Broken links and malform redirects can destroy your user experience and SEO. When a user clicks on a brokenq link and is taken to a 404 error page, it is an unfavorable experience for users, and can cause immediate bouncing. Improper redirects can also mislead search engines, counteracting your ranking objectives. Below are ways to fix your broken links and set up proper redirects to form an effective SEO Victoria strategy.
Why Broken Links Are Bad for SEO
These links damage your website in several ways:
- User Experience: Visitors who come across an inactive link may leave your site, lower engagement, and negatively affect conversions.
- Search Engine Rankings: Google views non-working links as a red flag of abandonment of your site, which will negatively affect your rankings.
- Crawling and Indexing: Search bots waste their time crawling these in-active links instead of indexing pages that actually assist searchers’.
How to Find Them
In order to resolve this problem, the first step is to identify broken links. The following tools are helpful:
- Google Search Console: If you have verified your website with Google, you can view a list of 404 errors in the “Crawl Errors” report which will help to identify a not-working link to fix.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A free tool, this often used tool will help you scan your site for broken links and provides several reports or documentation on it.
- Ahrefs or SEMrush: These are paid tools that require you to sign up, but allow you to check for damaged internal or external links.
- Online Broken Link Checkers: Websites like BrokenLinkCheck.com allow you to scan your site for free if you have a small website that does not generate much link output.
Setting Up Proper Redirects
Redirects can avoid broken link problems from arising when you’re changing URLs or removing pages. Here’s how to set them up properly:
- Use 301 Redirects: These inform search engines that a page has been relocated indefinitely and pass SEO value to the new URL.
- Don’t Use Redirect Chains: Multiple redirects in a row will retard your site and confuse search engines.
- Test Redirects Occasionally: Redirects occasionally break due to server problems or CMS updates, so test them every now and then.
Final Thoughts
Incorrect links and incorrect redirects can harm your website’s ranking and user experience. With the correct tools to identify issues and the correct solutions, you can keep your performing website in top form. Periodic audits will keep your SEO Victoria strategy in good form, and your website will remain on search results.
