Links

Website Management

Website Design

Website Maintenance
►Fixing broken  links
►Tips for fixing broken links

References

"Broken links are a major annoyance to browsing users and also a cause of tarnished reputation and possible loss of opportunity for information providers."
--David Ingham, Steve Caughey, Markk Little

Fixing Broken Links
 


Broken links are one of the largest problems existing on the web today. Guess work is essential when trying to restore broken links on a website that you are not familiar with. Through trial and error I have developed a four step system that I use when fixing links. I hope this system will be helpful to you.

Four Steps to Fixing Broken Links

Step 1.  Find the broken link
     →Types of Errors that can Occur on a Page
     →Sample Broken Link Information

Step 2.  Look at the context around the link

Step 3.  Investigate the link

Step 4.  Restore the link


 

1.  Find the Broken Link

The first step to fixing a broken link is finding it. There are many applications available, such as Ixsite Link Checker or LinkBot, that test a website for potential problems such as broken links, slow/old pages, missing attributes, and redirected pages. 

The following list displays the different types of errors that can occur on a web page are summarized as shown by Linkbot.


Types of Errors that can occur on a web page

  • File Not Found: occurs when a URL points to file on the server that does not exist. These errors are usually caused by typos in the URL or when the target file has been deleted or renamed.
  • Cannot Connect: occurs when the target server does not respond to the request from the browser. These errors are often due to a server that is down or too busy.
  • Host Not Found: occurs when a URL points to a server that does not exist.
  • Time Out: occurs when an existing server responds but does not return the data fast enough and the browser times out.
  • Errors from Server Access Log: occurs when a broken link is found in the server access log but is not found by Linkbot when it scanned your site’s contents.
    •

 

Here is a sample of the information LinkBot and similar applications may provide about the broken link you are trying to fix:

Sample:
 

Link:  Electronic Text  file:///W:/engl/309/309.htm (Error: Not found) (W:/engl/309/309.htm) PARENT PAGES: 1. http://www.uwec.edu/Academic/Curric/jerz/orr/articles/student/
Sp2001/brunsesd.htm
("Mad Girl's Love Song" in Interactive Fiction)

So what does all of this mean? Here is a  breakdown of what each portion of the sample is:

Once you have figured out the components to fixing a broken link you can move on to fixing the link.

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2.  Look at the context around the link
  • Is there an author mentioned?
  • Is there a topic mentioned? 
  • Is there any other type of clue as to where and what the link was?

Use the context of the link as the base of your investigation, so that you have some idea of what you are looking for.

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3.  Investigate the link
 

Click on the link and see where it takes you.

a) If a new address appears, click on it and search for the link on the site. 

b) If a new address does not appear try to find the site which
    the broken link exists on. You may try this by trimming filenames
    off the back of the address. 

Example:  file:///W:/engl/309/309.htm. 
You could trim off 309.htm.

c) If trimming off part of the address doesn't work use the search command on the web to look for possible matches.  Compare the addresses of possible matches with the old address of the broken link to find the correct match.

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4.  Restore the link

After you have found the correct address you can copy and paste or type in the correct address on your site by following these steps:

a) Highlight the broken link    

b) Right-click on the broken link and select hyperlink properties, or highlight the broken link and click on the hyperlink icon. The create hyperlink or edit hyperlink dialog box will appear.

c) Copy and paste or type in the correct address into the URL text box.

d) Click OK

e) Test the link to make sure that the link works by uploading your site to the web and clicking on the revised link. 

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Kelly Stevens,  16 Dec 2002