Links that don't work can be very frustrating for your users. A link can break anytime content is moved or taken off of a website. The Web Audit tool can help you find links on your site that are broken.
Web Audit scans your site about once a month. To access the Web Audit report, go to your homepage, and at the bottom of the page follow the 'QA Test' link. This will take you to the report for the homepage. To view the report for the entire site, use the 'Go Back to Site Scan' link.
The report is split into a few different sections. The 'Link Checker' is where issues with links are reported. Selecting ‘View all hot spots for Link Checker’ will show you pages where there are issues with links. Selecting the individual page will show what links are having issues. Broken links will show in the ‘Error’ column when viewing the hot spots, and will give a ‘Fail’ when inspecting the individual page report.
You can use this report to identify and either update or remove broken links. Select the link, and use either the ‘Insert/Edit Link’ option to update the URL, or ‘Unlink’ option to remove the link entirely.
▶Watch video: "Adding a link" (0:58)
Some links may show in the 'Notice' column. This may mean the page being linked to is password protected or did not load in time when Web Audit tried to open it. You might want to double check that these links are working how you expect them to work, but they are generally less serious than a link that is completely broken.
Pro Tip
Web Audit can be configured to send you an email after it finishes its monthly scan. If you would like to receive the report, contact Keith McGuffey (kmcguffey2@unl.edu) or Anne Holz (anneh@unl.edu).
If you have ideas for videos or articles you would like to see, please email Keith McGuffey at kmcguffey2@unl.edu. More video tutorials can be found on the Nebraska Extension County Websites Media Hub channel.
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Site Bytes is a regular column in Nebraska Extension – Keeping UP that provides quick tips for enhancing your county website. Written by Keith McGuffey, IANR Media Web Specialist.