Redirect chains and Google Shopping: how to cut them

Google’s fix for the “Too many redirects” error is short: “make sure your landing page URL doesn't have more than 2 redirects”. Submit the final URL in your product data, and fold old chains into a single permanent hop. Every extra hop was a sensible fix once; together they are a slow road to your product.

Major4 min read

By Edvinas Ivanauskas How the guides are reviewed

Why this matters

Google's “How to fix: Product page unavailable” page lists “Too many redirects” among the errors that stop a product link working, and gives the fix in one line: “make sure your landing page URL doesn't have more than 2 redirects”. The “About landing page requirements” page goes further: “Use as few redirects as possible.” And it says why: “Redirects increase the time between a person clicking your ad and loading your landing page. Long loading times may be inconvenient, and could prevent Google from getting information from your website.”

Where a redirect lands matters as much as how many there are. The same requirements page says “Don’t redirect people to another website outside of the domain you claimed in your Merchant Center account.” The “Link [link]” attribute page asks you to “Ensure all redirects are set to the same verified domain to prevent errors.” and to “Use a stable URL.”

The type of redirect matters for search. Google Search Central's page on redirects says “If you need to change the URL of a page as it is shown in search engine results, we recommend that you use a permanent server-side redirect whenever possible.” and “The 301 and 308 status codes mean that a page has permanently moved to a new location.” A 302 left behind by a migration says the opposite. In the same page's words: “Temporary redirects: Show the source page in search results.”

Chains grow one reasonable decision at a time: http to https, then a new domain, then a new URL pattern, then a language prefix. Nobody set out to build four hops, and nobody went back to fold them into one. A redirect checker does not care how it happened; it shows every hop in a few seconds.

The free scan follows the redirects from the address you enter and flags a chain longer than two hops. Your submitted product links are yours to test with a redirect checker. The misrepresentation checker lists the scan's URL checks, and landing page errors covers what happens when the last hop lands on an error.

Typical evidence

Redirect chains make every visit harder

One redirect is a forwarding address; four stacked up is a maze. Chains accrete after migrations and locale changes. Keep submitted URLs pointed at the final canonical destination and test the actual response chain.

Feed URL → final destination4 hops · 1 temporary

/old-product301

/products/old-product301

/products/new-product302

/en/products/new-product200

Submit the canonical URL directly1 hop

/en/products/new-product200

The legacy URL still used in old emails 301s straight here in one clean hop. No 302s anywhere.

Update submitted product URLs to the final canonical destination and keep legacy links to one relevant hop where possible.

The public signals this check looks for:

Years of changes stacked up, http to https, bare domain to www, old domain to new, old URL…
Years of changes stacked up, http to https, bare domain to www, old domain to new, old URL pattern to new, so one product link now takes four hops.
The product data still submits old URLs that redirect, instead of the final address
The product data still submits old URLs that redirect, instead of the final address.
A migration left a temporary 302 redirect where a permanent one belongs
A migration left a temporary 302 redirect where a permanent one belongs.
A redirect sends shoppers to another domain, such as a marketplace, a separate checkout ho…
A redirect sends shoppers to another domain, such as a marketplace, a separate checkout host or a regional store, that is not the domain in Merchant Center.
A tracking or affiliate service sits in front of the product link and adds hops of its own…
A tracking or affiliate service sits in front of the product link and adds hops of its own.
Two rules point at each other and the page loops until the browser gives up
Two rules point at each other and the page loops until the browser gives up.

What it looks like once it is right

The product data submits https://www.example.com/en/products/mug-12, which answers 200 straight away. The old shop.example.com address still used in past emails 301s straight there in one hop.

Common mistakes

Common mistake

A product link submitted as http://shop.example.com/product/mug-12 goes to https://, then to www.example.com, then to /products/mug-12, then to /en/products/mug-12: four hops, one of them a 302.

Fix checklist

Put five or six product links and your policy pages through a free redirect checker, and read every hop and status code from the first URL to the final page.
Update your product data to submit the final URL, the one that answers 200 with no redirect at all. That takes the chain out of the product link entirely.
Fold old chains: point each legacy URL straight at its final page with a single 301, instead of adding one more redirect on top of the old ones.
Replace temporary 302 redirects left over from a migration with permanent 301 or 308 redirects.
Keep every redirect on the domain you verified in Merchant Center, including checkout and regional versions of the store.
Move tracking parameters out of the product link and into the ads redirect [ads_redirect] attribute, which Google’s landing page requirements name for tracking.
After any migration, run the same sample through the redirect checker again and keep the results with the migration notes.

Read the chain, and read the type of each hop

A 301 communicates a permanent move and a 302 a temporary one. Use the appropriate status, keep the canonical URL consistent, and test the real chain instead of inferring how another system will interpret it.

httpstatus.io · trace

oldshop.com/item302

newshop.com/item200

A 302 is temporary. For a permanent move, use the status that matches the move and verify the result in your own tools.

Switch permanent moves to a single 301, and update the feed to submit the final canonical URL directly so there's no chain to follow.

Questions merchants ask

How many redirects does Google allow on a Shopping landing page?

Google's “Product page unavailable” help page lists too many redirects as an error and says to make sure your landing page URL has no more than 2 redirects. Its landing page requirements add: use as few as possible. Best of all, submit the final URL, so there are none.

Should I use a 301 or a 302 redirect for a moved product?

A 301 or 308 for a permanent move. Google's page on redirects says those status codes mean a page has permanently moved, and recommends a permanent server-side redirect when a URL changes for good. Keep 302 for genuinely temporary detours.

Can my product link redirect to another domain?

Google's landing page requirements say not to redirect people to another website outside of the domain you claimed in your Merchant Center account, and the [link] attribute page asks for redirects on the same verified domain. Keep the product page and the redirects on your verified domain.

Remediation

Risk signal

Each redirect was a sensible fix on the day it went in; together they make a slow, fragile route to your product. Submit the final URL, fold old chains into one hop, and check again after every migration.

PriorityAddress and document this finding as part of the store’s remediation work.

EvidenceRecord the current state before each change, apply the fix, then capture the corrected state so every change is evidenced.

Similar cases

Sources

Last reviewed 23 Sep 2026.

That is one issue. The library documents 134.

The free scan lists what it finds on your store. The paid report adds the affected pages, captured evidence and step-by-step fixes. Start free, with no account needed.