Google Search Console

“Redirect error”: meaning and how to fix it

What it means

Google couldn't follow the redirect: a loop, a chain that is too long, a redirect to an empty or invalid URL, or a URL that is too long.

Is it a problem?

Yes. Neither the old nor the new URL gets indexed from this path.

Common causes

• Redirect loops (A → B → A), often from conflicting http/https or www rules
• Chains of many hops after several migrations
• Redirects to malformed or overly long URLs

How to fix it

1. Trace the redirect hop by hop and make each old URL point straight to the final one
2. Remove conflicting rules between the server, CMS and CDN

How to check the fix

Validate fix after the redirect resolves in a single hop to a 200 page.

All indexing statuses

• Discovered – currently not indexed
• Crawled – currently not indexed
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical
• Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user
• Alternate page with proper canonical tag
• Page with redirect