Question 1

What is an HTTP redirect?

Accepted Answer

An HTTP redirect is a server response with a 3xx status code that instructs the client to request a different URL. The Location header specifies the new URL. Browsers and crawlers follow redirects automatically until reaching a non-redirect response.

Question 2

What is the difference between a 301 and 302 redirect?

Accepted Answer

A 301 (Moved Permanently) signals that the URL has permanently changed — search engines transfer PageRank to the new URL and update their index. A 302 (Found) signals a temporary redirect — search engines keep the original URL in their index.

Question 3

How many redirects is too many?

Accepted Answer

Best practice is a maximum of 2 redirects in a chain. Google recommends keeping redirect chains to 1 hop. Chains longer than 3 hops may cause Googlebot to abandon crawling the final destination.

Question 4

How do redirect chains affect web scraping?

Accepted Answer

AlterLab follows redirect chains automatically. Each redirect adds latency to the request. Tracking final URLs in your extracted data is important when the original URL you submitted differs from the canonicalized final destination.

Question 5

How do I detect redirect loops?

Accepted Answer

A redirect loop occurs when redirects form a cycle (A → B → A). HTTP clients detect loops by tracking visited URLs or limiting the number of redirects followed (typically 10). AlterLab returns an error when a redirect loop is detected.

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