An internal link goes through a redirect

Why it matters

Google advises, when addresses change, to update your internal links to the new addresses, which improves the experience and reduces load on your server. A link that goes through a redirect makes every visit take an extra step.

What to do

Look at the finding: it shows the linked address, each redirect, the final address and up to ten links that use it.
Change those links to the final address.
If a menu, template or plugin writes the old address, update it there.

When to leave it as it is: if the redirect is intended, for example a short link you track, and the final page works, you can leave it.

What we read

We read the <a href> links to your own host in the HTML of each crawled page, as for the other link checks, and look up the linked address exactly as written. It is reported when the audit fetched it and it took one or two redirects to reach a 200 HTML page on your site.

Three or more redirects are left to the long-chain check, loops to the redirect-loop check, addresses listed in your sitemap to the sitemap redirect check, and redirects that end off your site or on a file are not reported. Permanent and temporary redirects are both reported.

Example & evidence

Illustrative example — one link and its redirect, not a live audit.

The homepage https://bakery.example/ contains:

<header><a href="/menu">Menu</a></header>

GET https://bakery.example/menu
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://bakery.example/menu/

GET https://bakery.example/menu/
HTTP/1.1 200 OK

The link takes one redirect to reach its page, so the linked address is reported with the redirect and the link.

A possible correction: change the link to /menu/, which answers directly.

Confirm & check again

Check for yourself: open the link and see whether the address in your browser changes; a redirect checker lists each step.

Check again: Full audit — run a new audit of the site. The old finding for this target closes only when it is not reported again, the check gives a usable result, and every page that linked to the target has complete evidence: it is read again as complete HTML that does not rely on scripts, with conclusive results for the current links on it that this check covers, and no longer links to it through the redirect, or it now answers directly with 200 and a file that is not HTML. It may also close when another check takes over the same target, which does not by itself show the problem is fixed. Links pointed to another redirecting address may produce a new finding, if that page meets this check's conditions. A permanent same-site redirect to working HTML still qualifies if the old internal link remains.

Limits & sources

The check does not judge whether the redirect is intended or how it affects speed or ranking. Links added by JavaScript and addresses the audit did not fetch are not checked.

Confidence: High because each redirect is followed and recorded.

Sources

Google, How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers — describes how Google's crawlers follow redirects, up to ten. Checked 25 September 2026.
Google, How to move a site — advises updating internal links to the new URLs after a move, to improve the experience and reduce server load. Checked 25 September 2026.

Editorial review: 29 September 2026

A link leads to a page that names another as the main one — the link reaches a page that names another as the main one.

A link goes through a redirect