Google’s Infinite 301 Redirect Loops

Google has ended up creating endless crawl loops by using 301 redirects in place of 404 errors. The question is, is this intentional or a misstep?

The company recently removed some outdated structured data documentation. Instead of serving a 404 page, however, the old URLs were redirected to a changelog. The issue is that the changelog then links back to the original URLs, resulting in an infinite loop between the two pages.

While this setup is not technically a soft 404, it is certainly an unusual way of handling missing pages. Typically, SEOs would expect a standard 404 response rather than a permanent redirect. This has led some to wonder whether Google is testing something new, or if it has simply made an error in how it manages its documentation.

Google Removed Structured Data Documentation

Google has quietly updated its changelog to confirm the removal of outdated structured data documentation. The move had already been flagged back in June, but only now have the pages finally disappeared.

The documentation that has been taken down covers several structured data types that are no longer supported, including:

Course information
Estimated salary
Learning videos
Special announcements
Vehicle listings

These pages have been taken offline completely and appear unlikely to return. Ordinarily, when documentation is withdrawn, the standard approach would be for the pages to return a 404 ‘Page Not Found’ response. This, however, is not what Google has chosen to do.

Instead, the old URLs are being redirected with a 301 status code to the changelog itself. The unusual part is that the changelog still links back to those missing pages, which then redirect users straight back again, creating a never-ending loop between the two.