redirect-chains

Use when auditing internal link structure after a URL migration, domain change, or site rebuild. Applies to any site that has had redirects in place for more than a month.

Quality

73%

Does it follow best practices?

Run evals on this skill

Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

View guide

Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Fix and improve this skill with Tessl

tessl review fix ./skills/redirect-chains/SKILL.md

Link directly to final destination URLs

Internal links that point to redirect URLs add latency, waste crawl budget, and pass less PageRank to the destination than a direct link would—reducing the ranking potential of linked pages.

Quick Reference

Internal links should point directly to the final destination URL, not to a URL that redirects
Each redirect in a chain dilutes the PageRank passed through it
Update internal links after URL migrations to point to the new URLs
Use 301 redirects for permanent moves, but then update source links

Check

Crawl internal links across the site. For each tag, follow the URL and check the HTTP response code. Flag any internal link that resolves to a 301 or 302 redirect rather than a direct 200 response. Report the source page, linked URL, and the final destination URL after following the redirect.

Fix

For each internal link pointing to a redirect URL: update the href attribute to point directly to the final destination URL (the 200-status URL after following all redirects). Keep the redirect in place for external links, but update all internal links to point directly to the canonical-url destination.

Explain

When Googlebot follows a link to a URL that then redirects to another URL, PageRank is partially lost at each hop. Google has stated that redirects dilute PageRank. Additionally, linking to redirect URLs wastes crawl budget since Googlebot must make multiple requests to reach the final content. Updating internal links to point directly to destination URLs passes full PageRank and improves crawl efficiency.

Code Review

For each internal link, follow the URL and check the HTTP response code. If the response is 301 or 302, record the Location header and continue following. Report all internal links that resolve via one or more redirects before reaching a 200 response. Include: source page, link href, each redirect URL in the chain, and final destination URL.

For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance, see references/rule.md.

Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/redirect-chains

Repository: thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist
Path: skills/redirect-chains/SKILL.md
Commit: 48405aa

Last updated: about 7 hours ago
First committed: 2 months ago

Is this your skill?

If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.