Internal links are great for SEO but can hurt optimization if they don’t work. It’s essential to check for broken links regularly–broken internal links can frustrate website visitors and increase your bounce rate. They could also put you at risk of being penalized by Google. It takes time to find and fix the broken links on your website, but it will be worth it for both you and your users.
How Are There Broken Links on My Website?
Google considers internal links as a critical ranking factor. Internal links help search engines understand the structure of your website and help users find the information they’re looking for. So what happens when an internal link breaks? A broken link points to a page on your website that doesn’t exist. When this happens, it can negatively impact your search engine optimization in multiple ways:
- Website visitors may immediately leave if they come across an error page.
- You can lose website traffic if search engines cannot crawl your website.
- Your Google rankings can plunder if too many broken links are found.
There are plenty of reasons why your website may have broken links. A common occurrence would be if you changed the URL of a page. Let’s say you have internal links on your website that point to your contact page. If you update your contact page’s URL, the links to the old URL will be broken and come up as a 404 error page.
Another common occurrence would be if you entered the wrong URL. Always double-check to make sure the URL you are linking is correct. If there is a mistake, it can lead to an error page.
How Do I Find Broken Internal Links on My Website?
The most straightforward way of checking for broken links is to manually click through each internal link and see where it takes you. If the link goes to its correct destination, then it works. If not, then it is broken.
Google Search Console is a tool you can use to track your website’s performance in Google search results. It can also show if you have any 404 errors on your website. Log in and go to Crawl Errors; from there, you should be able to see any 404 errors that have been generated.
You can also use Google Analytics to find any error pages. When you log into Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Organic Search. You can export this list of pages and crawl it through Screaming Frog to find the errors.
How Do I Fix The Broken Links on My Website?
There are a few methods you can use to fix your broken links. If the page the link is directing to has been updated, you can redirect the link to the new page. This will make sure that users are directed to the right page, and it won’t hinder your website’s SEO. If you have made a mistake in the URL or linked the wrong page, make sure to update it so that it points to the correct page. If the link points to a page that no longer exists, it is best to remove the link from your website.
Contact Boston Web Marketing
If this is too much of a daunting task for you, Boston Web Marketing is here to help! Our professional SEO specialists will help you go through your internal links and ensure that they are working properly. We will also aid in the complete optimization of your website. Speak with one of our experts at Boston Web Marketing today. We will discuss the next steps you need to take to get started. To contact us, call (857) 526-0096 or email us at sales@getfoundquick.com.