Broken links are like little digital potholes on your website, frustrating visitors and harming your site’s overall health.
If you run a website, you’re bound to encounter broken links sooner or later, so understanding how to deal with these issues is essential.
This article will guide you through the process of finding and fixing broken links and explain what causes them to appear in the first place.
What Exactly Is A Broken Link?
A broken link is also affectionately known as a dead link, this is a hyperlink that no longer points to its intended destination.
When a user clicks on it, they’re met with an error page, often a 404 “Page Not Found” message. This creates a poor user experience and can negatively impact your website’s reputation. In fact, broken links have several detrimental effects on your website:
User Experience: Visitors expect websites to function smoothly. Broken links disrupt this, leading to frustration and a higher chance of bounce rates.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Search engines like Google crawl websites to understand their content and structure. Numerous broken links can signal a neglected site, potentially affecting your search rankings.
Reputation: A website riddled with broken links looks unprofessional. It can make visitors doubt the reliability of your content and your business.
How To Find Broken Links
Finding broken links is the initial and most important action in maintaining a tidy website. Here’s a deeper look at the methods:
Online Link Checker Tools
These tools operate much like digital detectives, systematically combing through your website’s pages to identify any links that lead to error messages. They generate comprehensive reports, clearly showing the precise location of each faulty link and the specific error encountered.
This allows for focused repairs, saving you from a general website search. Such tools frequently present options to filter reports, allowing you to prioritise fixing internal or external links, or to focus on specific page groups. This is a very efficient way to find broken links.
Search Engine Crawl Reports
Platforms such as Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and similar services provide detailed insights into how search engines perceive your website.
Their crawl reports are invaluable for identifying errors, including broken links, that may affect your site’s visibility. These reports present the errors in a structured way, often categorised by error type and severity, making it easy to spot trends and prioritise fixes.
Examining these reports regularly helps you understand how search engines are interacting with your content and take action when problems are found.
Browser Extensions
Browser extensions offer a convenient, on-the-fly approach to link checking. These small programs add a quick link analysis function directly into your browser, allowing you to examine individual pages as you navigate your website.
This is particularly useful for identifying broken links during content creation or website updates. The information provided by these extensions is usually immediate, clearly highlighting any links that return error codes. This method avoids scanning an entire website and allows for instant error correction.
Manual Checks
Manual link checking can be a viable option for websites with a limited number of pages. This involves systematically clicking on each link and verifying that it leads to the intended destination. While this approach allows for a thorough, page-by-page examination, it is time-intensive and susceptible to human error.
Even with careful attention, it is easy to skip a link or miss a subtle error. This method is best used for small, static websites, or as a supplement to automated tools.
How To Fix Broken Links
Once you’ve pinpointed the dead ends on your website, the next step is to restore their functionality.
1. Identify The Source
The first step in resolving the issue is to locate the origin of the broken link. This involves determining the exact page and the specific location on that page where the faulty link is.
This requires careful examination of your website’s content, either through visual inspection or by using the tools that highlight the errors. Knowing the exact location allows for direct editing, preventing unnecessary changes to other parts of your website.
2. Determine The Cause
Understanding why a link is broken is just as important as finding it. This step requires some detective work.
Was the linked page intentionally removed, or was it moved to a new location? Did a simple typing error creep into the URL? Or perhaps an external website that was linked to change its page structure.
Discovering the root cause informs the appropriate course of action, avoiding further errors. This process allows you to implement a long-term solution.
3. Correct The URL
Often, a broken link is the result of a simple typographical error in the URL. If this is the case, the solution is straightforward: edit the link and correct the mistake.
This may involve fixing a misspelt word, adding a missing character, or removing an extra space. Before making the change, double-check the correct URL against the intended webpage to confirm accuracy. This action requires very little technical knowledge and is often the quickest fix.
4. Redirect The Link
If you move a webpage, a 301 redirect is the best way to tell search engines it’s gone to a new address. This automatically sends visitors and search engines to the new page, keeping things smooth for users and protecting your search rankings.
You’ll usually set this up by editing a file on your server or using a tool in your website’s system. It’s a key part of keeping your website visible in search results.
5. Replace The Link
In situations where a linked page has been permanently deleted, and no direct replacement exists, you must decide whether to remove the link entirely or replace it with a link to a related, existing resource.
Removing the broken link prevents further user frustration and maintains a cleaner website. If a relevant alternative is available, replacing the link can preserve the value of the original context.
