How do I fix \"too many redirects\"?

"Too many redirects" means your site sends the browser in a circle. Two rules each redirect to the other, so the page never loads. Find the loop with curl, then remove or correct the conflicting rule. The usual culprits are HTTPS settings, www and non-www rules fighting each other, a CDN, a CMS address setting, or a stuck cookie.

Why it matters

Visitors see an error page such as ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS in Chrome instead of your site, and search engines cannot crawl the affected URLs. A loop is also easy to create by accident when you add a new redirect on top of an old one.

How to fix it

Try the page in a private window or another browser. If it works there, clear cookies and cache for your site, because a bad cookie can trigger a loop.
Trace the redirects:

curl -sIL --max-redirs 10 https://example.com/

If the same two URLs appear again and again, you have found the loop. 3. Check HTTPS handling. A common loop happens when the CDN talks to your server over plain HTTP while the server redirects every HTTP request to HTTPS. If you use Cloudflare, an SSL mode of "Flexible" can cause this, and "Full" or "Full (strict)" with a valid certificate on the server is the usual fix. 4. Check www and non-www rules. If one rule sends www to bare and another sends bare to www, remove one so the preferred host is defined in only one place. 5. Check your CMS. In WordPress, the Site Address and WordPress Address settings must use the same host and protocol you intend. In other systems, look for a base URL or canonical host setting. 6. Disable redirect or security plugins one at a time to see whether one conflicts with your server rules. 7. Review any trailing-slash rule. A rule that adds a slash and another that removes it produce an endless pair of redirects. 8. After the fix, run the curl command again and confirm one hop to a 200 page. Also test with a fresh browser profile.

Common mistakes

Adding a second redirect without removing the old one.
Forcing HTTPS in both the CDN and the server with mismatched settings.
Defining the preferred host in the CMS, the server and the CDN at the same time.
Testing only the home page, while a loop exists on deeper URLs.
Blaming the browser and never checking the server.

Frequently asked questions

Is "too many redirects" a browser problem?

Rarely. Clearing cookies helps when a cookie is part of the loop, but the cause is normally a server, CDN or CMS rule.

Why does it only affect some pages?

Rules that apply to a path, a file type or a login state only trigger on matching URLs. Test several kinds of address.

Can search engines follow the loop?

No. A loop never reaches a final page, so the URL cannot be fetched or indexed until you fix it.

To check how your own addresses redirect, Try the free website sample.