Avoid Unnecessary Redirects

Redirects tell web browsers to navigate to a new URL instead of the URL the web browser initially tried to load. Each redirect requires the web browser to send a new request to the website server for the web page information. Requests take a few seconds to travel to the server to be processed and return the requested data back to the web browser. This cycle of rerouting increases the amount of time it takes to locate and retrieve the necessary content to display for the website visitor.

This, however, does not mean that redirects should be avoided entirely, and they are still the best tool for directing users from incorrect URLs to the appropriate ones in cases where the domain name or URL structure of the website has changed. Another acceptable use case for redirects is pointing users to the secure HTTPS version of a website instead of the insecure HTTP one.