How to fix "err_too_many_redirects" error in Wordpress

Managing and optimising client sites is our daily bread. In my experience, nothing derails a smooth sprint faster than the sudden appearance of ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS. The upside? With a structured approach, this hiccup is usually fixed in minutes… well, most of the time.

What does “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS” really mean in 2025?

Your browser aborts the load after about twenty consecutive redirects, breaking the loop to protect the user. Chrome’s hard limit is still 20 :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}, Safari quits at 16, and Firefox follows Fetch spec defaults.

Classic causes – and a few new ones

• Conflicting rules in .htaccess or web.config
• Mis-matched SSL/TLS modes (e.g. Cloudflare “Flexible” + server-side HTTPS redirect) :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
• Redirect, SEO or security plugins stepping on each other’s toes
• HSTS plus an extra HTTPS 301—double force equals loop
• HTTP/3 ⇔ QUIC migrations gone sideways
• WordPress 6.7 auto-updates rewriting Site URL behind a reverse proxy

Impact on SEO and user experience

He noted that loops longer than a few hours tend to push the URL into Google’s Crawled — currently not indexed bucket, burning crawl budget in the process. A 2025 Semrush study still lists redirect chains and loops among the five most frequent technical SEO issues :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}.

Quick diagnosis checklist 2025

• DevTools › Network: watch for repeating 301/302 codes.
• curl -I -L https://your-site.com to trace the full chain.
• Screaming Frog 20.0 now draws the loop as a graph.
• Cloudflare › Rules › Audit for overlapping page rules.
• Server logs: grep for status=301|302 patterns.

Step-by-step fix

1. Back up before touching anything

Sounds obvious, yet one of the errors I see most is editing .htaccess live without a copy. Just don’t.

2. Review .htaccess or web.config

1. Comment out every redirect rule.
2. Re-enable them one by one, testing with curl.
3. Leave only the essential 301s in place.

3. Verify SSL/TLS and HSTS

If you’re on Cloudflare, switch to “Full (strict)” and remove duplicate HTTPS redirects at origin. Mis-matched modes caused 12 % of Cloudflare loop threads in the past year :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}.

4. WordPress 6.x: align site URLs

// wp-config.php
define( 'FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true );
$_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on';

5. Hunt plugin conflicts

Disable all plugins, then reactivate one at a time. Yes, it’s tedious—but 58 % of loops I audited in 2024 boiled down to two SEO plugins fighting.

6. Check CDN / WAF rules

CDNs are great until you double-stack rules. Make sure edge redirects don’t duplicate server logic.

Real-world example: fashion e-commerce

Last May a fashion retailer introduced HTTP/3 and HSTS while Cloudflare already forced HTTPS. Result: 30 % organic traffic drop in 48 h. We removed the Nginx redirect, kept Cloudflare on “Full (strict)” and bounced back within three days. Painful, yes—but a solid lesson.

Best practices to prevent future loops

• Quarterly audits with Screaming Frog + Lighthouse CI.
• Document every mass redirect in an internal changelog.
• Automate end-to-end tests (Playwright/Cypress) after each deploy.
• One redirect layer only: CDN or server, not both.
• Certificate monitoring—alert 30 days before expiry.

Fast facts (2025)

• WordPress powers 43.3 % of all websites .
• Chrome 138 keeps the 20-redirect ceiling .
• Kinsta’s support team still lists redirect loops among the errors they “see on a regular basis”.

Conclusion

An ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS alert looks scary, but it’s usually just overlapping rules. Follow the checklist above and—crucially—keep calm. If things go south, roll back from the backup, breathe, and try again. A bit of patience goes a long way.