A redirect chain occurs when, as an internet user, you are redirected multiple times to reach a specific website. This can happen after you type a URL into the address bar or when you click on a search result after performing a search in a search engine.
To fully understand what a redirect chain is and why it carries risks, it is important to first understand what a redirect is. We will explain that below. Afterward, we will delve deeper into the concept of the redirect chain itself.
What is a redirect?
A redirect is essentially a link from one web page to another. As a user, you shouldn’t notice this redirect at all. Normally, you can assume that you’ll still end up—and quickly, at that—on the page where you’ll find the information you’re looking for.
In the IT and online marketing world, however, redirects sometimes form an important part of the work. This is because many companies regularly update their websites, for example. Since not all customers are always immediately aware of this, they may continue to enter the old URL into the address bar on their own for quite some time. If you want to prevent these people from not finding your website and potentially losing them as customers, redirects are an excellent solution. After all, with a redirect, you can ensure that anyone who enters your old website is automatically directed to your new one.
There are more examples of situations where redirects are useful. Consider common typos people make when entering your URL. A redirect (to your homepage, for example) is also useful when you modify or remove certain (sub)pages that backlinks point to.
Preventing a redirect chain
A “normal” redirect involves a single redirection, but a redirect chain involves two or more redirections. This is a situation you, as a website administrator, must strive to prevent.
Such a “chain” makes it significantly more difficult for online search engines like Google to “read”—or index—the relevant web page. This can result in the page ranking lower in search results, or not appearing there at all. Furthermore, a redirect chain certainly does not benefit your website’s speed. These extended loading times also have a negative effect on your ranking. Moreover, your visitors may decide to leave, and long loading times do not reflect well on your company.
Preventing and/or fixing redirect chains is fairly simple. You need to avoid creating a redirect to a page that is itself no longer in use. All redirects you set up should therefore lead to pages that are currently available. Partly for this reason, redirects to a homepage are common.
