The other day I decided to check “broken links” on my website. Basically these are links from my site to other sites. In most cases, these were articles I referenced, books I promoted, or interesting people I highlighted.
Since 2006, I have posted over 800 blog entries. ( I started my website back in 2001)
I was shocked to find that I had over 300 dead links on my site! This means that 300 times I thought there was good content on another website, and that website is no longer running.
Congratulations to those of you who have had an active website for the past decade. It is sometimes good to be reminded that longevity is not a given and that staying in business requires dedication and determination.
Henry Morgan says:
Ha.I just had to do the exact same thing after an agency flagged we had the issue. I don’t know if you’re on WordPress or not, but we found a ‘plugin’ that helped with our website – and it even gave me the option to create a new link where every broken one was…
I too was alarmed at the number of sites that just weren’t there anymore…
Stephen Shapiro says:
Thanks for your comment. Although it’s been a pain, it’s been fascinating to see which websites are gone. Some really shocked me!
I do use WordPress. Do you mind sharing the plugin you use? Thanks!
Scott Crabtree says:
I also use a broken link checker with WordPress, and from what I can tell, it’s called…wait for it…Broken Link Checker! It sends emails like this:
Broken Link Checker has detected 1 new broken link on your site.
Here’s a list of the new broken links:
Link text : SMART
Link URL : http://hrweb.mit.edu/performance-development/goal-setting-developmenta…
Source : Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg
You can see all broken links here:
https://www.happybrainscience.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=view-broken-links
Stephen Shapiro says:
Thanks for this Scott!