Redirecting URLs, chains or loops in the sitemap
Medium priorityTechnical
URLs in your sitemap redirect elsewhere, sometimes through chains of several hops or in loops that never resolve.
What triggers this issue
- A sampled sitemap URL redirects once.
- A sampled sitemap URL goes through a redirect chain.
- A sampled sitemap URL is caught in a redirect loop.
Why it matters
A sitemap should list final, canonical URLs only. Redirecting entries send mixed signals about which URL to index; chains slow crawling, and loops mean the page can’t be indexed at all.
How to fix it
- Replace each redirecting entry with the final URL.
- Collapse chains into a single 301 from the original URL to the final one.
- Fix loops by finding the two rules that undo each other, often trailing-slash or www rules.