It is important to select a replacement page that is similar to the original link’s intent to avoid misleading your website’s visitors. This action maintains the integrity of the information provided to the user.
6. Contact The External Website
When a broken link directs you to an external website, the issue is beyond your direct control. However, you can take a proactive approach by contacting the website owner. Informing them of the broken link allows them to rectify the problem, benefiting both their website and your own.
This courtesy contributes to a healthier web environment and fosters positive relationships with other website operators.
Providing detailed information, such as the exact URL of the broken link and the page on your website where it appears, will assist the website owner in quickly identifying and resolving the issue.
7. Check Internal Linking
Any website structure alterations, such as reorganising pages or changing URL formats, can unintentionally break internal links.
Following any structural changes, a thorough check of all internal links is necessary. This process involves verifying that links within your website correctly point to their intended destinations. Tools that highlight internal linking structures can be very helpful.
This proactive check is essential to maintain a consistent and functional user experience.
What Causes Links To Break?
Understanding the causes behind them helps prevent future issues. Here are the most common culprits:
Incorrect URLs: Simple typos in the link’s address are a frequent cause. A missing letter, an extra space, or an incorrect character can all break a link.
Moved or Deleted Pages: If a page on your website or an external website is moved or deleted, any links pointing to it will be a dead end.
Changes in Website Structure: Updates to a website’s structure, such as reorganising pages or changing URL formats, can break internal links.
External Website Issues: Links to external websites can break if those sites undergo changes or experience downtime.
Hotlinking Problems: If someone directly links to an image or file on your server, and you move or delete that file, the link will break.
Domain Issues: If a domain name expires or is changed, links pointing to that domain will fail.
How To Prevent Broken Links
Prevention is better than cure, and it saves you the headache of periodically fixing links. Here are some proactive steps to keep your website’s links in good order:
Double-Check URLs
Before publishing any content, take a moment to verify that all URLs are accurate. A quick review can prevent simple typos or errors from causing broken links. This action requires very little time, and can save a lot of problems later.
Use Relative URLs
When linking to other pages within your own website, opt for relative URLs. These URLs reference the location of the linked page relative to the current page, rather than using the full website address.
This approach simplifies website maintenance, as any changes to your domain name or website structure will not break these internal links.
Regularly Update Content
Keeping your website content current involves more than adding new information; it also involves removing or updating outdated links.
As information changes, links to external resources or even internal pages may become obsolete. Regularly reviewing your content and updating or removing these links keeps your website accurate and functional.
Monitor External Links
While you have limited control over external websites, you can still monitor the links that point to them. Periodic checks of your external links can identify any that have become broken due to changes on those sites.
This allows you to take action, such as replacing or removing the link, while maintaining a positive user experience.
Use A Link Management Tool
A link management tool can be a real help for websites with numerous links. These tools help track and organise your links, simplifying the process of identifying and fixing broken links.
They often provide features such as link monitoring, reporting, and automated checks, saving time and effort in maintaining your website’s link integrity.
Conclusion On How To Fix Broken Links
A website with working links is a tidy website, and that’s something both your visitors and search engines appreciate. It shows you care about the details, and that makes a difference.
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Frequently Asked Questions About How To Fix Broken Links
What Is The Difference Between A 404 Error And A Soft 404 Error?
404 error indicates a page is genuinely missing, while a soft 404 means a page exists, but the server incorrectly reports it as not found. Soft 404 errors can confuse search engines, negatively impacting SEO.
Is It Possible To Recover A Deleted Page To Fix A Broken Link?
It might be possible if you have backups of your website or if services like the Wayback Machine archive the page. However, if neither of these are available, the page is likely permanently lost.
Should I Always Use 301 Redirects For Moved Pages, Or Are There Other Options?
301 redirects are generally preferred for permanent moves. 302 redirects are used for temporary moves, but for most situations, 301 is the correct solution for SEO purposes.
Are Broken Links On External Websites Linking To My Site A Problem For My SEO?
Indirectly, yes. While you cannot fix those links, they still create a poor user experience for visitors coming to your site. It is good practice to contact the site owner when possible.
How Often Should I Scan My Website For Broken Links?
For active websites, a weekly or bi-weekly scan is recommended. For less frequently updated sites, a monthly scan should suffice. The frequency depends on how often the content is changed.
What Are The Common Mistakes People Make When Fixing Broken Links?
One common mistake is using a 302 redirect for a permanent move, which can harm SEO. Another is failing to update links after a site redesign.
