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
- Update redirects so they resolve in 1 hop to a 200 OK canonical URL.
- Remove redirecting URLs from sitemaps (list only final destinations).
- Update internal links to point directly to the final URL.
- Normalize URL patterns (slashes, casing, protocol).
Internal links should never point at chains
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