Introduction¶

There are several ways to locate and repair broken links. This article provides instructions on each of the methods.

PageCorrect¶

List and repair broken links with PageCorrect.

1. Navigate to the domain dashboard.

2. Click PageCorrect (shield with a checkmark icon) on the window toolbar. The PageCorrect dashboard opens.

   

3. Click List from the menu on the left side of the page.

   

   The PageCorrect Content page opens. The results are in a table format.

• Filter: On the toolbar above the results list, select to filter for Links.

  
• The columns are:
  • Issue: The icon for the type of issue, either a broken chain link icon or a broken image icon, along with the title for the issue (Broken Link or Broken Image) and the URL for the issue.
  • Changed to: The last change that was done to the issue.
  • Updated at: The date that the issue was updated last.
  • Created at: The date that the issue was created.
  • Action button: Click to expand the list of options: Update or Remove.
• Click Action on the same row as a broken link. 

• Select Update from the expanded menu. A dialog opens:

  

  The dialog has a field with the existing URL and the instructions: "Please insert correct URL:"

  • Enter the correct URL in the field provided. The URL must start with a protocol such as http://.

     

     

    Note

    All links that lead to the same destination are listed. The first five are displayed, but the full number of URLs discovered is shown. Click the number to expand them.

     

     

  • Click Save. This fixes the broken link in all instances throughout the website.

     

     

    Note

    If the Acquia subscription ends, the error will still be present in the website HTML. It is the recommendation to have a web developer fix the issue within the HTML code. Make a note of the location(s) of the broken link and send it to the web developer for a permanent fix.

     

     

  • Remove to remove the issue from the list.

    Select this choice if you know the link is correct and the error occurred due to, for example, a server outage at the time of the last scan.

     

     

    Note

    If the error persists, it is flagged again on subsequent scans.

     

     

For more information, visit PageCorrect.

Prioritized Content¶

List broken links, Ignore a link, or mark a link as Fixed with the Prioritized Content module.

1. Navigate to the domain dashboard.

2. Click Prioritized Content (bell icon), on the menu bar.

   

   The Prioritized Content page opens.

   

3. Click Notifications on the same row as a domain. The menu expands with a breakdown of the notifications per category:

   • Policies
   • Broken links
   • Broken images
   • Misspellings
   • Accessibility
   • SEO
   

4. Click to select Broken Links. The Broken Links page opens.

   
   1. The number on the right tells you how many broken links the URL has.
   2. The columns on the list have these headers:
      • Broken Link: the URL for the link.
      • PageCorrect: Click to navigate to the PageCorrect module, where it is also possible to fix the highlighted link. Instructions are in the next section of this document.
      • Response code: The error code that the URL returns.
      • Type: The type of error (in this case, link).
5. Click Action. The menu expands with the following options:
   • Set to Fixed: Use this option when the issue is fixed on the CMS/HTML code of the website. Items that are marked as fixed are included in future scans.

   • Mark as Ignored: Use this option if links are incorrectly marked as broken.

      

      

     Notes

     The following is the crucial difference between the issues that you mark as fixed and issues that you mark as ignore:

     • Issues that are marked as fixed are flagged upon future scans

     • Issues that are set to ignore are permanently omitted from future scans and future compliance score calculations, as long as the link gives the same broken error.

     Ignored links are displayed on the scan again if the status of the link changes. For example, a link previously marked as broken with a 404 status and ignored is reset if the link later receives a new "Ok" status, such as 200. If the same link starts to return a 404 error in the future, it is displayed on the broken links report again.

     For information on how to set up the scan to exclude a link so that it is never considered, visit Path constraints and link exclusions.

      

      

   • Inspect (Magnifying glass icon): Click to navigate to the Web Browser Extension view of the page, where it is possible to fix the highlighted link. Skip to Web Browser Extension instructions.

For more information, visit Prioritized content.

Web browser extension¶

Find broken links and their location, Ignore a link, or mark a link as Fixed with the web browser extension.

1. Open the website and start the Web Browser Extension.

2. Click to select Content Issues (insect icon) on the web browser extension toolbar.

   

3. Select Quality Assurance in the expanded menu.

   
4. Click the arrow to expand the menu further. The issues list opens.

5. Click See Issues in the Broken Links / Broken Images section.

   

   The Broken Links pane opens. Here is a list of broken links and broken image links.

   

6. Mark as Fixed (checkmark icon): Click to mark the issue as fixed. Do this when the issue is fixed on the CMS/HTML code of the website. Items that are marked as fixed are included in future scans.

   

7. Mark as Ignored (eye with a line through it icon): Do this when the link is not broken, but flagged by the scan for an unknown reason.

   

    

    

    

   Notes

   The following is the crucial difference between the issues that you mark as fixed and issues that you mark as ignore:

   • Issues that are marked as fixed are flagged upon future scans

   • Issues that are set to ignore are permanently omitted from future scans and future compliance score calculations, as long as the link gives the same broken error.

   Ignored links are displayed on the scan again if the status of the link changes. For example, a link previously marked as broken with a 404 status and ignored is reset if the link later receives a new "Ok" status, such as 200. If the same link starts to return a 404 error in the future, it is displayed on the broken links report again.

   For information on how to set up the scan to exclude a link so that it is never considered, visit Path constraints and link exclusions.

    

    

8. HTML (</> icon): Click to view the location of the broken link within the page HTML code.

   

   The HTML code view opens and the broken link is highlighted.

   

   Tip: Send this to the web development team, so that they can quickly find and repair the error within the HTML code.

9. Highlight (magnifying glass icon): Click to view the location of the broken link on the page.

   

   The page view scrolls to the location of the link and the broken link is highlighted.

   

For more information, visit Web Browser Extension.

Examine links for accessibility issues¶

1. On the web browser extension toolbar, click to select Toolkit (tools icon).

   

2. Click to turn on the Links button to see a list of all links on the website.

   
3. Click on a link in the list to see the location on the website.

4. Hover the cursor over a link on the page for more information about it.

   

   See the following information about the link:

   • Link Text
   • Link Title
   • Link URL
   • Aria-label
   • Link Length
   • Link Target
5. Click on a link on the page to see the link behavior as a user experiences it.

For more information, visit Web Browser Extension.

Quality Assurance Links¶

List broken links, Ignore a link, or mark a link as Fixed with the Quality Assurance module.

For instructions, visit Handle links with QA

Policies for links¶

It is sometimes necessary to set up a policy to tell the scan how to handle special or troublesome links. There are several pre-made links policies that you can use.

For more information, visit Policies for links.