# Redirect Chain Audit (`conserving_mastodon/redirect-chain-audit`) Actor

Follow every redirect hop for a list of URLs and report what SEO tools miss: multi-hop chains, loops, HTTPS-to-HTTP downgrades, temporary redirects where permanent ones belong, and chains ending in errors. Each URL gets its full observed chain. Charged only on completed audits.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/conserving\_mastodon/redirect-chain-audit.md
- **Developed by:** [Chris Arsenault](https://apify.com/conserving_mastodon) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$250.00 / 1,000 completed audits

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Redirect Chain Audit

**Every hop, observed — not just the destination.** Feed it a list of URLs and get each redirect chain traced hop by hop: multi-hop chains that leak link equity and crawl budget, loops, HTTPS-to-HTTP downgrades, temporary redirects (302/303/307) doing a permanent redirect's job, and chains that dead-end in errors.

### Output

Summary plus one row per URL:

```json
{
  "start_url": "http://old-domain.com/page",
  "final_url": "https://new-domain.com/page/",
  "final_status": 200,
  "hop_count": 3,
  "chain": ["301 http://old-domain.com/page", "301 https://old-domain.com/page", "302 https://new-domain.com/page", "200 https://new-domain.com/page/"],
  "issues": ["chain of 3 redirects (link equity and crawl budget leak; collapse to one hop)", "1 temporary redirect(s) (302/303/307) where a permanent 301/308 is usually meant"]
}
```

### Use cases

- **Migration cleanup**: old-URL lists after a redesign or domain move; collapse every chain to one hop.
- **Backlink triage**: trace your most-linked URLs; every extra hop dilutes what those links pass.
- **Agents doing SEO maintenance**: pipe `issues` rows straight into a fix workflow.

### Honesty notes

- Redirects are followed manually (never trusted to a client library), max 10 hops, up to 100 URLs per run.
- One polite GET per hop; nothing else is touched.
- If none of the input URLs are reachable, the run says so and **you are not charged**; billing is per completed audit.

Built by 1450 Enterprises, the team behind the WordPress Content Audit family.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Up to 100 URLs; each redirect chain is followed hop by hop (max 10 hops).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "http://gozerai.com",
    "https://example.com"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Summary: chains, loops, downgrades, broken endings. Per URL: every hop with status, final URL and status, and specific issues.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "http://gozerai.com",
        "https://example.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("conserving_mastodon/redirect-chain-audit").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "urls": [
        "http://gozerai.com",
        "https://example.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("conserving_mastodon/redirect-chain-audit").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "http://gozerai.com",
    "https://example.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call conserving_mastodon/redirect-chain-audit --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,conserving_mastodon/redirect-chain-audit"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ADbw2RjNUzv6Oc9b0/builds/ikkUoXLnAJKfS5UfH/openapi.json