www Redirect Checker v2.0

About www Redirect Checker

A www redirect checker is a free tool that tests whether every version of your web address sends visitors to one single canonical URL. Most domains answer on four separate entry points (http and https, each with and without www), and search engines treat each one as a distinct address until a permanent redirect says otherwise. The ToolsPivot www Redirect Checker probes all four in one pass, traces every hop along the way, and returns a plain verdict on whether your domain consolidates the way Google expects.

What a www Redirect Checker Actually Tests

Every domain has at least four entry points, and only one of them should serve content. The other three should issue a permanent redirect to it. When two or more return a 200 status instead, the same page is live at two addresses, and any links pointing at either version count toward a different URL.

The four variants are http://example.com, http://www.example.com, https://example.com, and https://www.example.com. A correctly configured site sends the first three to the fourth (or to the non-www equivalent, if that is your preference) with a single 301 or 308. Testing this by hand means opening four browser tabs, disabling cache, and reading the network panel for each one. A server-side checker does it in a single request cycle.

Before the redirect layer can even be tested, both hostnames need to resolve. If the bare domain has an A record but www has no CNAME, the www variant fails at DNS rather than redirecting, which looks like a different problem entirely. Running a quick DNS lookup first separates a missing record from a missing rewrite rule.

How ToolsPivot www Redirect Checker Works

1. Enter a bare domain. Type example.com without any prefix. The input is stripped to a bare host and the four entry-point URLs are built automatically.
2. Pick your mode. Domain mode runs the full four-variant audit, Trace a URL follows one specific address (useful for inner pages), and Bulk accepts up to 20 domains at once.
3. Choose a user agent. Leave it on Browser for a normal visitor, or switch to Googlebot to see whether your server or CDN treats crawlers differently.
4. Click Check. Each variant is fetched one hop at a time with cURL, never auto-following, with a ten-hop ceiling, loop detection, and every hop pinned to a validated public IP address.
5. Read the head of the final page. On any variant that ends in a 200, the tool scans for a meta-refresh tag, a JavaScript redirect, and the rel=canonical declaration.
6. Review and export. The verdict, canonical URL, issue checklist, and full hop-by-hop chain for each variant appear together, with copy-report and CSV export.

What the Four-Variant Audit Reveals

• Full hop-by-hop chains: Every intermediate URL is listed with its status code, not just the final destination, so a two-hop chain is visible instead of hidden behind a green checkmark.
• Permanent versus temporary classification: Each redirect is labelled 301/308 (permanent) or 302/307 (temporary), which is the distinction Google acts on when deciding your canonical URL.
• Client-side redirect detection: Meta-refresh tags and JavaScript redirects are caught on the final page, which matters because most AI crawlers cannot execute JavaScript at all.
• Duplicate content flagging: If both www and non-www return 200, the tool names it as a split rather than reporting two successful checks.
• Loop and chain detection: Circular rules are caught before the ten-hop ceiling, and chains longer than one hop are raised as a warning.
• Canonical tag cross-check: The rel=canonical value on the destination page is compared against the redirect target, because a redirect and a canonical tag pointing at different URLs send conflicting signals.
• HTTPS upgrade verification: Any http variant that resolves without upgrading to https is flagged separately from the www question.
• HSTS presence: A missing Strict-Transport-Security header is noted, since it means browsers still make one insecure request before the redirect fires.

For the raw header view behind any of these findings, including the exact HSTS directive and cache behaviour, the HTTP header checker shows the full server response for a single URL.

Reading Your Verdict: Pass, Needs Work, or Fail

The verdict compresses four separate traces into one answer. A pass means all four variants consolidate to a single HTTPS URL through permanent redirects, with no conflicting canonical tag. A needs-work result means the consolidation happens but something along the way is suboptimal, usually a chain of two or more hops or a missing HSTS header. A fail means at least one critical issue: a loop, a temporary redirect standing in for a permanent one, two variants both returning 200, or http never upgrading to https.

The issue checklist below the verdict names each problem individually, so a fail caused by one temporary redirect reads differently from a fail caused by a full www/non-www split. Work the critical items first, then the warnings.

