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Seeing the “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error message when trying to access your WordPress website? That means your website is stuck in an endless loop of redirects. It’s redirecting the readers from one URL to another without reaching the intended page. It’s a major turn-off for the readers and may lead them to leave your website altogether.
But WordPress experts suggest a few different ways to fix this issue, from clearing your browser cache to checking plugin settings. We’ll discuss these methods through this blog. But first, let’s look at the impact of this error.
What is the “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” in WordPress?
The “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error in WordPress signifies a critical issue with website redirection. It indicates that a visitor’s web browser encounters an infinite loop of redirection instructions. Instead of reaching the intended content, the browser gets bounced back and forth between various URLs. It’s typically due to misconfigured settings or plugin conflicts.
This can significantly hinder user experience and even negatively impact search engine optimization (SEO) for your WordPress site. Speaking of the impact, let’s discuss it in detail.
What is the Impact of ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS?
The “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error in WordPress can have a two-fold impact: damaging user experience and potentially harming your website’s SEO.
- Frustration and Abandonment: Imagine a visitor clicks on a link to your website. But instead of landing on the intended page, they’re stuck in a never-ending loop of redirects and error messages. This frustrating experience will lead to you losing a potential customer or reader.
- Reduced Engagement: Even if the error doesn’t completely block access, the constant redirects create a sluggish and confusing experience. This can discourage visitors from fully engaging with your content, hindering your website’s goals.
- Search Engine Crawling Issues: Search engines rely on bots to crawl and index your website’s content. If these bots encounter the redirect loop, they may struggle to properly crawl your site. That will lead to incomplete indexing and lower search ranking.
- Negative User Signals: Search engines also take user experience into account for ranking. High bounce rates and low engagement caused by the redirect error can send negative signals to search engines, further impacting your website’s visibility.
All in all, this error can be devastating for the user experience as well as the search visibility of your website.
Causes of WordPress ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS
If you encounter this error on your WordPress website, the cause may be of two types: due to the browser and due to issues with website configuration. Let’s look at the causes in brief:
- Corrupted Cookies or Outdated Cache: There’s a chance your browser has stored corrupted cookies or outdated cache. That might have led to misinterpretations of redirect instructions, triggering the error message. Although the chances of this happening are less common, you may want to rule it out first.
- Misconfigured WordPress Settings: Another cause of concern is misconfiguration in WordPress dashboard. Especially, if you don’t configure the permalinks (URL structure) properly or force HTTPS, it can create redirect loops.
- Faulty Plugins: The endless redirection may also be due to faulty or conflicting plugins related to redirects, security, or SEO. Try deactivating all plugins to identify the culprit.
- Improper SSL/TLS Certificate: Have you recently switched to HTTPS? It might not have installed correctly or has configuration problems, leading to endless redirects.
- Server-Side Misconfiguration: You might have accidentally set incorrect redirect rules within the server’s configuration files (like .htaccess file). That might have caused redirect loops. If that happens, you will need assistance from your WordPress hosting provider.
- Improper Website Migration: Have you recently migrated your website to a new domain or hosting provider? Then there might have been some mistake during the migration process, leading to redirect errors.
You have to consult with professional WordPress developers to audit your website and find the root cause of this issue. The experts can identify the cause and implement the appropriate solution for the same. Speaking of the solution, let’s look at the same.
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How to Fix the WordPress ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS?
As mentioned in the previous section, there are several causes of the endless redirection error in WordPress. And each cause warrants a different solution. So we have tried to list some of the most effective error fixes for your WordPress website.
Clear Browser Cache & Site Cookies
If the cache and cookies have become outdated, there will be misinterpretations of redirect instructions. That will trigger this error. So the first, easiest method of fixing this error is to clear the cache and cookies. It forces your browser to download fresh data from the website, potentially resolving the issue.
How to fix it?
Overall, the process of clearing cache and cookies will depend on your browser. But here’s a general idea (based on the Chrome browser).
Step 1: Open your web browser.
Step 2: Locate the settings menu
Step 3: Navigate to the “Privacy and Security” section.
Step 4: Look for an option to “Clear browsing data”.
Step 5: In the pop-up window, select “Cookies and other site data” and “Cached images and files”.
Step 6: At the same time, select a time range. Whether you want to clean the data for the last hour, last week, etc.
Step 7: Click “Clear data” or “Delete” to confirm.
But beware that clearing the cookies and cache will also remove any saved website login info or personalized settings from your browser.
Check the site Permalink Structure
If your URL structure isn’t configured correctly, it can lead to redirect loops. WordPress will try to redirect a visitor to its understanding of the “correct” URL. So if the permalink configuration is incorrect, it will start an unnecessary loop.
How to fix it?
Here’s how you optimize the WordPress permalink structure for fixing this error.
Step 1: Log into the WordPress admin dashboard.
Step 2: In the General Settings, navigate to the “Permalinks” section.
Step 3: In this section, choose the URL structure according to your preferences. Here are a few common structures:
- Default: Uses post ID numbers in URLs (not recommended).
- Post name: Uses the post title or slug (recommended for SEO and user experience).
- Month and name: Combines the month and post title (e.g., [invalid URL removed]).
- Custom Structure: Allows you to define a custom URL format using tags like %year%, %month%, %day%, and %postname%. (For advanced users only).
Step 4: Save the changes.
As you may already know, permalink structures are an important part of the WordPress SEO checklist. So changing them will have implications on SEO. So monitor the performance after implementing this method.
Deactivate All WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins help integrate all sorts of features and functionalities, from eCommerce and SEO to performance and security. But sometimes, these plugins can cause conflicts or malfunction, leading to errors like “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS”.
How to fix it?
