What is a redirect chain?
Redirecting pages is sometimes necessary and a natural process, which usually isn’t a problem. However, a problem arises when you redirect to a page that has already been redirected elsewhere. This creates what is known as a redirect chain.
The more redirects a request goes through, the harder it is for search engines to follow. This not only wastes crawl budget but also increases page load times, which can negatively impact your rankings.
Google will follow up to 5 redirects in a chain. If it cannot reach the target page after that, it will stop indexing it. On a well-maintained website, there should ideally be no internal redirected links.
One of the key tasks in technical SEO is to identify and eliminate these redirects. This process helps preserve existing links in search engines and browsers and ensures that pages remain accessible even when a site’s structure or URL changes.
Redirect chains allow visitors to reach the correct content through old links, preventing user frustration from encountering broken links or inaccessible pages.
When implementing a redirect chain, it’s important to understand the types of redirects and the HTTP status codes used. The two most common types are 301 and 302 redirects.
301 Redirect: This indicates a permanent redirect, signaling to search engines and browsers that the original link has permanently moved to a new address. Search engine will update their index, and the link’s ranking power is passed to the new link.
302 Redirect: This indicates a temporary redirect, where the original link temporarily points to a new address, but the ranking power remains with the old link.
When setting up a redirect chain, it’s essential to ensure URLs contain relevant keywords and are properly configured to maintain search engine friendliness. A well-managed redirect strategy improves website navigation, preserves ranking, and minimizes the negative impact of broken or faulty links.
Search engines value efficient redirects, so it’s critical to ensure that redirect chains function correctly across all devices and browsers. Redirects should be fast and efficient to avoid affecting page load speeds and user experience negatively.
The role of keywords in redirect chains is also crucial. Proper keyword use in URLs and content helps search engines understand the pages’ content and display them in relevant search results. Selecting and placing the right keywords in your content is key to increasing organic traffic and improving rankings.
Avoiding redirect loops
The worst-case scenario of redirect chains is when a redirected page loops back to the starting page, creating an infinite redirect loop. These loops make it impossible for search engines to index the page, resulting in search engines dropping the page from their index.