What Is the “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” Error?
The “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error occurs when a browser fails to load a webpage because it’s stuck in an infinite redirect loop.
This means the requested page redirects to a second page, and the second page redirects back to the original page—creating an endless cycle of redirects.
Eventually, the browser gives up trying to load the page and returns a “too many redirects” error message.
Like this:
This “too many redirects” error is problematic for two reasons:
- It negatively impacts the user experience: Users can’t access your webpage and may leave your website as a result. Which means lost traffic. And potential lost revenue for your business.
- It traps search engine crawlers: Search engine crawlers get stuck in the redirect loop, so your pages can’t be properly crawled. And if your pages aren’t crawled and indexed, they won’t rank in search engines to drive traffic to your website.
In this post, we’ll explore the causes of the “too many redirects” error and how to fix it.
But first, let’s examine what this error looks like in different web browsers.
What Does the ‘Too Many Redirects’ Error Look Like in Browsers?
Different browsers show the “too many redirects” error differently.
Here’s an overview:
Google Chrome
In Google Chrome, the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error will show this message in the middle of the screen: “This page isn’t working. example.com redirected you too many times.”
Like so:
And a button allows you to retry loading the page.
Firefox
In Firefox, you may see a message in the middle of the screen that says: “The page isn’t redirecting properly.”
Like so:
And there’s a button to try reloading the page.
Safari
In Safari, the “too many redirects” error message reads: “Safari Can’t Open the Page.”
Like this:
Unlike with Chrome and Firefox, Safari doesn’t offer a button for reloading the page.
What Causes the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS Error?
The ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error occurs when a browser is stuck in a loop of redirects trying to load your webpage.
This can happen for several reasons, including:
- Browser cookies and cache issues: Corrupted cookies and an outdated cache could cause a redirect loop that leads to the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error
- Misconfigured redirects: If your redirects conflict with one another, it can also cause the error
- Issues with third-party services and plugins: Misconfigured third-party services such as content delivery networks (CDN) and the use of outdated plugins can cause “too many redirects” issues on your site
- Incorrect HTTPS settings: A misconfigured secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate or HTTPS redirect rules can also cause the issue
- .htaccess file misconfiguration: If your site’s .htaccess file (a file used to configure web server settings) has a faulty variable, it can lead to the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error on your website
Below, we’ll go through solutions to each of these potential causes of the error.
How to Fix Too Many Redirects: 10 Solutions
1. Clear Your Browser Cache and Cookies
In some cases, the real culprit causing the “too many redirects” error might be your browser—not your website.
Your browser could contain corrupted cookies or an outdated cache. Both of which might trigger the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS for you, specifically. But not for other users accessing your website.
To confirm whether that’s the case, try deleting the stored cache and cookies from your browser. Here’s how to do that on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari:
Google Chrome
Click the three dots at the top right-hand corner of your browser and click “Settings.”
In settings, select “Privacy and security” from the sidebar and click “Clear browsing data.”
Set your time range to “All time.” You can uncheck “Browsing history,” then click “Clear data.”
Firefox
Click the menu button at the top right-hand corner of your browser and select “Settings” in the drop-down.
In settings, select “Privacy & Security” from the sidebar. Then, scroll down to the “Cookies and Site Data” section and click “Clear Data.”
Click “Clear.”
Safari
Click “Safari” in the top menu bar, followed by “Settings…“
Click on the “Advanced” tab in the settings window, select the checkbox next to “Show features for web developers” if it’s not already checked, and close the settings window.
“Develop” should now appear in the top menu bar. Click on it and select “Empty Caches.”
2. Clear Your Site Cache
Like with your browser, the cache stored on your site might also cause the “too many redirects” issue.
If you use WordPress, the below two plugins can help you clear your website’s cached files.
W3 Total Cache Plugin
Go to your WP admin dashboard and navigate to “Performance.” Then, click “Dashboard.”
Next, click “empty all caches.”
Refresh your page to see if the error is gone.
