Last Updated on April 1, 2024 by Admin
If you have seen a redirect error in Google Search Console, it means that Googlebot failed to follow a redirect on your website.
Unaddressed, such errors can waste your crawl budget and hurt your SEO. In this article, we will show you the ways to identify the source of an error message “Redirect error”, and then tell you how to eliminate it and get an optimal performance of your website.
Understanding the “Redirect error”
The redirect error in Google Search Console occurs when:
- You’ve configured a redirect from one URL to another.
- Googlebot gets a 3xx redirect response code from your server.
- Googlebot tries to crawl a redirect, but an error occurs.
- So, Googlebot doesn’t crawl the final URL.
Although errors may sometimes be caused by Google’s problems, most “Redirect error” cases come from internal website issues or incorrect redirecting.
Causes for Redirection Error
The redirect error in Google Search Console suggests that Google faced some problems following the redirect on your website. This may be due to several common reasons.
Redirect Chains
The problem “Redirect error” is frequently caused by the redirect chain. This happens when the scrolling spans through too many redirects from the first URL to the last one.
For example, you have three URLs: A, B, and C. The mechanism that involves the passing of search engines’ crawlers from one URL to another is called a redirect chain. Google can take care of up to 5 redirections in a chain. Nevertheless, experts suggest reducing their number to the lowest possible. Google may be unable to follow all such redirects if it finds the count too high, resulting in the “Redirect error”.
Redirect Loops
Redirect Loop is another prevalent cause of this “Redirect error” error. This happens when the first URL is redirected to another URL, and this second URL is redirected to the first URL, which is like a never-ending loop.
For example, you have two URLs: A and B. If URL A redirects to URL B, which in turn redirects to URL A, the redirection starts decaying quickly, forming a redirect loop. Consequently, this cycle does not provide sitemaps for crawler bots or users. They are forced to navigate from one URL to another.
Issues with Redirect URLs
The “Redirect error” may also occur if problems are related to URLs.Some common issues include:
- Misspelled or incorrectly formatted URLs like “htttp” instead of “http”
- Long URLs that contain too many characters
- Final URLs that do not function or return a wrong code rather than a 200 indicate that the page is working right.
How to Fix the “Redirect error” in Google Search Console?
Here is a step-by-step guide to fix redirect error in Google Search Console
Step 1: Audit Affected Pages
To enable the “Redirect error,” the first thing to do is to analyze the pages involved. You can do this by:
- Observing at the list of the pages that have the error in the Page indexing (Index Coverage) report in Google Search Console.
- Seeking for patterns or common problems among the URLs.
- Ensuring no pages are tagged as the “Redirect error” in your sitemap.
This will enable you to appreciate the problem’s magnitude and find probable reasons.
Step 2: Identify and Correct Redirect Chains and Loops
After this, you need to correct any redirect chains or loops on your site. Too many redirection URLs may lead to endless redirects or going round in circles. A redirect loop deals with a URL directing to another URL, which in turn directs to the first URL that is directed to it in the first place, thus creating an infinite loop. To find redirect chains and loops:
- Use software like Link Redirect Trace or Screaming Frog.
- Redo your redirects so your source URL directly points to the target URL.
- Eliminate any superfluous redirections in the chain
Step 3: Plan Your Redirects
To keep your redirects organized and avoid future errors:
- Develop a spreadsheet which provides the original URLs and the URLs you need them to redirect to.
- Establish redirects in accordance to your plan, and verify that the ending URLs issue a 200 HTTP status code (which shows that the page is functioning properly)
- Change the links within your site to lie directly to the final URLs.
- Use canonical tags to indicate which version of the page you would like the search engines to use.
Step 4: Test and Confirm Your Changes
After you’ve made your changes, it’s important to check and test them to fix redirect error in Google Search Console:
- Check the Page indexing (Index Coverage) report in Google Search Console to ensure the “Redirect error” is no longer present.
- For small websites, redirect tests should be done manually using a browser extension such as Link Redirect Trace.
- Larger websites require a full crawl with a tool such as Screaming Frog to ensure all redirects function as required.
Best Practices for Implementing Redirects
- Always 301 redirects to a page which is relevant and contextually related.
- 301 redirects should be used for permanent URL changes.
- Try to keep your redirect chains as short as possible, in the best-case scenario, within the range of 1-2 hops.
- Update Your Sitemap and Internal Links As Often As You Change URL Structure.
- Keep an eye on your website’s broken links and redirect errors with Google Search Console and other SEO tools.
Conclusion
Fixing the redirect error in Google Search Console is essential for the overall health of your SEO and a good user experience. You will fix these errors and prevent their future occurrence by finding the source of the error, developing a redirection plan, and implementing best practices.
If you are unsure how to solve redirection errors on your site, contact AlgoSaga digital marketing agency. Their team of experienced professionals can help you understand the complexities of technical SEO and make arrangements to ensure that your website is optimized for success.