If your website shows too many redirects, the site is sending the browser from one address to another and then back again, around in a circle. The browser gives up before any page loads. That doesn’t mean the site is damaged. It’s a conflict between two settings, and it has a known fix.
While the loop lasts, the page doesn’t open for anyone, so the calls, enquiries and bookings that come through the site wait until it’s fixed. Here’s the plan. Check whether it’s only your browser. If it’s the site, find the two settings that disagree, line them up, and test that every version of your address lands on one page.
What Does “Too Many Redirects” Mean?
Mozilla’s guide to redirects describes a redirection loop as redirects that keep following one another, a loop that doesn’t finish, so no page is ever found. When the servers involved don’t catch it, the browser detects it and shows an error. Browsers word that error in different ways.
A redirect is a forwarding instruction. An old address sends visitors to its replacement, and that’s the whole job. A loop is what you get when two of those instructions point at each other. The first hands the browser to the second. The second hands it back. Then it repeats.
Mozilla’s page says avoiding loops matters because they break the experience for visitors. The useful part is what the cause tells you. A conflict between settings means nothing on the site has to be rebuilt. Your pages, images and text are all still sitting there, behind a forwarding rule that argues with itself.
Is It Your Browser or Your Website?
It can be either one, so rule out your own browser first. Mozilla’s page says a visitor can do little about a loop unless something on their side is at fault, like a mismatch in stored cookies or cache. Cookies are small files a site saves in your browser. Three checks sort this out.
- Open the site in a private browsing window.
- Try it on a phone using mobile data instead of the office Wi-Fi.
- Clear the cookies your browser has stored for your site.
If the site opens in those other places, the stored cookies were the trouble and you’re done. If it loops everywhere you try, the website itself is sending visitors around the circle. The pairs of settings below are where that starts.
What Sets Up a Redirect Loop?
Two rules that disagree about your address set it up. Mozilla’s page lists sending visitors from the http version of an address to the https version, and from the bare domain to the www version, as ordinary uses for redirects. Both are fine on their own. Trouble starts when one rule undoes another.
- One setting sends visitors to https while another sends them back to http.
- One rule adds www to your address while another strips it off.
- The hosting server and a CDN or security service in front of it each apply a rule of their own. A CDN sits in front of a website to speed it up or protect it.
- The site address setting inside the website doesn’t match the address the server forces.
- An older redirect points to a page that redirects back to it.
Mozilla’s page says that if the error turns up soon after a change to the server’s settings, a loop is likely. It also says a loop can spread across several servers that each lack the full picture. So the question to ask is what changed last. An SSL certificate that was swapped, a CDN or security service switched on, a www setting, a site move, or a redirect rule someone added.
If the browser shows a security or certificate warning instead of a loop, that’s a different problem, and Spilt Media’s post on what visitors see when an SSL certificate expires covers it.
How Do You Fix Too Many Redirects?
You get every layer to agree on one final address. The site has its own address setting, and the hosting server has its rules. A CDN or security service in front of them can add another. All of them need to point at the same place. Then each address forwards once and stops. Work through it in this order.
- Start with the last change. Undo it, or check it before anything else.
- Pick one final address, https with www or without it, and point the site address setting, the server’s rules and any CDN or security service at that one address.
- Read through your redirect rules for a pair that points at each other, and take one side out.
- Type the http, https, www and non-www versions of your address, and confirm that each lands on the same page in one step.
Keep one rule for each job. If https is forced in one place, it doesn’t need forcing in a second. That way the next change to an SSL certificate or a CDN is less likely to start another loop.
If you didn’t make the last change yourself, ask whoever runs the hosting, the SSL certificate or the CDN what changed. They can see the server side, and you can’t see that from a browser.
Does a Redirect Loop Affect Google?
While it lasts, a loop leaves Google nothing to read. Google’s crawling documentation says its crawlers follow up to ten redirect hops, and that content from a redirecting address is ignored while the final target’s content is processed. A loop reaches no final target, so the plain inference is that Google has no page to read.
The encouraging part comes from the same page. Google treats a permanent redirect as a strong signal that the target should be processed. So once the loop is gone and each address forwards once to its final page, Google can read that page again.
A site move is one of the changes that adds redirects, and Spilt Media’s post on what to check before a website move covers how to plan them.
When Is It Worth Handing It Off?
Spilt Media’s managed hosting team handles SSL certificates and CDN configuration, and handles a site move from start to finish, including DNS and SSL, with thorough testing.
Handing it off makes sense when the site still loops after those browser checks, or when you don’t know which settings changed. Same when you have no access to the hosting or the CDN. And if the loop returns after a change, two layers are probably still disagreeing.
If you’d rather line those layers up with help, book a consultation with Spilt Media and talk through how your site’s SSL, CDN and redirects are set up.
Frequently Asked Questions About Too Many Redirects
What does ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS mean?
It’s the code some browsers show for the same loop. The wording changes from one browser to the next, and the cause doesn’t: your address keeps forwarding in a circle, so the browser stops trying. Run the same checks you would for any loop.
Will clearing cookies fix too many redirects?
Sometimes. Mozilla’s page says a visitor can do little about a loop unless the trouble is on their own side, like a mismatch of cache or cookies. So clearing the cookies for that site is worth a try. If the site loops on every device you pick up, the fix belongs on the website.
How many redirects will Google follow?
Up to ten hops by default, per Google’s page. Each forward from one address to the next counts as a hop. A loop has no end, so it uses up hops without reaching a page. Aim for one forward per old address, straight to its final page.
Can turning on HTTPS cause a redirect loop?
Turning it on isn’t the cause. Sending http to https is an ordinary redirect, and Mozilla’s page lists it as one. A loop comes from two settings that disagree, like the server and a CDN, or a site address setting that points one way while the server forces the other. Check that all of them agree on https.
