Redirect error: loops, long chains and broken redirect targets

Last updated: 2026-10-30

In short

Redirect error means Google tried to follow a redirect from the URL and failed. Google lists four causes: a chain that was too long, a redirect loop, a URL that grew past the maximum length, and a bad or empty URL in the chain. Trace the redirect hop by hop and point the URL straight at a working final page.

Exact label in Search Console: Redirect error

What it means

Google's Page indexing help lists the redirect errors behind this status: a redirect chain that was too long, a redirect loop, a redirect URL that eventually exceeded the maximum URL length, and a bad or empty URL in the redirect chain. Google suggests a web debugging tool such as Lighthouse for details.

Google's crawling documentation says its crawlers follow up to 10 redirect hops by default for general web content, and Google warns that long redirect chains hurt crawling even when they work. Unlike Page with redirect, which is the normal state of a working redirect, Redirect error means the redirect itself is broken, so Google cannot reach a target through it.

Is it a problem?

Yes, for any URL that should lead somewhere useful. If the URL is an old address nobody links to, the impact is small. Loops and long chains on live templates, though, usually affect many URLs at once and can cut Google off from important pages entirely.

Common causes

Redirect loops

Two rules that send requests back and forth, for example conflicting HTTPS, host or trailing slash rules.

Chains from repeated migrations

Old URLs redirect to URLs that were later redirected again, adding a hop with every change.

Conflicting layers

CDN, server, CMS and plugin redirects that each add their own rule for the same URL.

URLs that grow on every hop

Rules that append parameters or path segments each time until the URL exceeds the maximum length.

Bad targets

A redirect to an empty, malformed or unresolvable URL.

Redirects that depend on cookies or location

Rules based on cookies, sessions, language or location can loop for a crawler that does not keep state.

How to fix it

  1. Trace every hop. Follow the redirect with your browser's network panel or a command-line HTTP client and write down each status code and Location header until you reach a 200 or see the loop.
  2. Point straight to the final URL. Make every old URL redirect in one hop to its final destination, and update internal links and sitemaps to the final URL.
  3. Remove conflicting rules. Decide which layer handles each type of redirect, for example HTTPS and host normalization at the CDN and content moves in the application, and delete duplicates elsewhere.
  4. Keep redirects stateless for crawlers. Do not make a redirect depend on cookies or a session that a crawler will not keep.
  5. Test and validate. Run Test live URL to confirm the URL resolves. The live test follows redirects without listing them, so confirm the chain with your own tools as well, then click Validate fix.

Check it with GSC Magic

gsc_inspect_urls_batch shows the page fetch state for each URL, so your assistant can list every URL Google reports with a redirect error and group them by pattern, which usually points to a single rule. report_index_health checks the URLs in your sitemap, where no redirect of any kind should appear. GSC Magic does not follow redirects itself, so trace the chain with your browser or server tools.

gsc_inspect_urls_batchreport_index_healthgsc_inspect_url

Prompts to copy

Inspect these URLs and list every one whose page fetch state is a redirect error, grouped by host and path pattern.

Run an index health check on my sitemap and list any URL reported as a redirect or redirect error, so I can replace it with its final URL.

Here are the redirect rules from my server config. Tell me which could create a loop or a chain of more than one hop for these example URLs.

Guides on the blog

Page with redirect

Page with redirect means the URL is a non-canonical URL that redirects to another page, so Google does not index it. That is expected for old URLs, HTTP or www variants and moved pages. Check that the redirect target is correct and indexable, and stop linking to redirecting URLs from your pages and sitemap.

 Server error (5xx)

Server error (5xx) means your server returned a 500-level error when Googlebot requested the page. Google slows crawling when it sees these errors and eventually drops URLs that keep failing. Check host status in Crawl Stats, reproduce the error, then fix capacity, timeouts or rules that block Googlebot.

 Not found (404)

Not found (404) means Google requested the URL and your server answered 404. Google says a 404 is not necessarily a problem when a page was removed without a replacement. Fix the 404s you link to yourself or list in a sitemap, and 301 redirect pages that moved.

Frequently asked questions

How many redirects will Googlebot follow?

Google's crawling documentation says its crawlers follow up to 10 redirect hops by default for general web content, while some products differ. Aim for a single hop anyway, since Google says long chains hurt crawling.

What is the difference between Redirect error and Page with redirect?

Page with redirect means the redirect works and Google indexes the target instead. Redirect error means Google could not complete the redirect because of a loop, an overlong chain or URL, or a bad target.

Why does the live test pass when the report shows an error?

The live test follows redirects and tests the final URL without saying so. If the error happened at crawl time, for example a loop that depends on cookies, the live test may not reproduce it.

Sources