How to Find, Fix, and Prevent Broken Links: The Complete Guide to Improving Your Website's User Experience and SEO Rankings

Invalid or disconnectedLinks are an issue that cannot be ignored in website maintenance. Not only do they affect the performance of your website, but they can also have a negative impact on the user experience and the SEO rankings are negatively impacted. Identifying and fixing these links in a timely manner is mission critical.

What is a broken link?

broken link(also known asdead linkmaybebad link) are hyperlinks on a web page that do not point correctly to their intended target. When clicking on these links, users usually see "404 Not found" or a similar error message. Common causes of broken links include:

• Deleted pages: The target page has been deleted or moved and the correct redirection has not been set.
• URL Change: The URL of the link has been changed, but not updated on the referring page.
• Domain Name Issues: The domain name of the target site of the link has expired or is no longer valid.
• coding error: There is a spelling error or formatting problem with the linked URL.

How to find broken links

To ensure that your website runs smoothly and maintains a good user experience, webmasters need to check and fix broken links on a regular basis. Here are a few effective ways to do this:

1. Use of link checking tools

Take advantage of some powerful toolsWebmasters can easily find broken links. These tools automatically scan websites and generate reports of broken links:

Google Search Console(GSC)

Google Search Console is a powerful free tool that helps you identify and fix broken links, especially crawl errors.

• Step 1: Sign in to Google Search Console.
• Step 2: In the left-hand menu, selectIndexingThe
• Step 3: Clickweb pageView the list of crawl errors. Here you will find all 404 errors (including broken links) due to unreachable pages.

• Step 4: To view the details of the errors in the report, click to view the URL of each error and fix them.
• Step 5: Using redirects (e.g. 301 Redirect) or just fix the link.

Dead Link Checker

Dead Link Checker is a free and easy to use online tool for checking broken links throughout your website.

• Step 1: Visit the Dead Link Checker website ((https://www.deadlinkchecker.com).
• Step 2: Enter your website URL and start scanning.

• Step 3: The tool automatically scans and lists all invalid links, both internal andexternal link (on website)The
• Step 4: Check the report and fix every broken link.

W3C Link Checker

W3C Link Checker is a free link validation tool provided by the W3C to check all links in a web page.

• Step 1: Access to W3C Link Checker ((https://validator.w3.org/checklink).
• Step 2: Enter the URL of the page you want to check.

• Step 3: click "Check" button, the tool will automatically start checking links.
• Step 4: Check all invalid links shown in the report and fix them.

2. Using the WordPress plugin

If you're using WordPress, you can install plugins to automatically detect and fix broken links.

Broken Link Checker plug-in (software component)

• Step 1: Login to your WordPress dashboard.
• Step 2: Go toPlugins > Install PluginsThe
• Step 3: Search and Installation Broken Link Checker Plug-ins.

• Step 4: After installing and activating the plugin, the plugin will automatically scan all the links on your site.
• Step 5: You can see a report of all broken links on the plugin's settings page.

• Step 6: You can modify or remove broken links directly in the plugin panel or receive alerts via email.

3. Use of browser extensions

Browser extensions can help you quickly scan pages and detect whether links are valid or not.

Check My Links (Chrome plugin)

• Step 1: Open Chrome and visit the Chrome Online App Store.
• Step 2: Search Check My Links Extension and install it.

• Step 3: After installation, click on the extension icon on your browser toolbar.
• Step 4::Visit the page you want to checkand click Check My LinksThe

• Step 5: The plugin automatically scans the page for all links and marks them in green (valid links) and red (invalid links).
• Step 6: Go through the links marked in red one by one and fix or remove them.

4. Manual checking of links

For small websites, especiallyWebsites with less content, manually checking all links is still a viable option. Here are the steps:

• Step 1: Browse every page of your website.
• Step 2: Click on all the links on each page to make sure they all point correctly to valid targets.
• Step 3: For each broken link, make a note of them and fix them (update the URL or settings). 301 Redirect).
• Step 4: Check external links in all pages to make sure they also point to valid third-party pages.

5. Regular use of automated inspection tools

Regularly scanning your website on a regular basis using an automated tool such as Google Search Console or Broken Link Checker will ensure that broken links are found and fixed in a timely manner.

• Step 1: Set up a schedule for regular checkups, such asMonthly or quarterlyThe
• Step 2: Use automated tools (e.g. Google Search Console as mentioned above, Ahrefs, Broken Link Checker, etc.) to perform regular scans.
• Step 3: Regularly review reports and address all broken links found.

How to fix broken links

After finding the broken link, the next step is to fix it in a timely manner to ensure that the site continues to provide a great user experience. Here are some common ways to fix it:

1. Updating or replacing links

If the page to which the link points has changed or moved, update the destination address of the link. For updated content, replace the URL with the new one to ensure that the link points to the correct page.

2. Setting up 301 redirects

For deleted pages, you can set the 301 RedirectThe redirects automatically direct users and search engines visiting the page to a relevant new page.301 Redirects not only maintain the user experience, but also pass on the SEO weight of the original page.

3. Removal of invalid links

If the target page does not exist and there is no suitable alternative, it is best to simply remove these broken links. Especially if the external links are not working, deleting them can avoid affecting the professional image of your website.

WordPress 301 Redirects: Best Practices for Fixing Dead Links and Improving User Experience

September 25, 10:49

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How to Prevent Link Failure

While fixing broken links is part of routine maintenance, the best practice is to avoid them as much as possible. Here are some best practices to minimize the occurrence of broken links:

1. Use relative URLs forinternal link

In internal links, avoid using absolute URLs (e.g. https://yourdomain.com/about-us), instead use a relative URL (e.g. /about-us). This ensures that links remain valid even if the domain name changes. Relative URLs also minimize broken links due to migration or domain changes.

2. Regular monitoring of links

Regularly checking all the links in your website is key to ensuring their effectiveness. You can automate this check on a monthly or quarterly basis using a tool to make sure there are no broken links.

3. Audit of external links

Since you have no control over changes to external sites, it is important to review external links regularly. If you find that external links are not working, update them to new, valid links as early as possible, or remove them.

4. CreationCustomizing the 404 page

While you can do your best to avoid broken links, they still sometimes appear. Design a clear, user-friendly 404 error page to help users find the content they need and reduce bounce rates.