Link directly to final destination URLs
Internal links that point to redirect URLs add latency, waste crawl budget, and pass less PageRank to the destination than a direct link would—reducing the ranking potential of linked pages.
Quick Reference
- Internal links should point directly to the final destination URL, not to a URL that redirects
- Each redirect in a chain dilutes the PageRank passed through it
- Update internal links after URL migrations to point to the new URLs
- Use 301 redirects for permanent moves, but then update source links
Check
Crawl internal links across the site. For each <a href='...'> tag, follow the URL and check the HTTP response code. Flag any internal link that resolves to a 301 or 302 redirect rather than a direct 200 response. Report the source page, linked URL, and the final destination URL after following the redirect.
Fix
For each internal link pointing to a redirect URL: update the href attribute to point directly to the final destination URL (the 200-status URL after following all redirects). Keep the redirect in place for external links, but update all internal links to point directly to the canonical-url destination.
