Step 1: Start a new crawl
Open Screaming Frog and enter the website URL you want to crawl. Click the “Start” button to begin the crawl.
Step 2: Wait for the crawl to finish
Depending on the size of the website, the crawl may take a few minutes or longer to complete. Wait for the crawl to finish before proceeding to the next step.
Step 3: Review the response codes
Once the crawl is complete, click on the “Response Codes” tab to view the response codes for each URL. Look for URLs with a 3xx status code, such as 301, 302, or 307. These status codes indicate that the URL has been redirected.
Step 4: Identify URLs with redirect chains
Click on a URL with a 3xx status code to view its details. In the URL details window, look for the “Redirect Chain” section. This section will show you all of the URLs that the original URL has been redirected through. If there are multiple URLs in the redirect chain, this indicates that there is a redirect chain issue that needs to be fixed.
Step 5: Fix redirect chain issues
To fix redirect chain issues, you’ll need to identify the original source of the redirect and update it to point directly to the final destination URL. This will eliminate the need for any intermediate redirects. Once you’ve made the necessary changes, run another crawl to confirm that the redirect chain issue has been resolved.
Step 6: Generate a report
To generate a report on redirect chains, click on the “Reports” tab in Screaming Frog. Click the “Create New Report” button and select “Redirect Chains” as the report type. Choose the options you want to include in the report, such as the number of redirect chains and the URLs involved. Click the “Create” button to generate the report.
Step 7: Review the report
Once the report has been generated, review it to identify any remaining redirect chain issues. Use the information in the report to make the necessary changes to eliminate redirect chains and improve your website’s SEO performance.
