To address the issue of broken internal links on a WordPress website, you can use several tools and plugins designed specifically for this purpose. Here are the steps you should follow:
1. Identify Broken Links
First, confirm the broken links identified by Ahrefs. You can use additional tools to ensure you have a comprehensive list of broken links.
Tools for Identifying Broken Links:
- Broken Link Checker: This WordPress plugin can scan your entire site and identify broken links.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A desktop program that can crawl websites and identify broken links, both internal and external.
- Google Search Console: Under the “Coverage” and “Enhancements” reports, you might find insights about broken links.
2. Fix Broken Links
Once you have a list of broken links, you can proceed to fix them. Here are the steps and tools you can use:
Plugins for Fixing Broken Links:
- Broken Link Checker: This plugin not only identifies but also allows you to edit or remove broken links directly from the plugin’s interface.
- Redirection: This plugin helps manage 301 redirects and keeps track of 404 errors, allowing you to redirect broken links to the correct pages.
Manual Fixing:
- Edit Links Manually: You can manually edit posts, pages, and other content to fix or remove the broken links. Use the WordPress editor to search for the specific broken URLs and update them.
- Implement 301 Redirects: If the content has moved to a new URL, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. This ensures that users and search engines are redirected to the correct pages.
Step-by-Step Guide:
- Install and Activate Broken Link Checker Plugin:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
- Search for Broken Link Checker.
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Scan Your Website:
- Once activated, the plugin will start scanning your site for broken links.
- Go to Tools > Broken Links to view the list of broken links.
- Fix or Remove Broken Links:
- The plugin allows you to edit the URL, unlink, or mark as not broken.
- You can directly edit the links from the plugin’s interface without having to go to each individual post or page.
- Set Up Redirections:
- Install and activate the Redirection plugin.
- Go to Tools > Redirection.
- Add new redirections by specifying the source URL (broken link) and the target URL (correct link).
3. Monitor and Maintain
Regularly monitor your website for broken links and fix them promptly to ensure a good user experience and maintain SEO health. The Broken Link Checker plugin can be configured to run periodic scans and notify you of any new broken links.
Conclusion
By using these tools and following the steps outlined, you can efficiently identify and fix broken internal links on your WordPress website, improving both user experience and SEO performance.