Redirect Chain Checker & HTTP Audit
Parse compact redirect rows or copied HTTP response headers, resolve each Location, and audit loops, missing targets, protocol downgrades, intent conflicts, and final status.
- Rows & Header Parsing
- 301–308 Classification
- Loop & Downgrade Detection
- Exact Hop Report
- Rating-Gated Copy
Choose an action to generate output.
What is the Redirect Chain Checker?
The Redirect Chain Checker audits evidence you already captured from a browser, command-line client, proxy, server log, or redirect configuration review. Compact mode accepts Status | Request URL | Location rows, while header mode accepts consecutive HTTP status and response-header blocks. A valid relative Location is resolved against the URL that produced the response.
This tool does not make a server-side request, follow the supplied URL, inspect DNS or TLS, or claim that pasted evidence is the current live behavior. The chain health value summarizes errors and warnings in the supplied evidence only. Always retest the deployed route and confirm that redirects, canonical tags, internal links, sitemaps, and the intended lifetime agree.
How to audit a redirect chain
- Choose Compact rows for an explicit chain or HTTP headers for output copied from a network client. In header mode, add the absolute starting request URL so every response and relative Location can be connected.
- Select the original request method and whether the routing is intended to be permanent, temporary, or mixed. Method context is important because 307 and 308 preserve the method while historical 301 and 302 handling may change a non-safe request to GET.
- In compact mode, enter Status | Request URL | Location. The final response normally has no Location. Two-column legacy status-and-URL rows are supported, but inferred targets are identified clearly in the report.
- Review the flow, normalized hop table, and issues for invalid evidence, missing or multiple Location fields, repeated URLs, an unfinished chain, non-standard 3xx use, a broken destination, protocol downgrade, host change, fragments, tracking parameters, method behavior, and lifetime conflicts.
- Confirm the final status, then use Copy report. The first valid report copy uses the existing one-time rating flow and the copied text always matches the visible audit preview.
Benefits of this redirect audit workflow
- Parse explicit compact rows, request-first rows, two-column legacy chains, and consecutive HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, or HTTP/3 response-header blocks.
- Resolve an absolute or relative Location against the correct request URL and show both the captured value and normalized target.
- Classify 301 and 308 as permanent, 302 and 307 as temporary, and 303 as an indirect follow-up response while preserving method-related cautions.
- Detect redirect loops, self-targets, incomplete chains, invalid or duplicate Location evidence, HTTPS-to-HTTP downgrades, cross-host moves, fragment targets, tracking parameters, and error destinations.
- Separate blocking errors, practical warnings, and informational evidence notes without presenting the manual parser as a live crawler.
- Keep the visual flow, hop table, findings, tool output handoff, and rating-gated clipboard report synchronized with one exact audit state.
Redirect Checker FAQ
Does this tool follow my URL live?
No. It parses only the rows or response headers supplied in the browser. It does not request the URL, inspect the server, query a third-party API, or confirm the current production chain.
Which redirect codes are permanent or temporary?
For Google Search guidance, 301 and 308 are permanent server-side redirects. 302, 303, and 307 are temporary. Choose the status that matches whether the move is expected to remain.
Is a relative Location header invalid?
No. HTTP defines Location as a URI reference, so a relative value can be resolved against the request target. This tool shows the captured value and its resolved absolute URL.
What is the difference between 301 or 302 and 307 or 308 for request methods?
Historical user-agent behavior may change POST to GET while following 301 or 302. A 307 or 308 redirect preserves the request method. A 303 normally directs the client to retrieve another resource using GET or HEAD.
Why does a two-hop chain create a note?
Multiple redirects can be intentional, but each extra hop adds another request and another rule to maintain. Where behavior and migration requirements allow it, point the source directly to the final destination.
What does the chain health score mean?
It is a summary of errors and warnings found in the pasted evidence. It is not a live availability, SEO, indexing, ranking, security, latency, or PageSpeed score.
What should I verify after fixing a redirect?
Retest the deployed source URL, confirm the final content and status, and update internal links, canonical tags, sitemap entries, hreflang references, and other signals to the preferred final URL.
Why is there no Download button?
The complete audit is available through one dependable Copy report action. The existing one-time rating gate runs before the first valid report copy on that browser.
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