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Pulseperformance

Avoid Multiple Page Redirects

What This Audit Checks

Lighthouse detects redirect chains in the navigation path — when the initial URL redirects to a second URL, which may redirect to a third, and so on before the final document is served. The audit reports each redirect in the chain and the time added by the extra round trips. A single redirect is common (e.g., HTTP to HTTPS), but chains of two or more are flagged as a performance issue.

Why It Matters

Every redirect adds a full network round trip before the browser can even begin downloading the page. On a mobile connection with 200 ms latency, a chain of three redirects adds 600 ms or more of dead time before the first byte of HTML arrives. During this time, the user sees nothing — no content, no loading indicator, no progress. Redirect chains are pure wasted latency that directly inflate Time to First Byte (TTFB) and every downstream metric.

How to Fix It

  • Link directly to the final URL. Audit your internal links, navigation menus, and sitemap to ensure they point to the canonical destination. Replace http://example.com with https://www.example.com (or whichever variant is canonical) in your markup.

  • Eliminate chained redirects at the server. If /old redirects to /middle which redirects to /new, update the rule so /old redirects directly to /new. Flatten every chain to a single hop.

  • Consolidate HTTP-to-HTTPS and www/non-www redirects. Handle both in a single redirect rule rather than chaining them. For example, redirect http://example.com directly to https://www.example.com instead of going through https://example.com first.

  • Audit third-party redirects. Ad links, analytics redirects, and URL shorteners in your critical path add hops you cannot control. Remove intermediaries from the navigation path wherever possible.

  • Use HSTS preload. Register your domain for HSTS preloading so browsers skip the HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect entirely for repeat visitors. This eliminates the most common single redirect.

How Pulse Tracks This

Pulse records the redirects audit on every Lighthouse run, capturing the number of redirects and the time they add. Your dashboard trends redirect latency over time and alerts you when a new deploy introduces additional hops in the navigation chain.

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