22/08/2022
🔎What do broken links mean?
A broken link is a link on a website that no longer works because the website is experiencing one or more of the following issues: The destination web page has been moved or no longer exists. An invalid URL has been entered for the link by the web page owner. The linked web page exists but can't be accessed by a user
A broken link is a web-page that can't be found or accessed by a user, for various reasons. Web servers will often return an error message when a user tries to access a broken link. Broken links are also often known as “dead links” or “link rots''.
🔎How to check your website for broken links?
This article describes two methods for checking a website for broken links:
⏩Google Search Console enables you to review any broken links and errors that Google's crawlers discover. This information is automatically updated every time Google crawls your site.
⏩W3C Link Checker scans your site for broken links on demand. This method also provides the specific line in the HTML source file that contains the broken link.
Table of Contents:
Method #1: Google Search Console
Method #2: W3C Link Checker
⏩Method #1: Google Search Console.
To continuously monitor your site for broken links using Google Search Console, follow these steps:
1️⃣ Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2️⃣ Click the site you want to monitor. The Search
Console page appears.
3️⃣ Click Crawl, and then click Fetch as Google.
Here you can request Google to crawl specific
pages on your website.
4️⃣ After Google crawls the site, to access the
results click Crawl, and then click Crawl Errors.
The Crawl Errors page appears.
5️⃣ Under URL Errors, you can see any broken links
that Google discovered during the crawl
process.
⏩ Method #2: W3C Link Checker.
To scan your site for broken links using W3C Link Checker, follow these steps:
1️⃣Use your web browser to visit the W3C Link
Checker.
2️⃣In the Enter the address (URL) of a document
that you would like to check the text box, type
the URL of the site you want to scan.
3️⃣ To see only the relevant output, select the
Summary Only check box.
4️⃣To check links on subsequent pages, select the
Check linked documents recursively check box.
In the recursion depth text box, type how many
levels you want to check.
5️⃣Click Check. The results appear as each page is
scanned.
🔎Why are broken links important for SEO?
Broken links are not only bad for user experience but can also be harmful to your site's loving relationship with Google, i.e. your SEO. Avoid linking out to broken content, and also avoid having pages on your site that are broken