These links point to an external site that no longer exists, has moved locations, and has not implemented any redirects. It can also signal to Google that your website isn’t properly optimized, which may hurt your rankings. If a page has a broken link, Google can’t find the next page. lost the page during a website migrationīroken internal links make it harder for Google to crawl your website’s pages.International visitors may not be permitted to view the content in their country. This can happen often with videos and other visual content. There are firewall or Geolocation restrictions: Sometimes people outside of a certain geographical region are not allowed access to a site.There are broken elements within the page: There may be some broken HTML or JavaScript error, or even some interference from plugins (when working on a WordPress site.).You linked to content that has been moved or removed: The link may have pointed directly to a file that is no longer there.An external site is no longer available: When linking to a website that is no longer available or is temporarily offline, your link will appear broken until you remove it or the site is back up.Your website’s URL structure may have changed: If you’ve completed a site migration or reordered your content tree, you’ll need to set up a redirect to avoid breaking any links.Incorrect URL Spelling: You may have misspelled the link when setting it up, or the webpage you’re linking to may include a misspelled word in its URL.
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Here are a few common causes of broken links: Understanding how links are broken can help you prevent them from happening in the future. Timeout: While trying to connect to the page, the server timed out.400 Bad Request: The host server doesn’t understand the URL on your page.Bad Code: The server violated the HTTP Spec.Bad Host: The server cannot be reached or doesn’t exist or the hostname is invalid.404 Page not Found: If you see this error, the page or content has been removed from the server.If you click on a link, you’ll know the link is broken if the page returns errors like: You might have typed the URL incorrectly.
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You may have linked to content (like a video or document) that has been removed from the server.
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Scan and fix broken links how to#
We’ll explain how broken links work, why it’s important to update them, and how to check for broken links with the Site Audit tool. Lower page authority can negatively decrease your ranking, especially when compared to your competitors. Whether a user’s browsing your site’s pages or exploring external links you’ve included, it can be jarring to be met with a 404 error page.īroken links can also impact page authority earned through internal and external links. A broken link can severely impact the user experience of your website.