Dead link explained


A dead link or broken link is a link on the world wide web that points to a web page or server that is permanently unavailable. The most common result of a dead link is a 404 error, which indicates that the web server responded, but the specific page could not be found. The browser may also return a DNS error indicating that a web server could not be found at that domain name. A link might also be dead because of some form of blocking such as content filters or firewalls.

Another type of dead link is a URL that points to a site unrelated to the content sought. This can sometimes occur when a domain name is allowed to lapse, and is subsequently reregistered by another party. Domain names acquired in this manner are attractive to those who wish to take advantage of the stream of unsuspecting surfers that will inflate hit counters and PageRanking.

Link rot is the process by which links on a website gradually become irrelevant or broken over time as sites they link to disappear, change content, or redirect to new locations.

Links specially crafted to not resolve, as a type of meme, are known as Zangelding, which roughly translated from Dutch means tangle thing. A zangelding is basically a list of self referencing broken links.

Dead links commonplace on the Internet can also occur on the authoring side, when website content is assembled, copied, or deployed without properly verifying the targets, or simply not kept up to date. Because broken links are to some very annoying, generally disruptive to the user experience, and can live on for many years, sites containing them are regarded as unprofessional.


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web4africa.com Icon 🏆 Alexa 60,657 - 📅 - 7 Steps to Fix Broken Links on Your Website - Broken links or dead links are web pages that are no longer functional. There are various causes for broken links that could lead to those dreadful 404 errors. Imagine your prospects clicking on a link or a blog post to know more about a product or ...
myresellerhome.com Icon 🏆 Alexa 188,765 - 📅 - How to Find and Remove Broken Links from Your Website - Broken links are dead-links that aren’t good for Search Engine and also forreaders. Today, I’ll be sharing some free 404 link checker tools which can assistyou to find 404 and dead links on your Blog. Search engines bots hates broken links, which ...
contabo.com Icon 🏆 Alexa 5,481 - 📅 - Migration using Plesk - The migration of a website is always a challenging task for the webmaster. Beside a loss of reputation and ranking on search engines, dead links or famous 404-errors, there are some other risks during such a migration. But often it is more dangerous
123-reg.co.uk Icon 🏆 Alexa 7,869 - 📅 - The beginner’s guide to Webmaster Tools - You may have a beautifully designed website filled with loads of useful content, but how do you know that it’s in tip-top shape? How do you know if in fact it doesn’t have tens of 404 not found errors (a result of broken or dead links) that your ...
hostdime.com Icon 🏆 Alexa 63,267 - 📅 - How to Set Up Your Creative 404 Error Page - An error message is a HTTP response indicating that the web hosting server is responding but could not find what was requested. Usually you will see this result after clicking on a broken or dead link, which is why you see “404 Not Found” messages ...