How to Fix Broken Links and Redirect Loops in Your Technical SEO Audit
As part of your technical SEO audit, fixing broken links and redirect loops is crucial to improving the overall health and usability of your website. In this article, we’ll dive into what these issues are, how they affect your site’s performance, and most importantly, provide actionable steps on how to fix them.
What are Broken Links?
Broken links occur when a link on your website points to a non-existent or moved URL. This can happen for various reasons, such as:
- A page being deleted or moved without updating the linking pages
- A URL containing typos or incorrect characters
- Changes in website architecture or URL structures
When users click on a broken link, they’ll often encounter an error message, such as “Page Not Found” or “Error 404.” This can lead to frustration and negatively impact user experience.
What are Redirect Loops?
Redirect loops occur when a redirect chain creates an infinite loop of redirects. This happens when:
- A URL is redirected to another URL, which in turn is also redirected back to the original URL
- A redirect is not properly handled or cached, causing the loop
Redirect loops can lead to:
- Slow page loads due to repeated requests and redirects
- Increased server load and resources wasted on unnecessary redirects
- Decreased user engagement and frustration with slow or non-existent pages
Why Fixing Broken Links and Redirect Loops Matters
Fixing broken links and redirect loops is essential for several reasons:
- User experience: Fixing these issues ensures that users can find the content they’re looking for without encountering errors.
- Search engine optimization (SEO): Search engines like Google crawl URLs and follow redirects. Broken links and redirect loops can negatively impact your website’s SEO by:
- Reducing crawl efficiency
- Increasing crawl errors
- Decreasing page authority and ranking
- Conversion rates: Frustrated users may abandon their purchases or leave your site, leading to decreased conversion rates.
How to Fix Broken Links
To fix broken links, follow these steps:
1. Identify Broken Links**
- Use a website crawler tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Ahrefs Site Auditor to scan your website and identify broken links.
- Check for broken internal links (e.g., linking to other pages on your site) and external links (e.g., linking to external websites).
2. Update the Link**
- If a page has been moved, update the link to point to the new URL.
- For typos or incorrect characters, correct the URL to match the correct one.
3. Test the Link**
- Use the same tool used in step 1 to re-test the updated link and ensure it’s working correctly.
How to Fix Redirect Loops
To fix redirect loops, follow these steps:
1. Identify the Loop**
- Use a website crawler tool or a debugging tool like Curl or Fiddler to identify the redirect loop.
- Analyze the redirect chain and find the root cause of the issue (e.g., incorrect redirects, missing cache headers).
2. Fix the Redirect**
- If a redirect is not properly handled or cached, update the redirect configuration to ensure it’s correctly handling the request.
- For incorrect redirects, correct the redirect URL to point to the correct destination.
3. Test the Redirect**
- Use the same tool used in step 1 to re-test the updated redirect and ensure it’s working correctly without creating a loop.
Additional Tips
To prevent broken links and redirect loops from occurring in the future:
- Regularly crawl your website using tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs Site Auditor.
- Implement a URL canonicalization strategy to reduce duplicate content issues.
- Ensure proper caching and handling of redirects on your server.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to fix broken links and redirect loops, improving the overall health and usability of your website. Remember to regularly audit your website to catch any new issues before they become major problems.
Conclusion
Fixing broken links and redirect loops is an essential part of a technical SEO audit. By identifying and fixing these issues, you’ll improve user experience, reduce errors, and increase the crawl efficiency of search engines. Follow the steps outlined in this article to ensure your website is optimized for maximum performance and usability.
Further Reading
