Redirect & Status Code Checker
Follow every redirect as Googlebot and as a browser, and see what each one ends up on
In 30 seconds
- Use a 301 or 308 for a move that’s for good; 302 and 307 say the old URL is coming back.
- Point every redirect straight at the final URL. Google follows up to 10 hops, then gives up.
- Redirects done in the page (meta refresh, JavaScript) only work once the page loads. Do them on the server.
What the checker does
Enter a URL and the checker requests it twice, once as Googlebot and once as an ordinary browser, following every redirect by hand. For each it shows the chain: every hop with its status code and whether the redirect is permanent or temporary, then the page it ends on and that page’s status. It reports:
- Chains: more than one hop before the final page.
- Loops and broken chains, which Search Console shows as a Redirect error.
- Temporary redirects (302, 307) where a permanent one is probably meant.
- The final status: 200, or a 404, 410, other 4xx or 5xx.
- Meta refresh and JavaScript redirects in the page itself.
- Differences between Googlebot and a browser: a different status or a different destination.
Each problem is matched to the status it shows up as in Search Console’s Page indexing report.
Permanent or temporary
All four redirect codes send visitors to the same place. The difference is what they tell search engines. A 301 or 308 says the page has moved for good, so Google indexes the new URL and moves the old one’s signals across. A 302 or 307 says the move is temporary, so Google may keep the old URL in its results. 308 and 307 also keep the request method, which matters for forms and APIs, not for pages.
Quick fix
When a URL changes for good, redirect the old one with a 301 straight to the new one, update your internal links and sitemap to the new URL, and keep the redirect in place.
When Googlebot gets something different
Some sites redirect or block visitors by device, country or user agent. If Googlebot ends up somewhere a browser doesn’t, that page is what gets indexed.
Watch out
Sites behind a firewall or CDN often check that Googlebot really comes from Google’s IP addresses, and block anything else that claims to be Googlebot, including this checker. If only the Googlebot request is blocked, confirm with URL Inspection in Search Console before changing anything.