About Redirect Sniffer
Redirect Sniffer is a simple web tool designed to help you trace the complete path of URL redirects. When you enter a URL, the tool follows each step of the redirection chain, showing you every URL visited and the HTTP status code returned at each step.
Why Use It?
- Debugging: Understand why a URL isn't landing where you expect.
- SEO Analysis: Check redirect chains for potential issues affecting search engine rankings (e.g., multiple 302s instead of a 301).
- Unshorten Links: Expand shortened URLs from services like Bitly, TinyURL, and t.co to see where they actually lead before clicking.
- Affiliate Links: See where affiliate links are actually sending users.
- Security Awareness: Uncover potentially malicious redirects hiding behind innocent-looking links.
- Curiosity: Simply see the journey a shortened URL takes.
How It Works
The tool sends requests to the URL you provide without automatically following redirects (like a browser normally would). It inspects the HTTP headers returned by the server. If it finds a redirect status code (like 301, 302, 307, 308) and a 'Location' header indicating the next URL, it records that step and repeats the process with the new URL. This continues until it reaches a non-redirect status (like 200 OK) or hits a maximum limit to prevent infinite loops.
URL Shortener Support
We support 100+ URL shorteners, including popular services like Bitly, TinyURL, Twitter's t.co, and many more. Whether you're checking social media links, marketing campaigns, or affiliate URLs, our tool helps you see the complete redirect chain.
This tool is built using the Laravel PHP framework and styled with Tailwind CSS.