WP Super Cache Plugin
Go to your WP admin dashboard, navigate to “Settings,” and then click “WP Super Cache.”
Scroll down and click “Delete Cache” under the “Delete Cached Pages” section to remove all cached files.
Then, refresh your webpage to see whether the error is gone.
3. Clear Your Server Cache
The cache stored on your server can be another cause of “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” issues.
The steps to clear your server cache can vary depending on your hosting provider.
Many managed WordPress hosts, such as WP Engine, Kinsta, and SiteGround, provide tools within their hosting dashboard to help you easily clear the cache.
If you’re using Kinsta, you can clear the cache by going to the “WordPress sites” page within your dashboard. And clicking “Actions” followed by “Clear cache” from the drop-down.
If you have multiple sites, make sure to select the right one.
Select the type(s) of cache you want to clear and click “Clear cache.”
If your hosting provider doesn’t have a built-in tool for clearing your cache, you may need to contact their support team for assistance.
4. Clear Your CDN Cache
A content delivery network (CDN) such as Cloudflare, Fastly, and Akamai is a web of geographically distributed servers that work together to deliver content to users more efficiently.
But if an outdated or infinite redirect loop gets cached, the CDN will keep sending the user’s browser in circles. Resulting in the “too many redirects” error.
To resolve this, you must clear the cache on your proxy or CDN.
If you’re using Cloudflare, head to your domain’s dashboard. Then select “Caching” in the left-hand menu and select “Configuration.”
Then, click the “Purge Everything” button.
5. Check Your Existing Redirects
If you’ve ruled out caching issues, the “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error may be caused by misconfigured rewrite rules in your server configuration files.
Configuration files are settings files that control how your web server behaves. They contain instructions that tell your server how to handle requests, route traffic, and manage security settings.
Review the rewrite rules in your server configuration file to identify potential redirect loops.
The specific file depends on your web server:
- Apache servers: Look in the .htaccess file
- Nginx servers: Look in the nginx.conf file
- IIS servers: Look in the Web.config file
If you’re using an Apache server, you can use your .htaccess file to set up 301 redirects.
But if you set it up incorrectly, like below, you can run into issues:
RewriteEngine On
# Redirect everything to /example-page
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /example-page [R=301,L]
# Redirect /example-page to /
RewriteRule ^example-page$ / [R=301,L]
In this scenario, when users try to access “/example-page/,” they’ll be redirected to “/example-page” (without a trailing slash) using a 301 (permanent) redirect.
But the second rule then redirects “/example-page” back to “/example-page/,” creating an infinite .htaccess redirect loop.
To fix this redirect loop, you could remove the second rule that redirects “/example-page” back to “/example-page/.” Like this:
RewriteEngine On
# Redirect everything to /example-page
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /example-page [R=301,L]
Now, users will be permanently redirected to “/example-page” when they try to access “/example-page/”—without getting stuck in a redirect loop.
You can easily use Semrush’s Site Audit tool to check if your site has any redirect issues like this. You’ll find them by looking for the “# redirect chains and loops” issue.
6. Reset Your .htaccess File
You can also reset your .htaccess file to confirm whether it is the culprit of the redirect error.
But because making changes to your .htaccess file can cause major issues with your website if you’re not careful, only do this if you know what you’re doing. Or if you have a developer to help you.
Here’s how to reset your .htaccess file back to the default configuration for WordPress:
Access the WordPress files folder by going to your hosting provider’s control panel. (We’re using Bluehost for this walkthrough.) And click “File Manager.”
Next, go to your root directory folder.
The folder is usually named “public_html,” “www,” “htdocs,” or “httpdocs.”
Find the .htaccess file, right-click on it, and click “Download” (in case you need to restore it later).
Then, right-click on the .htaccess file again and click “Edit.”
Review your current configuration. And make sure the rules are set to the default WordPress .htaccess configuration.
If the rules don’t match, delete the current ones, paste in these default rules, and save your file:
# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
# END WordPress
Bear in mind that if you do this, you’ll lose any custom rules you have set up.
