A redirect loops or exceeds the redirect limit
In the reportRedirect loop or limit exceeded
redirect_loop · Issue
This appears when following an address's redirects never reaches a final page: a redirect points back to an address already visited, or more than ten follow in a row. Visitors and crawlers then get no page at all. Replace the sequence with one direct permanent redirect to a working page.
Severity: High. Fix it soon: the address leads nowhere, so nothing behind it can be read.
Why it matters
Google's crawlers follow up to ten redirect hops, and Search Console lists a redirect loop and a redirect chain that is too long among the redirect errors it reports for pages it could not index.
What to do
- Look at the finding: it lists each redirect we followed, with its status and target, so you can see where the loop closes.
- Fix the rules that send the address back, such as two rules in your server, CDN or plugin that disagree about a trailing slash,
www.or HTTPS. - Point the address straight to its final page with one permanent redirect, and run a new audit.
What we read
For every address the crawl fetches, we follow HTTP redirects — 301, 302, 303, 307 and 308 with a Location — up to ten in a row. Redirects made by a <meta> refresh or by JavaScript are not followed.
It is a loop when the next address was already requested in the same walk. Letter case in the host and similar details are ignored, but a trailing slash, www. and the query still make addresses different, so /shop to /shop/ is a real step. It is over the limit when the eleventh answer is still a redirect. Each starting address is one finding.
Example & evidence
Illustrative example — two redirects that point at each other, not a live audit.
The homepage links to https://bakery.example/shop:
GET https://bakery.example/shop
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://bakery.example/shop/
GET https://bakery.example/shop/
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: https://bakery.example/shopThe second redirect points back to the first address, so the walk stops as a loop. The finding records both redirects and the address that repeated.
A possible correction: let https://bakery.example/shop/ answer 200 OK. The single redirect from /shop remains, and the address now reaches a page.
Confirm & check again
Check for yourself: open the address in a browser: a loop usually ends in a message that the page redirected too many times. A redirect checker shows each step.
Check again: Full audit — run a new audit of the site. The finding closes when the address is crawled again and answers directly with 200 and a complete HTML page or a file that is not HTML, or now starts with a permanent redirect within your site, even if its target ends in an error, which other checks may report. An address that still loops, answers directly with an error, starts with a temporary redirect, or is no longer reached by the crawl cannot be confirmed.
Limits & sources
The finding shows the steps we followed, not which server, CDN or plugin rule causes them. Our crawler uses its own user agent, and addresses outside the crawl are not checked.
Confidence: High because the redirects are followed and recorded step by step.
Sources
- Google, How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers — says Google's crawlers follow up to ten redirect hops. Checked 25 September 2026.
- Google, Page indexing report — lists a redirect loop and a redirect chain that is too long among the redirect errors. Checked 25 September 2026.
Editorial review: 29 September 2026