What is ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS and how to fix it

The ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS message (also known as a redirect loop) can make the user feel confused, but it's only a warning from the browser ... FindoutwhatisERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSandhowtofixit Theerrormessage"ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS"isdisplayedonthescreenwhenthebrowsercan'tconnectawebpageandthenextinachainofautomaticredirects.Thereareseveralreasonsforthat,rangingfromcookiestoplugins. RockContentWriter Contentwriter Aug15,20 | 8minread TheERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSmessage(alsoknownasaredirectloop)canmaketheuserfeelconfused,butit’sonlyawarningfromthebrowser.Itstatesthatit’snotpossibletoreachtherequestedpage.  Ifyoufindthatmessagewhiletryingtoloadyoursite,itmeansthattheentirepageortheentirecontentisunavailableforyouandyourusers.ThismighthappenduetoarecentchangeonyourWordPresssite,awrongconfigurationofredirects,orsomeissuewiththird-partyservices. Althoughitseemsprettyserious,it’snottheendoftheworld:thiserroriseasytofix. Butyouneedtosolveitassoonaspossibletoavoidabadexperienceforvisitors.Afterall,iftheyseethatmessageonthescreen,theymightgiveuponyoubeforeevenknowingwhatyou’reoffering,becauseyourwebsitedoesn’tseemsecure.  Inthispost,we’regoingtodescribethereasonsfortheerrortoomanyredirectsonWordPresssites.Also,we’regoingtoaddressthemanystepsrequiredtofixit.  Here’swhatyou’regoingtosee: WhatdoestheERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSmean? Theerrortoomanyredirectsisshownwhenthebrowsercan’testablishaconnectionbetweentheinitialpageandthedestinationpageinaredirect. IfyouuseGoogleChrome,thewarninglookslikethis:“Thispageisn’tworking.www.example.comredirectedyoutoomanytimes.Tryclearingyourcookies.ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS”or“ThiswebpagehasaredirectloopERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS.” OnMozillaFirefox,youwillget: “Thepageisn’tredirectingproperly.Firefoxhasdetectedthatthewebserverisredirectingtherequestforthisaddressinawaythatwillnevercomplete.ThisproblemcansometimesbecausedbydisablingorrefusingtoacceptcookiesERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS.” Onbothofthem,themessageiscrystalclear:thepagedoesn’tloadbecauseithasbeenredirectedtoaloop,ortherehasbeentoomanyredirectrequests. WhydoesERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSerroroccur? RedirectsareeitheranefficientSEOstrategyoratooltoallowuserstoaccesspageswithadifferentURL. Let’sassumethatyouhaveabig,relevantwebsite,but,forsomereason,insteadofrefreshingthecontent,you’drathersendyourusertoanewpage,onethat’smoreconsistentorhasmorefunctions. ItwouldbeaninconveniencetoaskthevisitortoclickagainortypeadifferentURLintheaddressbar. Whenyouuseredirects,peoplecanautomaticallyaccessthenewpagewhiletryingtoreachtheoldone.Evenafterhavingtypedthewrongaddress,theygettotherightpage.Thatmeansasignificantimprovementinuserexperience.  However,whenthere’samisconfiguration,thebrowsercangetconfusedandredirectthevisitortootherURLsoranunknowndestination. Whenthebrowserdoesn’tunderstandorknowwhichURLtouse,itgivesupsearchingfortherightURLtoavoidoverload.That’swhentheusergetstheerrormessageonthescreen. Insomespecificcases,thebrowserevengoesintoaninfiniteredirectionloop.That’showitworks:theoldURLredirectstothenewone,butduetothemisconfiguration,thenewURLredirectsbacktotheoldone.  