- removing any unnecessary redirects, and
- ensuring your redirects are pointing to the right destination.
The best way to do this is to use a 301 redirect. This will redirect users from the old page to the new page, and it will also tell search engines that the page has been permanently moved.
Once the 301 redirect is in place, your website will load faster and your SEO efforts will not be penalized.