Track exactly where a URL goes — every hop, status code, and timing. Detects infinite loops automatically.
| 301/302/307/308 | Permanent and temporary redirect chains, step by step |
| HTTP → HTTPS | Insecure-to-secure upgrade hops (should be just one) |
| www conflicts | www ↔ non-www bouncing that creates loops |
| CDN rules | Cloudflare/proxy rewrites causing unexpected hops |
| Final destination | The true URL users and crawlers actually land on |
Each hop adds latency and dilutes link equity. Google recommends no more than 3 hops. Loops can block crawlers entirely.
Look for conflicting rules — e.g. your server forces www but your CDN strips it. Fix one side and clear all caches.
307 is a temporary redirect that preserves the HTTP method. 308 is permanent and also preserves the method. Use 308 instead of 301 for POST endpoints.