By Shad Super in Indexing —

Indexing Win #9: Redirect Error (Common Causes + Fixes)

Redirect chains, loops, and bad destination URLs can block crawling. Here’s the fastest fix checklist.

Redirect errors happen when Google can’t follow a redirect to a valid final destination (loops, long chains, broken targets, etc.).

Common causes

  • Redirect loops (A → B → A).
  • Long redirect chains (multiple hops).
  • Redirecting to a 404 or blocked URL.
  • HTTP/HTTPS or trailing slash inconsistencies.

Fix checklist

  1. Update redirects so they resolve in 1 hop to a 200 OK canonical URL.
  2. Remove redirecting URLs from sitemaps (list only final destinations).
  3. Update internal links to point directly to the final URL.
  4. Normalize URL patterns (slashes, casing, protocol).

Direct internal links improve crawl efficiency and reduce wasted hops.

Linkbot helps teams ship internal link improvements fast—so the crawl graph becomes cleaner over time.