| Imagine this scenario: You're online, searching for the perfect "something" you want to buy, or looking for the information you need to complete a report or solve a problem. You're sure you've found just what you want -- the answer to all your prayers -- when you click and . . . The link's broken. 404 Error. Page Not Found. Is there anything more aggravating? |  |
Broken website links are really frustrating for searchers. And Google doesn't like them, either, because "The Goog" is all about giving people the best possible search experience, and broken links are not a part of that. Why? Because one way Google’s algorithms rank websites is by sending their spiders out to crawl links, so if those links are broken, the spiders can't crawl and index them.
Therefore, Google won't want to send searchers to that site and ultimately, a site can be penalized in search results because of those bad links.
So to avoid this problem on your website, you'll want to check for broken links on a regular basis and fix any problems as soon as possible.
Therefore, Google won't want to send searchers to that site and ultimately, a site can be penalized in search results because of those bad links.
So to avoid this problem on your website, you'll want to check for broken links on a regular basis and fix any problems as soon as possible.
About broken links – and how to find them quickly
Bad or broken links come in several types. For instance, if you delete a linked page on your site, put an incorrect URL or an accidental typo in a text link, or change a page's address without correctly updating the URL, you'll get a broken link.
Or if you have a link to another website and THAT website makes a change, deletes the page, etc., you can also end up with a broken link.
So how do you find out if all the links on your site are still good without going through every page and clicking each link?
Solution: BrokenLinkCheck.com allows you to run a free test to find problems quickly.
This online validation tool will scan your entire site and give you a report of any broken or problem links (unlike some other scanning tools that list ALL the links on your site, so you have to sort through the files to find out which ones are bad and need fixing).
Note: If you have over 3,000 pages on your site, you can contact the company to see about getting a price quote for scanning – it's probably worth it!
Or if you have a link to another website and THAT website makes a change, deletes the page, etc., you can also end up with a broken link.
So how do you find out if all the links on your site are still good without going through every page and clicking each link?
Solution: BrokenLinkCheck.com allows you to run a free test to find problems quickly.
This online validation tool will scan your entire site and give you a report of any broken or problem links (unlike some other scanning tools that list ALL the links on your site, so you have to sort through the files to find out which ones are bad and need fixing).
Note: If you have over 3,000 pages on your site, you can contact the company to see about getting a price quote for scanning – it's probably worth it!
This tool works on Mac and PC, iPads and even smartphones, so you can even check your site while you're on the go. Once you enter your site URL and type in a quick CAPTCHA code, you'll get a report of any link problems on your site, including the page where they're located. From there, you can examine any issues and take the steps needed to fix your problem links.
Have you used this tool or others like it? Leave a comment below!