How to test your Web site's links

Never discount the importance of testing your Web site's links

Links are an essential part of any Web site. After all, they form the basis of all online navigation. That's why, regardless of whether you are directing your visitors toward another page of your site, or sending them to a different site altogether, your links need to work. Otherwise, your visitors may become frustrated with your site and never return. To prevent such frustration, all new links should be immediately tested as you add them to your Web site in order to ensure correct functionality. Time allowing, you should also occasionally test any previously added links to offsite pages, because such pages can be changed or removed at any time, often without warning.

So, how can you check that your Web site's links are indeed functioning correctly? Well, the most basic way of testing a link is simply clicking on it and seeing what happens. If the link redirects you to the correct page or resource, then great – no further action is necessary! If the link isn't directing you to the correct page or resource, however, then you'll need to take a closer look at the link itself and correct any errors that may be preventing it from working as expected. Also, if a linked page or resource is no longer available, then you'll need to remove its corresponding link from your site or find a suitable replacement link to use instead.

Now, this basic method for checking link function obviously works well on small sites, but since it requires you to manually check each link, it can prove to be very time consuming on larger sites - especially sites containing hundreds, thousands, or even millions of links. So, how do you go about testing the links on larger or link-heavy sites? One method many webmasters choose is tasking special link-checking software to do the work for them. Online resources are also available to help automate the process, with the W3C Link Checker being a popular choice. If you wish to give the W3C Link Checker a try, please visit: https://validator.w3.org/checklink.

Another way to seek out information about your Web site's potentially broken links is to visit your Web site's error log. If you have access to the log files, then you should be able to see a list of the latest errors encountered on your Web site. Typically, error logs include information about any pages or resources that were unreachable to visitors, plus information about the page or resource that generated each error. By using your Web site's error log as a guide, you'll have a better idea about which links may need to be fixed or removed.

Unfortunately, there's a serious problem that occurs both when using automated link testers and when checking a Web site's error log – neither method pays any attention to the actual content of the linked pages or resources. Links receive a passing grade so long as the page or resource that is being linked to simply exists. This can be a major problem if you often link to offsite pages or resources that you have no control over because any changes to such content may go unnoticed by you while your original link remains active to your visitors. To ensure that the linked destination still contains the same content it did when you first linked to it, be sure to occasionally check your links manually, especially if you are linking to pages or resources beyond your control.

Because links are such a crucial part of any Web site, it is critically important to test them regularly to ensure they are functioning correctly. Though automated link testers and error logs are informative and can help speed up the testing process when used, don't forget that manual testing is also important – especially if you are linking to pages or resources that could change without your knowledge. By checking your error logs and regularly testing your Web site's links, both manually and via an automated link checker, you will have the best chance of locating your Web site's problematic links, allowing you to correct any problems that could prevent your visitors from easily navigating your site.