Broken links are what SEO nightmares are made of.
A webpage that doesn’t work - is there anything worse? This is not only bad for users, but also for marketers since it will lower site rankings and hurt SEO performance. But fear not! Google Search Console has the remedy that will help you to identify and fix your broken links.
Understanding how to identify broken links will help improve SEO performance and stay ahead of the competition.
Google Search Console is an essential tool used by SEO professionals to monitor website performance and for taking a look at how websites are performing in Google Search results. One of the perks of using Google Search Console is that it can identify broken links so that you can make changes to fix your website. Google Search Console has a helpful tool called the 'coverage report’, which breaks down any issues with a website’s URL, including broken links.
Broken links can cause an avalanche of problems ranging from loss of revenue, increased bounce rate, low site ranking, and crawling/indexing problems. When a user is progressing along the conversion process, a broken link can cause them to not fully convert, which can negatively affect sales revenue. Time is of the essence when it comes to fixing broken links since the bounce rate may increase because users won’t want to wait.
Customers won’t be likely to buy anything or do any desired tasks if webpages aren’t working because of broken links or 404 errors. When customers are bouncing from your site more, your site ranking is also likely to decrease because customers aren’t happy, pages aren’t loading, and Google isn’t able to crawl/index the site properly.
Finding broken links in Google Search Console is a quick and easy process. To identify broken links, follow the steps below:
The best way to combat broken links is to prevent them from occurring at all with regular checkups. Ideally, it’s best to check your website for broken links at least once a month. However, checking once a week would ensure that customers are satisfied and get the most value out of the website.
Even when performing regular checkups for broken links, what should you be looking out for? Here are some symptoms to look out for that can cause broken links:
When you identify broken links on your website, you should work to either update or remove them to get your SEO back on track.
For example, if there’s something minor like a spelling error, you can easily go back and update the link with correct spelling to fix the error. Also, you can simply remove any links that no longer serve a purpose, such as dead links, broken images, or pages that no longer exist. It’s best to remove any fluff from your website so that everything runs smoothly and no users get any reason to bounce or not fully convert.
A 301 redirect can be used to lead traffic from broken web pages to operational and relevant pages. A 301 redirect essentially tells Google that the original link has moved to a new location and directs users to the new URL.
Here are some good advice to follow to protect your website from getting broken links going forward:
Understanding how Google Search Console can help with treating and preventing broken links is only a small part of what Google Search Console is capable of. To get the best results for your website, it’s imperative to get a comprehensive look at what Google Search Console can do for you.
Not sure where to go from here? Click the button below to download our free Google Search Console guide
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