HTTP redirects are a fundamental mechanism on the web. Navigate to some URL and the web server will respond by telling you to go to a different URL instead. This is useful when pages are no longer relevant, have been deleted, or have moved. Instead of getting a "404 Not Found" error, the user's browser will seamlessly continue navigation to the directed page.
There's another extremely common means of employing redirects, often unintentional, that hurts websites. These are unnecessary redirects that serve no purpose, and are often the result of incorrect linking throughout a website. These redirects inhibits performance—users get a slower navigation experience—and have a negative impact on SEO. In this article, we'll cover what exactly causes these redirects, what their impact is, and how to find and fix them.