What redirect chains are & how they can negatively impact website performance and SEO

Problems with error pages are pretty prevalent. The server encountered an unexpectedly large volume of requests (a 500 Error), or the requested page could not be located on the server (a 404 Error).

In the latter case, 404 Errors are a common source of frustration for website visitors. There is always the possibility that consumers may experience this frequently, regardless of how big or famous the website is. Error pages like this are detrimental to user experience and search engine optimization. Three-hundred-one redirects are the ideal solution for these problem pages since they take visitors directly to the desired location.

Although 301 redirects help prevent PageRank from being lost, they may backfire in some instances. Learn about the drawbacks of redirection and why it may not be a good idea.

The Formation of Such Chains of Redirection

There are typically two sources for such chains of redirects −

• Oversights

Almost no one will even notice when you switch gears. This implies that if you deploy a redirect without first checking to see whether there is already a redirect in place for the URL you are redirecting, you will probably create a redirect chain without even realizing it.

• Migrations −

When moving their website, many people fail to change their redirects. Such as when you change your domain name or go from HTTP to HTTPS and forget to update your redirects.

Just why Do Chains of Redirects Hurt SEO?

According to experts redirect chains may have the following adverse effects on search engine optimization −

• Inadequate replacement of broken backlinks −

Built-up equity from link building and PR outreach is one of the worst impacts on your SEO from redirect chains. If you redirect a page that is linked on a site, you will still own 100% of it, but the proportion will decrease the more times the page is redirected. This is according to HubSpot.

• Website performance degradation −

You may be blind to the difficulties slowing down your site if you don't do frequent audits of its health. Because of the potential for slowdown caused by redirect chains, this may be the case in certain instances.

• Indexing problems −

There is a time limit on how long search engine spiders may spend on your site. Even if your site isn't huge, redirection might make it more difficult for crawlers to access all of its content.

Impact on the Rate of Loading

The primary purpose of redirection is to guide viewers to the intended information or sites with updated or relevant material. This is a standard procedure for areas that have just been redesigned or are trying to simplify their material for greater efficiency. A high number of redirected links might delay your site's loading time, which can impact both user experience and traffic.

While page load time is now a ranking criterion for desktop and mobile search results, every extra second counts if you don't want to miss out on potential visitors. Although a redirect is meant to make it easier for people to reach your information, it might slow down your website if there are too many of them. Notwithstanding the difficulty in avoiding page redirects, it is still essential to take measures to maximize your site's loading speed by including AMP and employing caching solutions.

Landing page redirect links are another potential source of problems, as they might slow down the conversion process and drive away visitors. In the same vein as landing pages, having the vast majority of your website's pages point to the homepage is not advised. This will cause Google problems and cause you to lose part of the traffic you've worked so hard to get. Instead, sending them more relevant information to their needs would be preferable, increasing the traffic to the new page.

Chain of Redirection

It is very uncommon for websites to have many pages be diverted at once, and in some instances, this may even lead to a chain of redirects. Many redirect links between the original and final URLs constitute a redirect chain. The most typical causes of redirect chains are changes to the content or the website itself.

Although 301 redirects may keep their PageRank, a chain of them might hinder GoogleBot's ability to access your site. When the number of redirects on a website hits approximately four or five, GoogleBot will likely stop following them. The value of a link may also be diminished by a series of redirects, with the loss increasing with each new reroute.

Websites with extensive chains of redirects should start cleaning them up as soon as possible, especially if the redirects are to older web pages. Improving this procedure will significantly impact your site's traffic and search engine rankings, the ease with which GoogleBot can scan your location, and the quality of the links it finds.

Methods for Breaking a Chain of Redirects

After you've located a chain of redirects, it's easy to break it by changing the first redirect link on the destination page to refer to the desired URL instead of another redirect.

This may be put into reality by switching the redirect from URL A in the example above to URL C, thereby eliminating the intermediate step and protecting your site's PageRank and link equity. Keep the redirect from URL B to URL C if it still receives inbound links to URL B. If the page has no use other than redirecting users from URL A to URL C, it is likely best to delete or archive it rather than keep it around.

Remember that your site loses around 15% of its potential link juice for every subsequent 301 redirects. If you want to fill your search engine results page (SERP) cup, you need to minimize redirects.

Conclusion

Although redirecting may aid visitors and preserve some of your PageRank, too many or poorly-organized redirects can slow down page load times and make it harder for GoogleBot to index your site. The effectiveness of your SEO strategy depends on your ability to know when to utilize and when not to employ redirection.