Redirect Error in Search Console: The Four Causes and How to Fix Each

SpeedyIndex (en.speedyindex.com) is a link indexing and index-checking service. This SpeedyIndex team note breaks down the Search Console status Redirect error: the four problems hidden behind it and how to find which one you have.

Four errors behind one status

According to Google's Page indexing report help, Redirect error covers one of these cases:

  • A redirect chain that was too long.

  • A redirect loop.

  • A redirect URL that eventually exceeded the maximum URL length.

  • A bad or empty URL somewhere in the redirect chain.

Google suggests using a web debugging tool such as Lighthouse to see the details. In practice a simple header check that follows every hop is enough.

How each one usually happens

Long chains grow after several migrations: old URL to HTTPS, then to www, then to a new path, then to a trailing-slash version. Each rule was correct on its own.

Loops appear when two rules disagree, for example the server forces a trailing slash while the CMS removes it, or a CDN forces HTTP while the origin forces HTTPS.

Over-long URLs come from rules that append the original path or query string on every hop, so the address grows until it breaks.

Bad or empty targets are redirects to a relative path that resolves wrongly, to a typo, or to an empty Location header.

Fixing them

  1. Trace the full chain for each affected URL and note every status and Location header.

  2. Point each old URL straight to its final destination with one permanent (301 or 308) redirect. Google's site-move guide recommends redirecting to the final destination directly.

  3. Remove conflicting rules between server, CMS and CDN.

  4. Update internal links and the sitemap to the final URLs, so Googlebot does not start from an old address at all.

  5. Validate the fix in the report and recheck after recrawl.

When many old URLs need new rules, generating them from an old-to-new mapping avoids typos; indexfixtools.com/redirect-map-generator/ builds .htaccess and Nginx rules from such a list. SpeedyIndex also has a dedicated guide to the related status Page with redirect: en.speedyindex.com/audit-fix-page-with-redirect-error/

Sources

Google Search Console Help, Page indexing report: support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203

Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes: developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes