You have broken links. Now what?

Arriving at your desk, you open an email with an embarrassing attachment of an error screen from a website you just launched. You thought everything was in place. Be sure to thank them for their email and read on.

Fix it:

• Link to Google’s index. Google keeps a copy of the page when it crawls to index your website. Unfortunately, Google’s index has an expiration date. Use this option only when your target page is down temporarily. When Google re-indexes, it is known as a fresh crawl. To learn more about indexing, check out googleguide.com.
• Link to archive.org. This site has archived the web since 1996 and FAQ page will help you get started. Use it proactively as a backup option too.
• Use services such as WebCite, an on-demand archive, or the Iterasi web archive. Iterasi has some archived site examples that are public if you need to persuade anyone.
• Perform a Google search to find an alternate copy of a missing page and grab the content you need to reset the link.

Prevention 101 for your 404s:

When moving an article, use a “redirect” (procedure or coded file) to help preserve your search engine rankings:

• IIS Redirect: You can use Properties in IIS to redirect to another website or directory, single file, or a program. Be sure you are part of the Administrator’s group on your local computer.
• .htaccess Redirect: (for Apache) Create and add code to a redirect .htaccess file and place it in your root directory.

You should also create custom 404 pages. The main goal is to keep your visitor on the site and direct them to other page links to keep them engaged. You don’t want visitors to close the browser or navigate away.

The first step is to create the HTML page for the custom 404 in your editor. You may want to consult with your Marketing team to get an outside opinion on the copy or graphics. Ideally, you need to reduce the “shock” factor to make it a seamless experience. This way, the viewer is not inconvenienced and barely notices the fact that they have accessed a broken link.

Instructions to insert your custom 404 page can be found online for IIS and Apache.

Finally, test your 404 page to be sure the user experience matches your website goals. You could set up several 404 page designs and track the navigation results to determine the best 404 page option for your viewer.

For those interested in further reading about 404s and best practices, check out alistapart.com and Google. There are also many examples of creative 404 pages on the web to get ideas.

Tags: 404 errors, Broken links, Inaccessible links