To avoid the multiple pages redirects error in Google Search Console or Core Web Vitals you need to make sure you rewrite redirects for protocol changes. Always try to redirect to the preferred version of the URL and eliminate unnecessary redirects from your site. In this article, we will explain what redirects are and how to avoid them.
Redirection is a process that helps to forward one URL to a different URL. It is critical for dynamic websites to be successful especially when a site content moves from one place to another. It can also help in the case be a helpful tool if you need to remove a page or change your domain name. But if you ever have checked your site on Google PageSpeed Insight or Lighthouse, and see the opportunity to show “avoid multiple page redirects.” Then something has gone wrong and the redirection process and leaving it unresolved can slow down your site speed and greatly impact its performance.
If you have received this warning and are worried about how to fix it. You are at the right place. In this article, we will walk you through all the things you need to know about redirects, how they affect your site speed, performance, and SEO, and how you can avoid multiple page redirects in the future.
So Let’s Get started!
What are page redirects?
Simply, redirects are ways to forward users and search engines from one URL to another. Basically, redirects are used when you merge a site, delete a page, change the domain name, or when moving site content. These make the redirects important for both users and search engines especially when content is moved. If you don’t use redirects, any visitor who lands on a page that has been moved or deleted will see an error. This is something that really frustrates the user and provides a poor user experience.
Not only is this a bad UX for visitors but also impact search engines, and would lose a lot of visitors and traffic. However, using multiple redirects or implementing them incorrectly can result in major issues such as slow page loading, poor user experience, and can even affect your site’s SEO.
Why is it crucial to avoid multiple page redirects and how it impacts your page SEO?
As mentioned above, multiple redirects can cause the site to slow down and affect the overall user experience. When a visitor requests a source that has been redirected, the server returns an HTTP response that is something like this.
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: /path/to/new/location
The browser then makes another HTTP request that retrieves the source from the new location. This additional trip of the browser to the new location delays the loading process and causes the site to slow down.
What is worse is that if you have multiple redirects on your site. Adding multiple round trip request-response cycles, including DNS lookup, TCP handshake, and TLS negotiation, make your site even slower. So the more redirects you have, the slower your site is.
Try to avoid redirects as much as possible, because your site performance is far more important than you think. Your site speed is one of the ranking factors in Google’s algorithm. So let’s see how you can avoid multiple redirects on your site. Below are some great tips that might be helpful.
How to remove page redirects?
Although redirects are necessary, it is important to minimize their usage as doing so will greatly improve page performance, speed and provide a better user experience.
1. Avoid landing page redirect
One of the best ways to avoid multiple redirects is by avoiding landing page redirects whenever possible. Instead of making separate individual redirects for protocol changes, mobile-specific page, geolocation, adding www, or for a subdomain, use one single redirect for them. Always try to redirect to the preferred version of the URL and eliminate unnecessary redirects from your site.
2. Setup direct access to Non-HTML resources
It is very common to redirect non-HTML resources such as images, video and CSS files. Redirecting them from some other site can greatly increase the RTT cycle and increase the loading time respectively. In addition, it can be more problematic if where the assets are stored get deleted or moved. So always try to set up direct access to non-HTML resources on your site, so they can be downloaded directly from your site before rendering on the screen. For example, embed images directly in your database instead of redirecting them from a different site.
3. Periodically review your redirects
One of the best practices to avoid multiple redirects is by reviewing the websites redirects from time to time, so the irrelevant and unwanted redirects can be removed or rewritten. Another approach to reduce multiple redirects is by combining multiple redirects into one single useful redirect. Also avoid client-side redirects because they are slower, non-cacheable, and browsers may not support them by default.
The Bottom Line
Avoiding multiple page redirects is easy to fix and will greatly improve the websites speed especially if the redirect involves the root domain. Using too many redirects can slow down the loading process and cause the visitor to wait for the content to render on the screen. This greatly affects your site overall performance and causes a poor user experience on your page.
Always try to avoid redirects as much as possible.
Check them often using tools like screaming frog or other website crawling tools
Remove and write them when possible.
Of course, don’t forget to share your precious feedback with us. Or if you have any further questions, just drop a line in the comment section below. We would love to help you.
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