I’ve already written about how to test links using the broken link checker plugin but what if you can’t use this plugin?
If you’re hosting your site on WPEngine’s servers, you won’t be able to use that plugin as it pounds the server with large amounts of http requests which is why its on their banned plugins list.
Therefore its on the banned plugin list.
Download & Install Xenu’s Link Checker
One of the best solutions in this case is to download Xenu’s Link Sleuth which is a Windows desktop application which you can use to test your entire sites internal and outgoing links.
Once you have the .exe file on your desktop, double to complete the installation.
Open the app and enter in your top level domain then wait for the program to do its work.
This could take awhile depending on how many links you have and how many are broken or fail to connect.
You’ll find a video on the download page which is worth watching especially if you’re a beginner.
Finding Broken Links
Go to View and click on Sow Broken links Only.
You’ll then be shown a page with a list of broken links all in red.
To find which page contains the broken link
- Highlight the link
- Right click the link
- Click on URL properties
You can then view the url’s which contains this link and fix the problem.
You can also download the file with a list of all your broken links and work on them at another time or send them off to someone else to fix.
Fixing 404 Errors
Another option is to use Google’s webmaster tools to fix 404 page not found errors.
Mac Users
One of the best options for Mac users is a premium desktop app named Screaming Frog
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