The Effect of Redirect Chains and Loops

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Lets Begin with Redirect Chain
An initial URL requested and its final
destination are both redirected at least once.
This is known as a redirect chain. This means
visitors and search engine crawlers will take
longer to load URL C because of URL A redirects
to URL B.
What Causes a Redirect Loop?
It is common for redirect loops to occur because
of poorly configured redirects. Incorrect
redirect rules in the configuration of your web
server or CMS, CDN redirect rules, or a
misalignment between these systems are all
possible causes. Think about when you have
redirects configured for old URLs on your web
server, but then move all future redirects to
your CMSs redirect manager. Having a redirection
from URL A to URL B in the configuration of your
web server is one thing. Implementing a
redirection from URL B to URL A is another.
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Difference between redirect chains and loops
In contrast to redirect loops, redirect chains
are different. A redirect chain knows where to
go, whereas a redirect loop involves a closed
redirect chain, an infinite circle of
redirects. This is what a redirect loop looks
like
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Why are redirect loops bad for SEO?
Browsers display errors when they encounter
redirect loops. The destination page will never
be displayed because of this issue. When search
engines figure out theyre caught in a redirect
loop, theyll stop following the
redirections. When a redirect loop occurs, this
process never finishes, because the final URL
never resolves, so ranking signals (such as
example link authority) are transmitted from one
URL to another. The rankings are thus affected.
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How do I resolve a chain redirect?
The time has come to learn how to correct
redirect chains if you believe they are a serious
problem. To assist with this process, you can use
an array of technical SEO tools. We will look at
Screaming Frog in this blog, as it is the most
popular tool of all. In order to begin, you
must identify which redirect chains and loops you
have. Look under Reports gt Redirects gt Redirect
Chains in Screaming Frog for the Redirect Chains
tool. Using the filter, run the report on pages
that return 301 or 302 status codes. An entire
list of URLs is displayed for each chain or
loop. To use this report as your worksheet, you
can export it to an Excel or Google Doc.
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Here are the four ways redirects could be hurting
your SEO efforts

1. Your redirection chains are set up
2. Using redirects for internal links
3. Too many 301s are being generated for no reason
4. You have canonical tags that redirect to your
   website

Why are redirect chains bad for SEO
In any case, why are redirect chains such a big
deal? What does it matter if there are a few
extra steps if the links point users and search
engines in the right direction? Several factors
can have a significant impact on your rank in
SERPs when you have large redirect chains
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1. Reduced Link Juice
You may be familiar with the term link juice
which refers to the boost your site gets from
reputable backlinks as you get more juice, the
stronger your search ranking will be.
2. Reduced Site Performance
Link after link leads to a longer loading time on
your destination page as servers work through the
links one by one. Now that site performance is a
crucial component of boosting SEO, more redirects
mean lower page rankings.
3. Crawling Concerns
Eventually, search engine bots will stop
crawling. Search spiders are not likely to exceed
their crawl budget before reaching the end of
most smaller websites unless redirects escalate.
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How to Find Redirect Chains
It is possible for you to go through each page,
each link, and every redirect on your site
manually, but this is a resource- and
time-intensive especially if you are in the
process of expanding your site. Whats the best
option? Online redirect checkers can help you
identify which links are working correctly and
which are causing problems. Among the most
popular solutions are
1. Screaming Frog
2. Redirect-checker.org
Search for broken links, audit links, and find
duplicate content with the SEO Spider from
Screaming Frog. In addition to the free version,
SEO Spider also offers a paid version that offers
unlimited redirect reports. The main difference
between the two is that the free version crawls
only 500 URLs.
Find out if a page has been redirected 301 or 302
by typing in your http// or https// address.
Free URL checking tools can be useful for
specific URLs, but they arent designed to scan
whole websites.
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3. DeepCrawl
4. Sitebulb
The company offers three plans Light, Light
Plus, and Enterprise, and bills itself as the
worlds best website crawler.. For example, the
Light plan allows you to submit 10,000 URLs per
month for one project, while the Light Plus plan
allows you to submit 40,000 URLs, and the
Enterprise plan provides unlimited redirection
reports.
Sitebulb provides a host of reports that measure
your sites crawl-friendliness and where redirect
issues are occurring, as well as what links are
spread out around it. The free trial period runs
for 14 days, then Sitebulb offers a monthly
subscription.
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How to Remove a Redirect Chain
In the event you find redirect chains, removing
them is straightforward simply provide a link
pointing toward the final URL and not another
redirect instead of the first destination
page. For example, URL C will redirect URL A
instead of URL B in the example above, allowing
you to skip the middle step and protect your SEO
ranking. You can leave URL Bs redirect to URL C
intact if it is still backlinked by other sites.
It may be worthwhile to delete or archive the
page if it only serves to bridge older URL A to
the newer URL C. The link juice you gain from an
initial jump is approximately 15 lost with every
301 redirects after that. Cut down on redirects
wherever possible to fill up your SERP cup.
How to Prevent Redirect Chains
Using redirect tools such as those mentioned
above will help you prevent redirect chains from
building up over time. A good idea is to keep
track of new URLs at the time theyre created,
either by using a shared spreadsheet or by using
automated tools, in order to make sure that new
URLs are associated with the first redirect
instead of the ones further down.
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Redirect chains should be avoided for three
reasons.

1. Crawling with a delay Google generally does not
   follow more than five redirect hops in any one
   crawl. It then aborts the crawl in order to
   conserve crawl resources and prevent getting
   stuck. You may experience indexing issues as a
   result of this.
2. During redirects, not all link equity or page
   authority is preserved. Thus, even a single extra
   hop decreases the amount of page authority passed
   on. The target URL will only receive 85.7 of the
   link equity originally passed on in a chain of
   three redirects, and you lose 5 with every
   redirect.
3. The page will load more slowly Redirecting users
   to other pages in the same domain increases page
   loading times, reducing crawl budget. Search
   engine bots need to request an additional URL any
   time they receive a 3xx status code. As a result,
   search engine bots can spend less time crawling
   other pages if they are forced to wait.

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What's the best way to reverse a 301 redirect
301 redirects are permanent redirects that pass
between 90 and 99 of the link equity (ranking
power) to the redirected page. Redirections on a
website are most often implemented using the 301
redirects. Suppose you wanted to reverse a 301
redirect so users would be directed back to the
original page? Can it be done? Yes, in a
nutshell. Despite its technical permanence, the
redirect may not work as youd hope and could
lead to additional problems.
Breaking Bad (Chains)
Despite the fact that backlinks and other
dofollow sources have redirect chains, SEO starts
suffering from them as the chains grow longer and
longer. Is there a better option? Develop URL
management frameworks to decrease redirect risk
by using powerful redirect tools to identify
long-tail chains and tackling them as smaller
pieces as possible.
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