What the redirect checker shows
The redirect checker requests a URL the way a crawler does and lists every hop: the address,
the status code it answered with, whether the redirect is permanent or temporary, and the page
the chain finally lands on. It follows up to ten hops, reports loops and dead ends, and shows
the final page's X-Robots-Tag header when there is one.
Three times a founder needs it:
- After a listing goes live, to see whether the directory's link goes straight to your site or through its own tracking URL.
- After changing URLs, domains or www settings, to confirm old addresses arrive at the new ones in one permanent hop.
- Before submitting anywhere, to make sure the URL you paste into forms is the final one and not a redirect itself.
301, 302, 307, 308: what each one means
A 301 or 308 is a permanent redirect and a 302, 303 or 307 is a temporary one. Search engines move a URL's links and rankings to the target of a permanent redirect. For a temporary one they may keep the original URL indexed and wait.
| Code | Meaning | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| 301 | Moved permanently | Renamed pages, new domain, http to https, www to bare domain |
| 308 | Permanent, method preserved | The same as 301; what some frameworks and hosts send by default |
| 302 | Found, temporary | A/B tests, maintenance pages, geo or login routing |
| 307 | Temporary, method preserved | The same as 302; also what click-tracking links often use |
| 303 | See other | After a form post. Rare in links |
Do redirects pass link value
Permanent redirects pass full link value. Google has said since 2016 that 301, 302 and 307 redirects no longer lose PageRank, and a single 301 between a backlink and your page costs nothing. What still goes wrong is practical: a temporary redirect can leave the old URL indexed for months, a chain can break at any hop, and a redirect that crawlers are blocked from following passes nothing at all.
- One or two 301 or 308 hops to a page that answers 200.
- A redirect URL that robots.txt blocks, or a link marked nofollow before it redirects.
- A chain that ends on a 404, a login page or a different site's homepage.
- JavaScript and meta-refresh redirects, which crawlers treat as weak hints.
Chains and loops
A redirect chain is two or more redirects in a row, and the fix is always to point the first URL at the last. The common one on a new site has three hops: http to https, then bare domain to www, then an old path to a new path. Each is reasonable alone. Together they add half a second to every visit from an old link. Googlebot gives up after ten hops; browsers stop at around twenty and show an error. A loop, where a URL ends up redirecting to itself, never loads at all, and the checker flags it.
Directory links that redirect
Some directories do not link to your site directly. The Visit button points at the directory's own tracking URL, which then redirects to you. Visitors arrive as normal. Search engines see a link to the directory's own domain, so whether anything passes depends on how that redirect answers. Across the 126 directories we track, the ones we have recorded doing this include:
- Future Tools sends outbound clicks through a
/go/redirect. - Shipyard HQ links free listings through
/r/, a 307 temporary redirect. - SourceForge routes Visit Website buttons through an internal tracking link marked nofollow.
- Toolfolio links some listings through its own short-link domain.
- AI Tools Directory uses an internal redirect for the outbound link.
To check one, open your listing, copy the address of the Visit button, and paste it above. A single 301 straight to your domain is fine. A 302 or 307, or a chain through an affiliate domain, means the listing is worth having for visitors and not for authority. Every directory page on this site records what we found; start from dofollow directories for the ones that link directly. How followed and nofollow links differ is in dofollow vs nofollow links.
Redirects on your own site
Your domain should answer at exactly one address, and the other three variants should each
reach it in a single 301. Check all four: http:// and https://, with
and without www. Then use the winning form everywhere: in directory forms, social
profiles, your canonical tag and your sitemap. A backlink to a variant that redirects still
counts, but a link to the final URL is one less thing to break.
If you rename a page that has links pointing at it, redirect the old URL permanently and keep that redirect for good. The backlink checker shows which pages your strongest links point at.
What to do next
- Check the four variants of your homepage and fix any that take more than one hop or use a 302.
- Check the Visit link on each listing you already have, and note which ones go through a redirect.
- Get the free rank plan. It ranks the directories that fit your product by the link they give, so the direct followed links come first.
Questions founders ask
How do I check where a URL redirects?
Paste the URL above. The checker requests it the way a crawler would, records the status code and the next address at every hop, and stops at the page that finally answers. Up to ten hops are followed.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?
A 301 says the page has moved for good, so search engines transfer the old URL's links and rankings to the new one. A 302 says the move is temporary, so they may keep the old URL indexed. Use 301 or 308 for anything permanent.
Do 301 redirects pass link value?
Yes. Google has confirmed that 301 and 308 redirects pass full link value. A single permanent redirect between a backlink and your page costs nothing. Long chains and temporary redirects are where value gets lost or delayed.
How many redirects are too many?
More than two in a row is worth fixing. Googlebot follows up to ten hops, but each one adds load time, and the longer the chain the more likely a hop breaks later. Point the first URL straight at the final one.
Does a directory link through a redirect count as a backlink?
Only if crawlers can follow the redirect through to your site. Many directories send clicks through an internal tracking URL, often blocked in robots.txt or answered with a 307. Those send visitors, but the link search engines see points at the directory's own URL, not at you.