Slickplan

URL redirect checker: Test 301s, websites, HTTP links & more

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About our URL redirect checker

A lot of variables play into the health of your website's SEO and ranking, one that's often overlooked is the quality and continuity of your redirects. Our URL redirect checker can help you get a handle on what's going on with your links, answering questions like; do redirected links go where they're supposed to? Are redirect chains or loops causing problems? Do redirects pass on the link juice and PageRank info? Our redirection checker gives you all of that and more, allowing you to diagnose any issues your links may have.

How to run a redirect test

After signing up to use the online redirect checker, you'll find that it's as intuitive as can be. Just enter the link you want to analyze in the URL redirect tool and click “check URL”. The redirect tester will have the results in an instant and from there you have a couple of options; if your redirects are in tip-top shape, you're good to go, if not, you can start the process of fixing them and improving your search engine optimization in the process.

How to use the Redirect Checker

Why do a link redirect check?

As mentioned at the top, links and redirects matter to your site's overall performance and a link redirect checker gives you the insights you need to improve where necessary. Saying these things matter is one thing but understanding why is a different story. With knowledge comes the ability and urgency to make sure you're getting it right.

Website redirect check

A domain redirect checker gives you the peace of mind that visitors are getting to where you want them to go. For instance, while trying to keep the competition at bay, you may have scooped up additional domains so your rivals couldn't use them and so you could redirect traffic to your actual site. Like if your main domain is www.examplesite.com, you might also buy the .net URL of your site, www.examplesite.net, as well. Or a variation on the wording, i.e., examplesite.com and siteexample.com.

A website redirect checker allows you to check domain redirects to make sure those URLs are sending traffic right where you want it, to your site.

HTTP to HTTPS redirect checker

The security of those that visit your site and the safety of their information – like credit card info, passwords, etc. – is paramount these days and the chief way to inform users that your site is protected is by having an HTTPS URL. As per Google, “HTTPS is the same as HTTP except HTTPS tells a browser to encrypt the data exchanged with a web page. Encryption disguises data and lessens the chance that your information is viewed or manipulated.” An SSL certificate, or secure sockets layer, is what allows you to use HTTPS. While many 3<sup>rd</sup> party hosts and website building sites handle this for you, it's not always the case.

Our SSL redirect checker will fill you in if you need to take action.

301 redirect checker

There are a couple of 300-level codes to be aware of. 301 is the most important because it's the type of redirect that passes on PageRank and authority from an old URL to a new one; a permanent redirect that tells search engines that this new link is where X content can now be found. Google then forwards the ranking power which a check 301 redirect confirms.

Conversely, a 302 redirect is temporary, telling search engines that the page has moved but will eventually return. A 302 redirect does not pass along authority or ranking and is often used when redesigning a site or when doing maintenance. You can see why this distinction matters for SEO and why a redirect tracker that can test 301 redirect is the quickest way to ensure you're using the right one.

Redirect chain checker

Redirect chains are exactly what they sound like, a bunch of redirects to a single page. The issue with them is that too many redirects can slow down the load time of your site because so many links need to load before finally getting to the main link destination. Moreover, your site becomes more difficult to crawl and with Google's limited crawl budget for each site, you run the risk of not having an important page indexed.

A link redirect trace is especially helpful in finding redirect chains so you can eliminate them.

Redirect loop checker

These are sometimes confused with a redirect chain but a loop is a different beast. Whereas a chain is a redirect path that eventually has an end destination that a visitor can actually get to, a loop does not and will end in error (ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS) for both the user and search engine trying to crawl your site. In a nutshell, what's happening is this; URL 1 redirects to URL 2, while URL 2 redirects to URL 1.

A redirect tracer can pinpoint where the loop is.

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