Technical SEO Basics: Redirect Chains & Loops - Coast Digital

If you’ve read through one of these articles, welcome back. If not, welcome! The introduction is the hardest bit, to be honest. How do you entice people to read an article about a specific technical SEO issue?

If I was writing the latest technical SEO article in a series, I would probably re-emphasise the importance of making sure your site works properly. I might mention that fixing any issues will make your user experience better and make the site easier for search engine bots to crawl.

So far we’ve covered mixed content and 404 errors, so let’s go into something a little less pedestrian. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, marvel and wonder at the mystery of redirect chains and loops.

What is a redirect chain?

A redirect chain happens when you set up a redirect that sends users to another page that redirects. If you’re running a particularly large site and frequently tidy up your content, this can be all too easy to do.

While the user, and search engine bots, will eventually land on the correct page, having a redirect chain in place increases the amount of time it takes for them to get there. If you’ve read one of my blogs before, you’ll know that I am very passionate about minimising load times and delays on websites due to how much effect delays and high load times have on bounce and abandonment rates.

What is a redirect loop?

A redirect loop happens when a redirect is put in place that sends users to a redirected page that either immediately or eventually redirects...

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