www Redirect Checker

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How I Use the www Redirect Checker When URLs Get Weird

Ever wonder where your URL is actually going?

I didn’t, until one day I typed in a client's domain with "www" and it loaded fine. Then I typed the same thing without "www"… and it didn’t. That little moment of confusion led me down the rabbit hole of redirect chains, canonical URLs, SEO drops, and server settings that apparently weren’t as “set up” as everyone thought.

And that’s when I stumbled on a simple tool that now lives on my bookmarks bar—Www Redirect Checker from ToolsBox.

Not flashy. Not bloated with features you don’t need. Just does the job. Checks if the “www” version of your site is redirecting properly to the non-www version (or the other way around). Also tells you if it’s doing a 301 or a 302. Why does that matter? You’d be surprised.

What Actually Happens When You Don't Set Up Redirects Properly?

Here’s the deal:
Search engines see https://www.yoursite.com and https://yoursite.com as two different websites. Sounds silly. But it’s real. So if you’re not redirecting one to the other, you might be splitting your traffic. Your authority. Your backlinks. Yeah… it’s kind of a big deal.

Now, imagine spending a whole year building SEO, backlinks, social presence… only to realize half of it went to a version of your site that Google doesn’t even consider your “main” one. Oof.

Redirect issues aren’t always obvious. That’s where this tool helps.

Here's How I Use the Www Redirect Checker

Nothing fancy.
I pop in a URL—doesn't matter if it's mine or a client’s—and the tool quickly tells me:

Does www.example.com redirect to example.com?
Is the redirect using a 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary)?
Are there multiple hops in the chain?
Is SSL active during the redirect?
Are we running into redirect loops?

No install. No login. It just spits out the chain of events, raw and simple.

It’s also a good sanity check before launching a site. Especially when switching from staging to live, or migrating domains. One missed redirect and things start breaking quietly behind the scenes.

A Few Things I’ve Learned While Using It

Not every issue is dramatic. But small redirect issues compound.

One time, I found a site doing a 302 redirect from www to non-www, when it should’ve been a 301. That subtle difference? Search engines don’t pass full ranking power through a 302. Fixing it literally brought back some long-lost rankings within weeks.

Another time, I helped a friend whose domain did a redirect chain like this:

http://www.domain.com → http://domain.com → https://domain.com → https://www.domain.com

That’s four hops. Totally unnecessary. We fixed it to redirect straight to the final version with one 301. Not only was it faster, but Google liked it better.

These are the kind of things you just don’t notice unless you're digging into them.

Who Actually Needs This?

Web developers launching new sites
SEOs doing audits
People moving domains or changing hosting
Anyone who just wants to know what the heck is going on with their URLs

If you’ve ever wondered why your site feels slower, or why your rankings dropped after a migration, checking for unnecessary or improper redirects should be on your list.

The Www Redirect Checker tool won’t solve your problems. But it will show you what’s wrong. And sometimes that’s enough to point you in the right direction.

Also... It Works Well With These

Some secondary tools that go hand-in-hand:

Redirect Path Analyzer – checks the full HTTP redirect path
Domain Redirect Tracker – useful if you're managing multiple domains or parked redirects
URL Canonical Checker – helps confirm if search engines are indexing the correct version
HTTP Header Viewer – lets you dig into what headers are being sent during each redirect
301 Redirect Tester – focused on identifying SEO-friendly permanent redirects

All of these are part of the larger toolbox on ToolsBox.com. But honestly, even if you just use this one checker regularly, you're already ahead of most.

Don’t Overthink It. Just Check It.

We build these tools because we’ve been through the headaches ourselves. This isn’t a fancy all-in-one redirect audit suite. It’s just the thing you reach for when you need clarity.

Www redirect issues are one of those things that fly under the radar until they don’t. And when they don’t, they usually cost traffic, SEO power, and time. So yeah—checking once in a while doesn’t hurt.

Drop in a URL. See what happens. That’s really all there is to it.

FAQs

Does www vs non-www really matter anymore?
Yeah. It does. They're technically different URLs. Search engines treat them separately unless you redirect one to the other.
Is a 301 better than a 302 for redirects?
For most permanent redirect setups? Yes. A 301 passes SEO value. A 302 doesn’t always.
What if my site works with both www and non-www?
That’s not ideal. You should pick one version as canonical and redirect the other.
Can too many redirects slow down my site?
Absolutely. Especially if they create unnecessary hops or loops. Faster is better for SEO and UX.
What’s the difference between this tool and browser inspect tools?
Browser tools show some redirects. This shows the full chain, even server-level redirects that happen before the browser fully loads the page.