Finally,thesystemgivesupontryingallthisanddisplaysthemessage:“ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS”. HowtosolvetheERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSproblem? Ifyouarenotthesiteadmin,youonlyneedtoclearthebrowsercache/cookiesandrefreshthepage.Ifthatdoesn’twork,youwillhavetocontactthemanagerandwaituntilhefixesit. However,ifyouarethemanager,youwillhavetotryafewthings.TheerrorisusuallyaresultofWordPress’smisconfiguration,aswepreviouslymentioned.Sometimes,itcanbesolvedbysomethingaseasyasclearingcookiesorcache. That’swhywe’regoingtopresenttoyousomestrategiessoyoucangetridofthatmessage.Thisway,youwon’tletyourvisitorsdown.  Clearthecookiesandthecache Whenthatmessagepopsout,somebrowserssuggestthattheproblemmightbethecookies. That’swhywealsorecommendyoutotrythatevenifyou’rethesiteowner.  Buthowexactlydoyouclearcacheandcookies?It’ssimple.Itonlytakesafewminutes,althoughitdiffersdependingonthebrowseryou’reusing.Herearesomespecificinstructions: GoogleChrome Atthetop-right,youwillseethreesmalldots.Clickonit.Then,selectsettings.Scrolldownandclickon“Advanced”.Thenyouhavetoclickon“Clearbrowsinghistory”.Next,select“cacheandcookies”.Selectthetimerange,whichishowmanycookiesyouwanttodeletebasedontheperiod(last24hours,sevendays,fourweeks).Then,clickon“Cleardata”. MozillaFirefox Clickonthethreesmalldotsattheright-top.Next,click“Cleardata”.Selecttheoption“CookiesandCache”,andclick“Clear”. Tryrefreshingyoursiteonemoretime.Ifthatstrategydoesn’twork,youwillhavetofollowthenextsteps.  CleartheWordPresscache Ifyouuseacachingplugin(SupercacheWPorother),thenextattemptshouldbeclearingtheWPcache. Aseachpluginworksdifferently,it’snecessarytocheckthespecsoftheoneyouhaveinstalledonyourblog.  YoucanGooglethenameofthepluginforsomeinfoorasksupportforhelp.Then,youwillreceiveinstructionsonhowtoclearthecacheinyourpluginsettingsspecificallyinsideyourWordPressadmindashboard. Then,again,youneedtorefreshthewebsitetoseeifeverything’sOK.Incasethere’sstillanerror,you’renotthereyet.Keepreading. ChecktheURLsettings It’sessentialtochecktheURLsettingsbecauseamisconfigurationcancauseredirectloops.Clickonthe“General”tabwithin“Settings”. Therearetwomainfields: WordPressURL(whichspecifieswhereallWPfilesare).Site’sURL(thehomepageaddressthat’savailableforusers). Inmostcases,thosetwoaddressesshouldmatch.Checkitcarefully,sothedifferencesdon’tcausefurtherproblems.  Noneofthemmustcontain: Whitespacesattheend.wwwatthebeginning(asinhttps://www.example.com).Instead,itshouldbehttps://example.com. IfoneURLcontains“www”andtheotherdoesn’t,changethemsotheycanbethesame:eitherbothcontainitornoneofthemdoes.YoucanalsotrytoinsertPHPbeforeHTML.  Incaseyoucan’taccessthecontrolpaneltoaltertheURL,it’sstillpossibletodoitbyeditingthewp-configfile: Gotothefilemanager(FTPclient).OpenthefolderwithyourWordPressfiles.Findthewp-config.php.Right-clickon“EditURL”.Addthoselinestothecode(don’tforgettochangetheURL).Redefinetheaddressandrememberthatbothshouldmatch,homeandWordPress(‘WP_HOME’and‘WP_SITEURL’).Savethefile.Clickon“Yes”oncommandprompttouploadthemodifiedfile.Refreshthesiteandcheckiftheproblemhasbeensolved.  Ifyouwill,youcanalsochangetheaddressviathedatabase.AllittakesisaloginontothewebserverthroughMySQL.ThephpMyAdminispartofmanyhostingservicespanelsandcanbeusedforthat. Findthewp_optionstable(ortheotherprefixdefinedduringinstallation).Double-clickthefieldsyouneedtoedit.Modifytheaddressinoption_value(inthetwofirstlines:homepageaddressandWordPress’address,thesamethingwementionedbefore). Changethesecurityprotocol Ifyouuseasecurityprotocol(SSLcertificate),switchittoadefaultprotocol.Refreshthepageandcheckiftheredirectloopisgone.  