Learning how to fix broken links is one of the most important parts of running a successful website. Chances are that after you start a new site, you'll soon have to deal with broken links.
What are broken internal links and how to fix them?
A broken internal link is a link that points to a web page or post on your website that does not exist.
There are several reasons why this can happen, some of them are:
The page has been deleted.
There is a typo in your URL.
The link leads to the wrong page.
The page has moved and the link has not been updated.
Broken internal links can have some negative consequences for your website:
Frustrated Visitors – If visitors click on a broken link, netherlands telegram data they will see a 404 error page. This will cause them to leave the website and look for that information elsewhere.
Negatively affected SEO: Search engines like Google use your website’s internal links to understand its structure. If your website has a lot of broken links, you’ll get a poor SEO score and overall ranking.
Loss of website traffic: If search engines are unable to crawl your website properly due to broken links, you could lose valuable traffic.
How do we fix broken links?
How should we be able to locate them first? You can locate broken links on your website in several ways:
One of them is to use Google Webmaster Tools to check for broken links. In the “Crawl Errors” section, you can find the broken links currently present on your website. However, this will not help you find broken links to external pages on your website.
Another method is to set up a custom filter in your Google Analytics account for the 404 error page to find out how many visits it receives. Again, this will only help you track all broken internal links, not external ones.
Any link on your website that points to another website is called an external link. Multiple broken external links on Google indicate that your site is outdated and Google does not favor such sites, which eventually leads to your website plummeting in search engine rankings.
It's important to remember that just because you don't have control over broken external links is no excuse for having broken links. You still have full control over monitoring and maintaining your website.
Just like external links, you have complete control over internal links. By instilling good web practices, you can prevent broken links from being created on your website in the first place. If you find a broken link on your website, it is a major problem as it will hurt your SEO, reduce your authority, and cause your conversion rates to suffer.
One of the most common causes of broken internal links is typos that hinder better ranking. Suppose we encounter a 404 error due to a typo. Fix it, and the problem is solved!
Another option is to recreate the page again, this is one of the best solutions to fix broken links in terms of SEO, especially when the backlinks point to a missing page.
You can also fix it by using 301 redirect, Google recommends using the 301 redirect method to fix broken internal links.
Ideally, users will redirect the broken internal link to a page with relevant content, such as a relevant post, tag, or category page. It's only a good option to redirect to the homepage as a last resort. Redirecting broken internal links takes a little time, but it will keep that valuable link flowing and get you more page views, which is good news for your SEO.
And finally, you can fix the broken link by removing the link completely – this is by far the easiest and safest method to fix broken internal links. The only difference is that removing broken links is fast. The downside is that you lose the opportunity to continue accumulating page views and let the link flow. It is advisable to remove broken links only if they do not serve their purpose.