Should I ask sites that link to me to update links that redirect?

[RCF]

I have found some links to my site that go through a single 301 redirect to get to my site.

Should I contact these websites to ask them to update the link, or is that not worth the time?

[MarieHaynes]

I'm going to agree with Dana and say "it depends".  I wanted to add as well that a 301 redirect still passes somewhere between 95-99% of the link equity, so if this were my site I wouldn't bother unless there was a huge number of links that came this way.  The exception would be if the site is doing a redirect to a page that is blocked by robots.txt and then redirecting that page to yours.  If that happens then you don't get any of the link equity and yes, I'd want it changed.  But then again, if someone is doing that, it would be on purpose and they probably wouldn't want to change it.

[danatanseo]

My answer would be "it depends." If the authority of the linking site is really high, and there's reliable contact information, I'd say "yes, go for it." Ultimately, it's better not to have those 301s. However, if it's a small blog and the owner isn't adept with SEO, they may not even know what a 301 redirect is. If you start speaking in terms they don't understand, it could erode trust. I'd play it by ear. If you think you've got a good contact that can get it done pretty easily go for it, otherwise, leave them be. Hope that helps even though it's not a cut-and-dried answer!