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Broken Redirect Finder

Detect invalid or looping HTTP redirects that damage SEO rankings and cause user frustration.

HTTP CODES: 301, 302, 307, 308
MAX DEPTH: 5 Hops before failure
IMPACT: SEO Penalty, Infinite Loops

What is Broken Redirect Finder?

A tool to trace the exact path a URL takes when it redirects. If a redirect points to a completely dead page (404) or loops back to itself endlessly, it is considered a "Broken Redirect".

How it Works

The scanner acts as an automated browser. It follows the `Location` header provided in `30x` HTTP responses until it reaches a final `200 OK` status, mapping exactly how many hops it took and highlighting any terminal failures.

Key Use Cases

Auditing massive site migrations to ensure old URLs securely point to the correct new pages.

Finding SEO-killing "Redirect Chains" (where A -> B -> C -> D takes too long for Googlebot).

Fixing infinite loop errors (`ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS`) caused by conflicting `.htaccess` or Cloudflare rules.

Advanced Details

Google explicitly punishes websites in search rankings for using long redirect chains or maintaining broken external links, as it wastes their crawling budget.

Cybersecurity Pros & Cons

Security Advantages
  • Open redirects in redirect chains are a critical vulnerability — this tool exposes them before attackers weaponise them for phishing.
  • Infinite redirect loops are denial-of-service vectors that can exhaust server resources — detection enables rapid remediation.
  • Redirect chain analysis reveals unintended HTTP→HTTPS downgrade loops that silently bypass encryption enforcement.
  • Mapping all redirect hops identifies third-party redirect services in the chain that represent supply-chain trust risk.
Security Limitations
  • Broken redirect scanning generates HTTP requests to the target — high-frequency scanning may trigger rate limiting or WAF blocks.
  • Redirect behaviour can differ between user agents (browser vs. bot) — scanner results may not reflect real user experience.
  • Temporary (302) redirects are deliberately designed to change — automated scanning can miss valid temporary routing.
  • Redirect chains involving JavaScript-based redirects are invisible to HTTP-level scanners.
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