Redirect Types the Tracer Reads

The Issues That Actually Cost You Rankings

A www/non-www split. When both hostnames serve a 200, external links accumulate against two different URLs. Google will eventually pick one canonical on its own, but it may not pick yours, and the split persists in the meantime. Checking which version is actually in the index with an index checker tells you which URL Google settled on.

A 302 where a 301 belongs. Google's crawler documentation describes a 301 as a strong signal that the redirect target should be processed and a 302 as a weak one. Temporary redirects left in place for years are one of the most common findings on migrated sites.

Redirect chains. Google's own site-migration guidance says Googlebot follows up to 10 hops in a chain but advises redirecting to the final destination directly, keeping any unavoidable chain to no more than three hops. Chains usually appear when an http-to-https rule and a www rule fire in sequence instead of being combined into one rewrite.

Redirect loops. When one rule sends www to non-www and another sends non-www back, the page never loads for anyone. Browsers surface an ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error and crawlers drop the URL. Loops nearly always come from two systems (a CDN rule and a .htaccess rule, for example) each trying to own the redirect.

A canonical tag that disagrees. If https://www.example.com redirects to https://example.com but the destination page carries a canonical tag pointing back at the www version, you have told Google two contradictory things. The link analyzer is useful for auditing canonical and link targets across a page once the redirect layer is settled.

Who Runs This Check

SEO Consultants During Technical Audits

URL canonicalization is an early item on every technical audit because so much else depends on it. Backlink data, rank tracking, and crawl reports all get harder to read when a site answers on two hostnames. Running the four-variant check during onboarding takes seconds and often explains discrepancies that would otherwise take an hour to trace. A broader website SEO check covers the on-page layer once the URL layer is confirmed.

Developers After an HTTPS Migration

SSL installation is the single most common way a working redirect gets broken. A new certificate, a changed virtual host, or a CDN sitting in front of the origin can each introduce a rule that conflicts with the existing one. Pairing this check with an SSL certificate check after any certificate change catches both the certificate and the redirect in one sitting.

WordPress and Shopify Site Owners

WordPress stores its address in Settings, General, but that setting only affects links the CMS generates. It does not create a server-level redirect, so a direct request to the other hostname still reaches the server unredirected. Shopify and other hosted platforms handle canonicalization for you, which is worth verifying rather than assuming, particularly on stores using a custom domain.

Agencies Managing Domain Portfolios

Checking four variants by hand across 20 client domains is 80 browser requests. Bulk mode reduces that to one submission and a CSV, with expandable detail for any domain that fails. The export is the part that matters for reporting, since a client-facing summary needs the evidence attached.

Fixing a Broken www Redirect

Every fix below uses a permanent 301 and should send all three non-canonical variants to the canonical one in a single hop, not in sequence.

Apache. Combine the protocol and hostname conditions into one RewriteRule so http://www.example.com reaches https://example.com in one hop rather than two. The www to non-www .htaccess generator produces the directive block for either direction.

Nginx. Use a dedicated server block that listens for the non-canonical hostnames on both ports and returns 301 to the canonical host. Nginx ignores .htaccess entirely, so any rules left in that file after a server migration do nothing and quietly mislead whoever reads them next.

Cloudflare or another CDN. Redirect Rules run at the edge, before the request reaches your origin, so they override whatever the origin would have done. This is exactly why loops appear: an edge rule and an origin rule can each be individually correct and still conflict. Pick one layer to own the redirect and remove the rule from the other.

WordPress. Set both the WordPress Address and Site Address fields to the canonical form, then add the server-level rule as well. The CMS setting alone will not redirect a direct request.

After any change, run the check again and confirm the chain is one hop from each variant. It is also worth confirming that your XML sitemap lists only the canonical form, since a generated sitemap built before the fix may still reference the old hostname, and that your robots.txt directives reference the same version. Crawling the result through a search engine spider simulator shows what a bot actually receives after the redirect resolves.

What This Tool Cannot Tell You

Every check runs from a single server location at a single moment. A redirect that behaves differently by region, or one that fails intermittently under load, can return a clean pass here and still misbehave for some visitors. Repeat the check at different times if you suspect an intermittent fault, and confirm the origin is stable with a server status check.