7. Check Your URL Settings
Misconfigured URL settings can cause the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS errors on a WordPress website.
This happens when your WordPress website points at the wrong domain, often during a host migration or domain change.
To check for this issue, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to “Settings.” Then, locate your “WordPress Address (URL)” and “Site Address (URL).”
Check to see if they match. If they don’t, modify them to point to the correct domain.
8. Disable Plugins
Sometimes, the redirects you implement using WordPress plugins might conflict with redirects that exist at the server level.
Your plugins could also be outdated or have corrupted data.
To test whether your plugins are causing problems, disable them. Then, re-enable them one by one to see which plugin is causing the problem.
Go to your WordPress admin dashboard and select “Plugins” > “Installed Plugins.”
Select all your plugins by checking the box in the top left-hand corner.
Select “Deactivate” from the “Bulk Actions” drop-down menu and click “Apply.”
Now, refresh your site. If you don’t see the “too many redirects” error message, plugins were creating the issue.
Activate each plugin one by one. As you activate each plugin, reload your website to see which plugin caused the error.
Once you identify the faulty plugin, report the problem to the plugin support team. Or find another plugin with the same functionality to use instead.
9. Check for HTTPS-Related Issues
SSL certificates enable you to use hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) on your website to encrypt and protect data transmitted between the server and the browser. So, when users access your website, their data is safe from attackers.
But if you don’t install an SSL certificate properly or force HTTPS on your website without installing an SSL certificate, your website could trigger the “too many redirects” error.
Use an SSL checker tool such as SSL Shopper to ensure you’ve installed your SSL certificate properly.
You may also get an “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error if you misconfigure HTTPS redirect rules. Which instruct your server to redirect users from your site’s unsecure HTTP version to the secure HTTPS version.
If you got your SSL certificate through your web host, they’ll likely do this for you automatically.
But if you don’t write these rules correctly (such as in the .htaccess file we mentioned earlier), they can cause redirect loops, leading to the “too many HTTP redirects” error.
To avoid this issue, ensure you configure your HTTPS redirect rules correctly.
10. Check Any Third-Party Services
If you use Cloudflare as your CDN and your SSL is set to “Flexible,” it could trigger redirect loops on your site. Because this mode forces your site to load over HTTP even if you already have an SSL certificate.
You can fix it by switching to another encryption option in Cloudflare, such as Full or Full (strict).
To do this, sign in to your Cloudflare dashboard and select your domain.
Go to “SSL/TLS” in the left-hand menu.
Then, set the encryption mode to “Full” or “Full (strict).”
How to Identify ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS Errors on Your Website
Manually identifying the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error can be a time-consuming and tedious process.
Semrush’s Site Audit tool automatically scans your website for redirect-related issues. Like redirect chains and loops.
Start by setting up a project for your website.
Go to the Site Audit tool, enter your URL, and click “Start Audit.”
The “Site Audit Settings” window will pop up.
Here, select the number of pages you want to scan (you can also tweak other crawler settings). Then, click “Start Site Audit.”
Once the audit is complete, navigate to the “Issues” tab and search for “redirect.”
The tool will show whether your site has redirect chains and loops.
If issues exist, click on “# redirect chains and loops” to see the specific pages triggering these issues.
You’ll see a list of URLs like this:
Clicking the “Why and how to fix it” link at the top of the report can guide you on fixing these issues.
If you run a large website, schedule periodic audits to manage new redirect-related issues.
To schedule audits, click the cog icon in the top right-hand corner. Scroll down to the “Site Audit settings” section and click “Schedule.”
Now you can schedule weekly audits for your website. Click “Save” when you’re ready.
Fix and Prevent Redirect Errors with Regular Site Audits
Redirect-related issues such as redirects chains and loops could trigger the ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error.
Fixing these issues as they pop up ensures you provide a good user experience and don’t lose valuable traffic.
Semrush’s Site Audit tool automatically checks for issues with your website’s redirects. So you can find and fix them fast.
Try the Site Audit tool for free today.