Ifthemessageisstillthere,itmeansthatyourSSLcertificateneedstobesetupproperlybeforeyouuseitagain(theaddressstaysashttps). Don’tforgettoconsultexpertsupporttoreturntoasettingthatguaranteesaccesssecurityforusers.Thatisalsoessentialtoensurehigherreliabilityonyoursite.  Redefinethe.htaccess It’simportanttoverifythe.htaccessfileeverytimethere’sanerroronWordPress.ThefileispartoftheApacheserversettingsandisusedtocontrolpageredirect.Therefore,anyprobleminthefilecancauseissuesintheredirectroutine. Tocheckifthat’sthecase,youwillneedtoredefinethe.htaccessfile: LocatethesitefilesusingtheFTPclient.FindthefolderwiththeWPfiles.Locatethe.htaccess.Downloaditasabackup.Right-clickonitandopenthefileforediting(neverchangethebackup,onlytheoriginalversion).Clearthecontentofthe.htaccessandresetsettingstodefault(youcaneasilyfindthedefaultsettingontheinternet).Saveanduploadthedefaultfiletothewebserver.Afteryou’vedonethat,refreshthesite. IfyoursiteisOKafterthat,youwillhavetoreconsiderthe.htaccessfile;ifnot,youwillhavetorestorethebackup,becausethatfileisnotthesourceoftheproblem.Then,it’snecessarytokeepdigging.  Checktheplugins WordPresspluginscanalwaysbetherootofanyproblem.Ifyouhaveanyredirectplugininstalled,startbydisablingthem. Ifthatsolvestheissue,you’regood.Ifitdoesn’t,youneedtodisableonebyonetocheckwhichofthosepluginscausedtheloop.  Thatmaytakealongtime,butdon’tpanic!There’saquickandconvenientwaytodoitautomatically:first,disableallpluginsonce,beforerefreshingthepage(don’tforgettobackuptheoriginal.htaccessfileaswe’vepreviouslydiscussed). Iftheloopisstillthere,enableallpluginsagainandcontinuetothenextstep.Afterhavingrefreshedthesite,ifyouseetheerrorisgone,youwillhavenootherchoicebuttotestonebyone. IfERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSkeepsyoufromaccessingthecontrolpanel,disablingallpluginsmanuallymaybenecessary.YoucandothatintheFTPclientorthefilemanager. Findthepluginsfolder,whichisusuallywithinthewp-contentfolder.Renameallfolders.Orremovethemallatonce(neverforgetthebackup). ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTSisaneasyissuetosolve,soyouonlyhavetoaskforhelpifnoneofthosestepswork.Ifso,youcanenablePHPerror_reportingtogoevenfurtherontheproblemanalysis. Wehopethatthisguidehelpsleadyoutoaquicksolution.However,ifthosestepsarenotenoughtofixtheissue,contactyourhostmanager. Peoplewhoworktherewillknowhowtosolvetheredirecterror.Theymightevenbetheoneswhocauseditinthefirstplace. Don’tleaveitforlater.Trytohavethatsolvedassoonaspossibletoensurethatyouruserwillhavethebestexperienceonyoursite.  Talkingaboutuserexperience,didyouknowyoumightloseleadsifyourpageisslow?UseourAnalyzerandcheckouthow’syourperformanceandgetfreeinsightsonhowtoimproveit! Share facebook linkedin twitter mail Author RockContentWriter Contentwriter Linkedin Instagram Facebook Subscribetoourblog SignuptoreceiveRockContentblogposts RelatedPosts FacebookTriesToSolveCrisisAsUsersTrustInTheCompanyLessAndLess VanessaDias Nov12 | 5minread WhatisInteractivecontent?Whatisnot?FindouttheDefinitiveAnswer RockContentWriter Nov12 | 9minread MoreinSEO LearnhowtocreateanewsletterinWordPresstoengagewithyouraudience August4,2020 Top9TipsforFindingandWorkingwithanAdvertisingAgency January21,2015 Howtoattractmoretraffictoyourblogwithoff-pageSEO July3,2020 Wanttoreceivemorebrilliantcontentlikethisforfree? SignuptoreceiveourcontentbyemailandbeamemberoftheRockContentCommunity! RockContent blog ©2013-2021RockContent Legal PrivacyPolicy RockContentFacebook RockContentInstagram RockContentFacebook RockContentYoutube Tothetop