A redirect response has no destination
Updated
None of the 785 domains we could check fail this. Sample: the first 1,000 domains by rank in the Majestic Million, checked on 2026-10-12. How we measured
What this check looks for
The server said 'go somewhere else' without saying where. Browsers show a blank page or an error.
Why it matters
The request simply fails. It is usually a rewrite rule that fires without setting a destination, and it fails silently in every log that only records status codes.
When the check passes, your report says: “Every redirect names where it is sending the visitor”.
What it costs your score
When this check fails it removes 20 points from your HTTP score, before the status, confidence and repeat multipliers are applied. HTTP carries a weight of 7 in the overall score.
It shares the http.redirects family ceiling of 45 points: however many findings that family produces, together they cannot remove more than that from HTTP. One underlying problem showing up in several places is still one problem.
- Severity
- medium
- Default confidence
- confirmed
- Status when triggered
- fail
- Deduction
- 20 points
- Family cap
- http.redirects · 45
- Category
- HTTP
- Module
- Http redirects
- Fix owned by
- user
- In the ruleset since
- 2026.09
How to fix it
Give the redirect a destination, or stop returning a 3xx.
A redirect with nowhere to go fails the request outright.
Find the rule producing the status and give it an absolute or root-relative target.
If a proxy sits in front, confirm it is not stripping
Location.
How to confirm it worked
curl -sSI https://‹host›/ — expect a Location header alongside any 3xx
A named slot like ‹domain› — and the braces left in the configuration below — is filled in with your own values when this rule appears on a report.
Remediation by platform
# Two hops at most: HTTPS on the same host first, then the canonical host.
# Each name is written out rather than taken from $host, so no request is redirected
# to a Host value the client made up.
server {
listen 80;
server_name ‹host›;
return 301 https://‹host›$request_uri;
}
server {
listen 80;
server_name www.‹host›;
return 301 https://www.‹host›$request_uri;
}
server {
listen 443 ssl;
server_name ‹host›;
# The site's ssl_certificate lines belong here too.
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000" always;
return 301 https://www.‹host›$request_uri;
}# Two hops at most: HTTPS on the same host first, then the canonical host.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName ‹host›
RedirectMatch 301 ^/(.*)$ https://‹host›/$1
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.‹host›
RedirectMatch 301 ^/(.*)$ https://www.‹host›/$1
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName ‹host›
# The site's SSLEngine and certificate lines belong here too.
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000"
RedirectMatch 301 ^/(.*)$ https://www.‹host›/$1
</VirtualHost>‹host› {
header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000"
redir https://www.‹host›{uri} permanent
}SSL/TLS → Edge Certificates → Always Use HTTPS: on (hop one, the upgrade on the same name).
SSL/TLS → Edge Certificates → HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS): enable, Max Age 12 months; turn on includeSubDomains only once every subdomain serves HTTPS. Hop one exists so that ‹host› sends this header; without it the extra hop buys nothing.
Rules → Overview → Create rule → Redirect Rule: when Hostname equals ‹host› and SSL/HTTPS is on, Dynamic redirect to concat("https://www.‹host›", http.request.uri.path), status 301, preserve query string (hop two).
Then confirm with curl -sSI https://‹host›/ that the 301 carries a Strict-Transport-Security header.
(Dashboard paths and option names as at 2026-10, a dated snapshot; Cloudflare reorganises these pages and may again.)Each starting URL reaches the canonical one in at most two hops, and the bare name sends its own HSTS header on the way, which is the shape the HSTS preload list requires. Add includeSubDomains once every subdomain serves HTTPS. If HSTS preload is not a goal, sending plain HTTP for ‹host› straight to https://www.‹host› is also fine and saves a round trip; the bare name then never sends an HSTS header a browser accepts.
Shown because the response identified Apache. Prefer the virtual host over .htaccess: .htaccess is re-read on every request and its rules run after the virtual host's, which is how these chains get long in the first place. If HSTS preload is not a goal, sending plain HTTP for ‹host› straight to https://www.‹host› is also fine and saves a round trip; the bare name then never sends an HSTS header a browser accepts.
Caddy's automatic HTTPS already answers plain HTTP for ‹host› with a redirect to HTTPS on the same name, so this block is the second hop of the two the preload list expects.
Cloudflare Redirect Rules run at the edge and apply only to requests that arrive through it. An origin reachable directly — by IP, or through a DNS record that is not proxied — still produces the chain measured here. Fix the origin's own configuration as well.
Technical detail
‹detail›
RFC 9110 §15.4 requires a Location header on 301, 302, 303, 307 and 308. A 3xx without one is undefined, and browsers vary between showing the empty body and showing an error. Check for a rewrite rule with a redirect flag but no target, or a proxy stripping the header.
Standards and references
Test this on your domain
Run the check that produces this finding, on its own, against any domain.