A broken link is a link that goes to a page or a picture or a video that no longer exists on the internet.
There are 2 main reasons why you don’t want broken links in your website.
1. They are annoying and look unprofessional.
2. But more seriously, they can have serious consequences for the performance of . . .
your website in Google because Google penalises websites with broken links.
Broken Links do occur from time to time as websites that you have linked to close down, or they delete images or articles that you may have referred to.
Imagine that you were using Yellow Pages (remember what they were?) to find a business, and every second business you called was either closed or did not exist.
You wouldn’t be very happy and you would soon ditch the Yellow Pages.
Well, Google wants to protect it’s position as the #1 search engine in the world by only giving people links that work, and so it views broken links in your website very badly.
We are not sure how quickly the impact comes, or how many links you can have before the penalties start. That probably changes all the time.
So you should be vigilant and always minimise the broken links detected in your website.
How do I Know if I have Broken Links
Our website software will send a Broken Links Detected email to your admin email address to notify you when you have broken links in your website.
From there it is a few simple steps to:
- click on the link in the email
- review the link that is broken
- fix it or delete it
You will receive an email with the subject – [your website name] Broken links detected
At the bottom of the email is a link that says: You can see all broken links here
When you click on that link, you will be taken to a page in the admin area of your website where all broken links are listed.
You can also check this at any time in your website by doing this:
- Log in to your website admin area
- Click on Tools > Broken Links
For each broken website link, you have 4 options:
- Edit URL to fix it
- Unlink to make the web address inactive
- Not broken to confirm that it is OK
- Dismiss
You should review each link and attempt to fix the link, but failing that, you should Unlink the link.
It is better to not have the link active, than to have an active link going nowhere.
Well, that is quite simple really!
.
Watch this short VIDEO
A different kind of Broken Links
Taken from Broken Links début album ‘Disasters: Ways To Leave A Scene’
What should you do now?
- Check that your website has no broken links.
- Fix or delete any broken links that you do find.
- Do this regularly.
- Want some help or ideas? Just contact us at Hotpink Websites now.
.
Quote
Sometimes I feel like the last cookie in the cookie jar; broken and alone.
~ Krystiana Gonzalez
Remember – Broken links detected
.
Leave a Reply