Redirects are easy to ignore until a launch goes wrong.

A page may look fine in the browser, but the request path can still have problems:

http redirects to https

non-www redirects to www, or the other way around

old URLs redirect to new slugs

tracking links add another hop

a CMS or proxy adds one more redirect without anyone noticing

One redirect is normal. A long chain is where problems start.

Why redirect chains matter

Every redirect adds a request before the visitor reaches the final page. That can slow down crawlers, make analytics harder to read, and hide mistakes that only appear after deployment.

Common examples:

http://example.com/page -> https://example.com/page -> https://www.example.com/page -> https://www.example.com/new-page

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That page works, but it takes three hops to reach the final URL.

What to check before launch

Before shipping a site migration, landing page, or SEO update, check:

Does the URL end at the page you expect?

Are there…