SiteAud!tLint Support

Opportunity Internal Linking

Links to redirecting internal URLs

Severity
Opportunity
Impact
Low
Effort to fix
Low
Issue code
links_to_redirect

Why it matters

This page links to internal URLs that redirect, adding hops for users and crawlers.

How to fix it

Point the links directly at the final destination URLs.

What this means

This page links to internal URLs that redirect, with a 3xx status, instead of linking straight to the final page. The evidence lists the targets, for example /blog/seo-tips [301].

Why it matters

Each redirect adds a round trip before the visitor sees the page, and crawlers have to request two URLs to reach one. Google follows redirects and passes their signals, so a few are harmless. Across a whole site, links to redirects slow pages down, waste crawl budget, and keep old URLs alive in your structure long after a migration.

Common causes

  • After a migration or URL change: redirects were added, but internal links were never updated.
  • Protocol and host variations: links to http:// or the non-www version, which redirect to the canonical address.
  • Trailing slash mismatches: links to /page/ on a site that serves /page, or the reverse.
  • Shortened or tracking links used internally.

How to fix it

  1. Group the targets. Links that differ only by protocol, www or trailing slash usually come from one template or one setting.
  2. Update each link to the final URL shown in the redirect. A search-and-replace across content, plus the template fix, usually covers most of them.
  3. Keep the redirects in place for outside links and bookmarks. The goal is that your own pages never rely on them.
  4. Check for redirect chains, where the final URL redirects again.

Verify the fix

Recrawl and compare. As links are updated, the source pages drop out of this issue and the redirecting URLs are no longer found through internal links.

How it affects your score

Finding this issue on any page costs the Internal Linking score 0.5 points, plus up to 4 more depending on the share of crawled pages affected. A smaller improvement with a modest effect on its own.

Find the affected URLs

Open Crawl > Issues and pick Links to redirecting internal URLs. Each affected URL is listed with its evidence, and Copy URLs or Export URLs hands the list to a developer. The issue also appears in the Action Plan, ranked by impact (low) and effort (low), and in the issues CSV under the code links_to_redirect. After fixing, run a new audit and use Compare to confirm the URLs moved to fixed.

Guides that cover this issue