A broken link is such a link during navigation to which the server responds, "The page does not exist or is not found." The association, document, or image the user requests may not exist or be "lost" due to a malfunction, server, or site configuration. The job of the webmaster and site owner is to ensure that there are no links to non-existent pages, documents, and files on the site. In other words, when the user clicks on any link, they are guaranteed to go to the next page and see the expected content there. Broken links could be better for the user's attitude toward the site. Someone came to learn about your site and saw a link on the topic, to learn more. Click on it, but there is nothing there. You must remember search engines. Imagine – the search robot goes to your site and regularly stumbles upon broken links. What should the search engine do in this case? It will be assumed that you should have updated the content, monitored the relevance of the information, and bothered to indicate where it is. Accordingly, if the broken links are extensive, MS may reduce the site editing area. The worst thing about broken links is that they are invisible. It is rare for the site owner to have full-fledged analytics, which links they click, and which users click on them. Web admins often need to follow their links or write a record; they are published and forgotten. A year or two passes and some of the forgotten connections are broken.

How Does a Broken Link Occur?

Broken Links are also referred to as dead web page links. The mentioned links can occur for many distinct reasons, but the most common reasons are;

  • The website owner gives the incorrect link,
  • The target website has removed the relevant link,
  • The target website has been permanently removed or moved to a different extension,
  • Users have security software or a unique security system that prevents access to the website,
  • Having been closed to outside access by the website owner (intranet site or limited access pages)

The listed reasons may cause some pages on the website to give a broken link error. As a result of sporadic link errors, "404 – File or directory not found" usually appears on users' screens. Many users, greeted with a warning on the screen, leave the website by closing the relevant page. 404 faulty pages due to broken links can cause both loss of visitors and damage to your site in terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). So, how to solve this problem? First, you should start determining the problem; your work will be much easier.

What exactly do broken links look like on websites on the Internet?

They occur in situations such as;

  • If you delete old and unnecessary pages and documents – but other pages have links to those pages in different sections. "Broken."
  • If you link to another site and it changes. This could be a domain name, site structure, or page deletion change. The site can switch to a domain with www. and do not configure a redirect – in this case, the link to the page without www. It will also break.
  • Suppose sites have an automatic update of content or other data from an external source, for example, online stores, distribution services, or warehouses on the Internet. Failures in such systems can be the cause of dead links.
  • If the site is rendered technically or visually (design change), the problem arises of transferring the content to a new structure. There is too much data, and technical algorithms cannot consider all the nuances of sprite content – ​​broken links inevitably occur in such cases.

How to find Broken Links?

Solving the problem requires identifying the faulty link to be possible. First, let us state that it is impossible to detect by manually checking the page extensions one by one. Many sites on the Internet are offered free of charge and work very effectively. Here are the web tools in question;

  • Broken Link Check,
  • Dr. LinkCheck,
  • W3C LinkChecker

Broken Link Check

Broken Link Check is an efficient broken link detection site running online. All you must do is open the relevant website, copy the website link to the home page, and then press the Find Broken Links Now button. You will soon have broken links listed, followed by suggestions on how to fix the problem.

Dr. Link Check

Dr. Link Check is also one of the broken link detection sites working on the Internet. You can check your website for free, but it is limited to 2,500 links. If you have a higher number of connections, it is necessary to upgrade the package. Easily accessible via the Internet, Dr., type your link extension on the home page of Link Check and then press the Start Check button.

W3C Link Checker

You can access the most comprehensive information about broken link errors with W3X Link Checker. All you must do is open the relevant web page and type your site address into the search bar on the open page. When you press the Check button, you will soon be able to detect both broken links and code errors.

Broken Link Detection with SEO Tools

SEO tools are indispensable elements of all optimization processes. In addition, it provides us with great convenience in the detection of broken links. With Ahrefs, Semrush, and Screaming Frog, you can detect broken links with your SEO audits.

  • Create a "Site Audit" via Ahrefs. Then scan your site. If there is a dead link on your site after the scanning process is finished, Ahrefs will detect it for you. It will also notify you by e-mail of newly created broken links. However, you can also use the free Ahrefs broken link checker.
  • Follow the steps “Project > New Project” on Semrush. Then start a site audit for the website in question in your project. As a result of this site audit, all your broken links will be presented to you.
  • With the Screaming Frog tool, you can provide similar control to the shapes mentioned above. Scan your site. After the scan, focus on 404 errors, and detect your broken links through the scan controls on the right.

Detection of Broken Links with Google Search Console

Google search console is among the tools that provide the most significant benefit among SEO tools. You can detect errors with this tool, which is mandatory for all sites. As you can imagine, seeing broken links is one of these errors.

  • Open your Google search console property.
  • Open the “Scope” section on the left admin panel.
  • Here you will see four different options. Check the URL lists under the "Excluded" warning from these options. If you have links that give an error under the name not found (404), you can see them here.
  • You can also check your "Scan Statistics" report under this tab by clicking the "Settings" tab on the left management panel. You can see the crawling problems on your site here, and if there is a broken link that is the subject of the problem, you can find it under this report.

How to Fix Broken Link?

You can quickly fix all broken links you detect with 301 redirects with a small plugin that you will include on your website. For this, install the Redirection plugin on your system, and then write the broken links in the plugin settings section, identify the new connections you want to redirect and apply them. With the action you will take, you can quickly fix all the broken links you detect with a 301 redirect. You can quickly fix the problem with a ready-made plugin. However, if your website infrastructure is unsuitable for installing plugins, you can also report your pages to bots with Robots.txt. On the other hand, you can also benefit from the Robots.txt test tool on the Google Console.

Here are the steps below;

  • Collect your broken links in a list.
  • Match all your links, if there are links you can replace, if there are new versions, or if there are relevant ones.
  • After completing your matching processes, redirect all your broken links to the new connections you matched with 301 redirects.
  • After the redirect is finished, remove your old link with the "URL Removal" process via the Google search console panel.
  • Then manually check your old connection. Ensure you encounter a 301 > 200 redirect code using HTTP Status checking tools for the links you are redirecting.

Creating referral chains is a common mistake during broken link redirects. That is why you should be careful with redirect chains. For example, let us say you redirect your existing /example-1/ link to /example-2/ on your site. But then assume that the /example 2/ link turns into a broken link. Since your /example-2/ link is broken, you must redirect this link (/example-3/). However, a triple chain will be formed since the /example 1/ link will be included in the forwarding chain. In other words, it will go to the /example-1/ > /example-2/ link; then the /example-2/ link will go to the /example-3/ link. Therefore, search engines will perceive this referral chain as unsafe. Thus, remove the /example-2/ link and redirect the /example-1/association directly to the last link. Also, ensure that the /example 2/ link does not exist on the site.