What does the redirect chain checker do? It follows a URL through every 301, 302, 307, 308, meta refresh and JavaScript redirect to the final page, flags loops and broken hops, and traces geo and device specific redirects from more than 20 countries.
Paste one live tracking link. Choose a device and country to simulate where the click comes from.
Note: Testing a live tracking URL may register one click in your tracker. We only follow the redirect path — no forms, no conversion postbacks.
Need ongoing checks? Learn how Link Monitoring works.
Features and usecases
Free to use. Trace any URL hop by hop with status codes and response times, from residential IPs in more than 20 countries, on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
See every redirect in the chain with its HTTP status code, redirect type and response time, all the way to the final URL. Covers 301, 302, 307, 308, meta refresh and JavaScript redirects.
Per hop
Most redirect checkers test from a single server location. Ours uses residential IPs in more than 20 countries and simulates Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, so you see the chain a real visitor gets.
Checks performed
Spot redirect loops, 4xx and 5xx errors in the middle of a chain, and chains that are simply too long. Fix them before they cost you crawl budget, page speed or conversions.
Issues flagged
Everything you need to know about checking redirect chains with our free tool.
Learn more about Integr8A redirect chain checker follows a URL through every redirect until it reaches the final page. It lists each hop with its HTTP status code and response time, so you can see how many redirects a URL passes through, whether any of them fail, and where visitors and search engines actually end up. Our tool can also run the check from different countries and devices, which most redirect checkers can't.
Paste the URL into the redirect chain checker, pick a device and a country, and run the test. A working redirect shows a 3xx status on each hop and a 200 on the final page. A 4xx or 5xx anywhere in the chain, a loop, or a final URL you didn't expect means something is broken.
The redirect chain checker follows these redirect types:
A 307 is a temporary redirect and a 308 is a permanent one, similar to 302 and 301. The difference is that 307 and 308 keep the original request method, so a POST request stays a POST. For SEO, Google treats a 308 like a 301 and a 307 like a 302.
If you see a 307 in Chrome DevTools on an HTTPS site, it is often HSTS. That redirect happens inside the browser, not on your server.
A single redirect is fine. Chains are the problem. Googlebot follows up to 10 hops and then stops, every extra hop slows down crawling, and the longer a chain gets, the more likely it is that something in the middle breaks.
Best practice is to point every old URL straight to its final destination and update internal links so they skip the redirect completely.
Aim for one. Two can happen, for example HTTP to HTTPS followed by a www redirect, but you can usually merge those into a single rule. Three or more hops is a chain worth fixing.
Affiliate and tracking links are the exception. The publisher link, the tracker and sometimes a smartlink each add a hop, because that is how the click gets attributed. There the goal is not fewer hops but making sure every hop works.
The tool uses a residential proxy to get an IP address in the country you select and sends the request as the device you picked. The chain is traced the way a real visitor from that country and device would see it, so you can verify geo redirects, regional offers, separate mobile routing and app store redirects.
To detect residential proxies in your own campaigns, learn about 24metrics click fraud detection.
Use the redirect chain checker for:
Yes. Paste a cloaked URL or a shortened link from bit.ly or TinyURL and the tool reveals the complete redirect chain behind it, hop by hop, not just the final page.
Yes. The tool is free to use with no hidden fees, registration requirements, or usage limits. If you need automated checks on hundreds of offers, that is part of the Integr8 platform.
Yes, but API access is not included in the free website tool.
For custom requests, contact us through the contact page.
A redirect chain happens when a URL doesn't go straight to its destination but passes through two or more redirects first. URL A sends you to URL B, B sends you to C, and only C loads the page. Each of those steps is called a hop.
Most chains aren't built on purpose. They pile up over time. A site moves to HTTPS, later switches from www to non-www, then restructures its URLs, and suddenly an old link passes through three or four redirects before anything loads.
Crawling. Googlebot follows up to 10 redirect hops before it gives up. Long before that limit, every extra hop is another request that slows crawling down, which adds up quickly on large sites.
Speed. Each hop adds a round trip. On a mobile connection, a three hop chain can add a noticeable delay before the page even starts loading.
Fragility. The more hops, the more places a chain can break. One retired domain or deleted rule in the middle, and every link pointing at the old URL ends in an error.
Loops. When a URL eventually redirects back to itself, the browser gives up and the visitor sees nothing. Loops usually come from conflicting rules in the server config, the CMS and the CDN.
HTTP to HTTPS to www chains. http://example.com goes to https://example.com, which goes to https://www.example.com. That's two hops where one rule would do.
Trailing slash and lowercase redirects stacked on top of other redirects.
Old migration redirects that point to URLs which were later redirected again.
Broken hops that return a 404, 410 or 5xx somewhere in the middle of the chain.
Wrong redirect types, for example a temporary 302 in a chain that should be permanent.
Geo and device specific redirects that send visitors from one country or on one device somewhere different than everyone else.
When you submit a URL, our system follows every redirect the way a real browser would. We record each hop with its HTTP status code, redirect type and response time, and show you the full path to wherever the URL ends up.
The checker handles 301, 302, 307 and 308 redirects, meta refresh tags and JavaScript redirects. Most redirect checkers test from one server location. Ours sends the request from a residential IP in the country you choose, as the device you pick. That matters for any site with geo redirects or separate mobile and app routing, because the chain a visitor in Germany gets on an iPhone can look completely different from what you see on your desktop.
In affiliate marketing, redirect chains are part of how a click gets tracked. A click usually passes through the publisher link, the network tracker, sometimes a smartlink, and then the advertiser's landing page. Those hops are normal, but they break more often than most redirects. Networks change tracking domains, offers get paused and landing pages move.
The same checker works for these links. Pick the country and device your traffic comes from and you see exactly where the click lands. If you test offers regularly, our Affiliate Link Checker is built for that workflow, and Integr8 can monitor every offer automatically and pause the ones that break.
Integr8 is an affiliate tracking platform with built-in link monitoring. It checks hundreds of tracking links around the clock and alerts you the moment a redirect chain breaks.