Broken links, also known as dead links, are hyperlinks on a website that lead to non-existent pages or resources. When users click on these links, they encounter error pages such as 404 (Not Found) or 500 (Internal Server Error), which can be frustrating and negatively impact their experience.
There are two main types of broken links:
- Internal Broken Links: These are links within your own website that point to pages or resources that no longer exist. For example, if you have a link on one page that directs users to another page, but that second page has been deleted or moved, it becomes a broken internal link.
- External Broken Links: These are links from your website to external websites. If the external site removes or changes the page you’re linking to, the link becomes broken.
Here’s how you can find and fix broken links:
- Identify Broken Links:
- For smaller websites, you can use tools like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to find broken external links. It will detect most broken external links for smaller sites.
- For larger websites, consider using Site Audit. This tool performs a live crawl of your entire website, ensuring that you don’t miss any broken links.
- Fix Broken Links:
- Remove: If the linked-to page no longer exists or is irrelevant, remove the link altogether.
- Update: If the URL has changed, update the link to point to the correct page.
- Redirect: If the page has moved, set up a 301 redirect to guide users to the new location.
Remember, fixing broken links not only improves user experience but also helps maintain the health of your website and ensures that search engines can crawl it effectively.
WRAPPING UP:
Fixing brocken links is easy because you have full control over all of the pages involved. if you uncover an internal link pointing to a nonexistent page on your site, either remove the link or choose a new page on your site to link to.
