Some time back I discovered this handy-dandy WordPress plug-in called Broken Link Checker that schedules regular checks of all the links on your site and reports any that are broken. The tool makes it simple to locate and correct any broken links. Recently it mysteriously developed a glitch that caused a scary looking page of code with a pink background. I disabled the plug-in across the board and posted to the programmer for help. It turned out many others were seeing the same thing. After more than a week of troubleshooting she has successfully located and repaired the problem. So I have gone ahead and reinstalled the fixed version on all my clients’ sites.
I decided that it would be worthwhile to create a quick video tutorial on how to make use of this plug-in. Because every error will be unique it’s a bit of a treasure hunt figuring out if a link is actually bad, just timing out or down temporarily, mistyped or moved to a different URL. So with each entry you must research and correct as the situation dictates. I hope this video is helpful to get you started. I’m happy to answer your questions.
A couple of key tips:
- In the video I suggest testing links that don’t respond at this site, Is it Down for Everyone or Is it Just Me?!
- If you fail to include http:// in any link WordPress will append the URL you type to YOUR URL and of course the link will fail to function. So if you see your own domain name appearing in front of a link simply clear it out and see if that does the trick. To be sure you understand, here’s an example:
- my URL is https://www.hoffmangraphics.com
- I want to link to http://www.s2cycle.com
- When I fail to put the http:// here’s what it will display as: https://www.hoffmangraphics.com/www.s2cycle.com which of course does NOT work and will show up as a broken link!