Is your Web site linking to dead pages in cyberspace? Do you even know? Maybe it’s time to find and fix your broken links. Meet Xenu.
The site may look like something out of 1995, but it’s a great, easy to use tool that helps you clean up your site and keep error messages to a minimum. Oh, and it’s free to boot. Click here to download it now.
Once you download and install the program, simply plug-in a URL and let Xenu do the rest. It’ll tell you what links – both internally and externally – are broken. Sometimes an external link is simply due to slow download times or something temporary and may not need to be fixed. Internal links, however, should be fixed for three primary reasons:
1) Usability – Don’t let users hit deadends. You’ll likely lose them.
2) Search – Spiders don’t like hitting dead links, particularly internal ones.
3) Professionalism – It just looks hacky to get 404s.
So do yourself a favor and take some time to mend your broken links today.
Popularity: 2% [?]
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
This is a great find and I’ve bookmarked it.
Too bad it doesn’t mend broken relationships as well…