Redirect Chain Calculator

Measure the latency and equity cost of redirect chains.

About Redirect Chain Calculator

Redirect chains compound both latency and equity loss multiplicatively. Crawlers commonly abandon chains beyond about five hops, which effectively deindexes the destination. Collapsing chains so every old URL points directly at the final destination is a one-off fix with permanent benefit.

Formula

Redirect Chain

Added latency = hops × per-hop latency; equity retained = (1 − loss per hop)^hops

chain: Each hop adds latency and loses a little link equity
follow limit: Crawlers typically stop following after about five hops

Worked example

With the default values below, Redirect Chain Calculator returns Added Latency of 360. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Redirects in the chainaccepts 0–20: 3
Latency per hopminimum 0 ms: 120 ms
Equity lost per hopaccepts 0–100 %: 3 %
URLs affectedminimum 0: 850

Results

Added Latency: 360 ms
Equity Retained: 91.267%
Equity Lost: 8.733%
Extra Crawl Requests Consumed: 2,550
Verdict: Short chain — collapse to a single hop where practical

Step by step

1Values used
2Redirect Chain
3Added Latency= 360 ms
4Equity Retained= 91.267
5Equity Lost= 8.733
6Extra Crawl Requests Consumed= 2,550
7Verdict= Short chain — collapse to a single hop where practical

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Redirect Chain calculated?

Added latency = hops × per-hop latency; equity retained = (1 − loss per hop)^hops Redirect chains compound both latency and equity loss multiplicatively. Crawlers commonly abandon chains beyond about five hops, which effectively deindexes the destination.

Why does Redirect Chain matter?

Collapsing chains so every old URL points directly at the final destination is a one-off fix with permanent benefit.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 4 inputs: Redirects in the chain, Latency per hop, Equity lost per hop, URLs affected. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.