Sites behind a CDN or a bot-protection layer may answer an automated checker with a 403 or 429 while serving a real browser normally. If the results look implausible, run the check again with the Googlebot user agent, which often exposes exactly this difference in treatment.

Domain mode audits the four homepage entry points. Inner pages can be configured differently, and often are, so a homepage pass does not guarantee the whole site consolidates. Use Trace a URL mode on a few representative inner pages, or run a broken link check across the site to surface paths that resolve unexpectedly.

One thing worth saying plainly: choosing www or non-www makes no difference to rankings. Neither form has an advantage. Consistency is the entire point, and any tool claiming otherwise is selling something.

How It Compares to Other Free Redirect Checkers

Four-variant testing is not unique. Seobility's free redirect check asks for your preferred variant and returns a redirect score, and SerpWorx checks all URL versions automatically. Googlebot user-agent switching, meta-refresh detection, and CSV export all exist elsewhere too, and several competing bulk checkers accept up to 100 URLs per batch against the 20 supported here. Any page telling you these features are exclusive to one tool has not looked closely at the alternatives.

What ToolsPivot offers is the combination without a gate. There is no account, no API key, no trial clock, and no scan limit, where Seobility's free tool runs as a limited version that prompts an upgrade to its paid suite. The interface is available in 18 languages, which is rare among free redirect tools. If your priority is batching hundreds of URLs at once, a specialist bulk checker will serve you better, and that is a fair trade to name openly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a www redirect checker?

A www redirect checker tests whether all four versions of your domain (http and https, with and without www) resolve to one canonical URL through permanent redirects. It reports the status code, redirect type, and full hop chain for each variant so you can confirm the consolidation is correct.

Does choosing www or non-www affect SEO?

No. Neither version carries a ranking advantage. What matters is picking one and redirecting every other variant to it permanently, so links and signals accumulate against a single URL.

What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?

A 301 is permanent and a 302 is temporary. Google's crawler documentation treats a 301 as a strong signal that the redirect target should be processed and a 302 as a weak signal, so canonicalization should always use 301 or 308.

How many redirect hops will Google follow?

Google's documentation states that its crawlers follow up to 10 redirect hops by default. Its site-migration guidance still recommends redirecting straight to the final destination, keeping any chain to fewer than five hops and ideally no more than three.

Is the ToolsPivot www redirect checker free?

Yes, with no account, no API key, and no scan limit. Domain mode, Trace a URL mode, bulk checking, the Googlebot user agent, and CSV export are all available without registration.

How many domains can I check at once?

Bulk mode accepts up to 20 domains per run, each with expandable hop-by-hop detail and a combined CSV export. For batches larger than 20, split them across multiple runs.

Can I check redirects for inner pages, not just the homepage?

Yes, using Trace a URL mode, which follows one specific address rather than building domain variants. This matters because many servers redirect the root domain correctly while leaving inner paths reachable on both hostnames.

Why do both www and non-www return a 200 status?

No redirect rule is in place, so your server is serving identical content at two addresses. Search engines see two separate URLs, and inbound links split between them until you add a permanent redirect from one to the other.

What causes a redirect loop between www and non-www?

Two conflicting rules, each sending traffic back to the other hostname. This usually happens when a CDN redirect rule and a server-level rule are both active. Remove the rule from one layer so only a single system handles the redirect.

Does the tool detect JavaScript and meta-refresh redirects?

Yes. On any variant ending in a 200 response, the head of the final page is scanned for meta-refresh tags and JavaScript redirects. Both are weaker than a server 301, and JavaScript redirects are invisible to crawlers that do not render pages.

Can I set my preferred domain in Google Search Console instead?

No. Google removed the preferred domain setting in June 2019 and no longer uses any existing configuration. Permanent redirects, a matching rel=canonical tag, and consistent internal linking are now the way to state your preference.

Why do my results differ from what I see in a browser?

Checks run from one server location with a specific user agent, and CDN or bot-protection layers may respond differently to automated requests than to a browser. Switching to the Googlebot user agent often reveals whether crawler-specific handling is the cause. Latency differences between a redirect chain and a direct hit also show up in a page speed check.

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