There are several ways to deactivate all plugins. You can either use the dashboard or the FTP client.
Step 1: Log into the WordPress admin dashboard.
Step 2: Go to the Plugins menu. It will open a window showing you all the plugins installed on the website.
Step 3: At the top of the window, you’ll see “Bulk Actions”. Click on it and you’ll get a drop-down menu of all the actions you can perform on a plugin. Like activate, deactivate, update, and delete.
Step 4: Choose “Deactivate” and click on “Apply”.
You can also deactivate the plugins through the FTP client. Access your website server through the FTP credentials and navigate to the wp-content folder of the WordPress directory structure. Find a folder named plugins and change it to something like plugins.deactivated.
That will effectively deactivate all plugins installed on your WordPress website. Now, you need to reactivate the plugins one-by-one and try to identify the plugin that’s causing this error.
After identifying the error plugin, update it to the latest version or replace it with the nearest alternative.
But beware that deactivating a plugin may have an impact on your website’s functionality.
Check the HTTPS Settings of Your Website
Switching your website to HTTPS is one of the key WordPress security practices. But that often involves redirecting users from the non-secure HTTP version (http://) to the secure HTTPS. So all communications are encrypted.
But if the configurations aren’t correct, it may lead to “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error.
How to fix it?
There are a few things to check in your HTTPS settings:
- SSL Certificate Installation and Configuration: A valid SSL certificate is the foundation of HTTPS. Ensure your SSL certificate is properly installed on your web server and configured correctly. Incorrect settings or certificate validity issues can cause redirect errors.
- WordPress Settings: Double-check your WordPress settings related to forcing HTTPS. Some themes or plugins might have their own HTTPS settings that could conflict with WordPress’s default behavior.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN) Configuration (if applicable): If you’re using a CDN to deliver website content, ensure your CDN settings are compatible with your HTTPS setup. Misconfigured CDNs can introduce redirect issues.
You can consult with your WordPress hosting provider for expert help with SSL installation, configuration, and more.
Verify the .htaccess File
WordPress .htaccess is a hidden configuration file in the root directory of your website. With this file, you can define the server-level settings for overriding the default Apache server behavior.
If the redirect rules within your .htaccess file aren’t written or configured correctly, it may result in endless loops. Another reason behind this issue is the incorrect modification of .htaccess file. So proceed with caution.
How to fix it?
The .htaccess file is a core file. So make sure you backup your WordPress website before making any changes to the file.
Step 1: Use the FTP client or hosting cPanel to access the .htaccess file on your server.
Step 2: Look for sections related to redirects (these might contain keywords like “Redirect” or “Rewrite”).
Step 3: lyze the redirect rules and try to identify any errors or conflicts. You might need to consult online resources or documentation for specific redirect syntax.
Step 4: Save the file after making any changes.
Test your website again to see if the error still exists. This method needs extreme caution as one wrong step can be detrimental for your website. So consult with expert WordPress developers if you want help implementing this process.
Check the CDN Configuration
CDNs allow visitors to access this content faster, regardless of their location. However, integrating a CDN with your WordPress website can sometimes introduce redirect issues.
Both your CDN and your WordPress website might have their own redirect rules in place. In case of a conflict between the two, there will be an endless loop of redirects, triggering the error message. Another reason for this error is misconfiguration in settings like origin URLs, caching behavior, or SSL configuration.
How to fix it?
Here’s what you need to check to diagnose CDN-related redirect issues.
- Review Redirect Rules: Check if your CDN provider offers any functionalities for managing redirects. Look for any existing rules that might be conflicting with your WordPress settings.
- Verify Origin URL: Ensure the origin URL configured in your CDN settings points to the correct location of your WordPress website.
- Examine SSL Settings: If you’re using HTTPS, verify that your CDN is configured to handle secure connections properly. This might involve enabling specific options or installing the appropriate SSL certificates on your CDN’s servers.
If none of these work to fix the issue, consult with the CDN service for specific guidance.
Consult With WordPress Hosting Provider
If none of the above methods do the trick, the ultimate fix would be to consult with the WordPress hosting provider. They have access to your server configuration. Their expertise can help diagnose and resolve complex issues that might be causing the redirect loop.
How to fix it?
Here’s what you need to expect when consulting your hosting provider:
- Contact Their Support: Most hosting providers offer support via phone, live chat, or email ticketing systems.
- Explain the Problem: Clearly describe the “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error you’re encountering and any troubleshooting steps you’ve already taken.
- Provide Details: Be prepared to share information about your website, such as your domain name, hosting plan, and any relevant plugins you’re using.
- Grant Access (if necessary): In some cases, your hosting provider might request temporary access to your website’s files or server configuration to diagnose the issue effectively.
Before contacting the hosting service, make sure you have as much info about the error as possible. Like the screenshot of the error, specific URLs, and timeline of when the error started.
After consulting with the host, give them some time. Be patient and prepared for a potential back-and-forth communication as they diagnose and fix the issue.
You can avoid all these causes and fixes simply by opting for our WordPress website maintenance services. We will regularly monitor your website to ensure it’s safe from the common WordPress errors like this redirecting loop.
FAQs on WordPress ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS
To Summarize
The “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” error can be frustrating for the website visitors. And the search crawlers won’t be able to go through your website properly, leading to issues with search visibility.
This error may be caused by corrupted cookies and cache, misconfigured settings, faulty plugins, improper SSL/TLS certificate, server-side misconfiguration, etc. You can fix it by clearing the cache and cookies, deactivating all plugins, checking the permalink structure, reviewing the HTTPS and .htaccess file, and more.
If you need help with fixing the redirect loop error, hire our WordPress development experts today!
