A review can read perfectly well even when its link to a label’s release page goes nowhere. You may not notice until you click it. On an independent music site, that link might substantiate a release detail, lead to an artist’s archive or connect readers to another piece of your writing. It needs attention, but the right fix depends on what failed.
Know what has failed
A broken link no longer reaches its intended destination. The page may have been deleted, moved or made private, or the address may contain a typo. Your own site might have changed a post’s address; a label or artist page might have disappeared. Even a URL that loads can be wrong if a domain has changed hands and now shows unrelated material.
Distinguish internal links to pages or files on your site from external links to other sites. You can usually correct an internal address or set up a redirect. For an external link, you may need to find the page’s new location, use another reference or edit the sentence that relied on it.
A scan result is not always proof of a broken link. A server error may be temporary, and a page that blocks automated requests may open normally in a browser. If a file was removed deliberately, replacing its link calls for editorial judgment.
Find broken links without relying on memory
Start with a crawl, then check the results
A site crawler follows links from pages it can find and records destinations that return errors. Your content-management system may have a link report; server logs or analytics can show visitors reaching missing pages. Search performance tools may flag URLs that return errors, but they will not give you a complete list of links in your articles. Pick a method you can repeat, so later checks have something to compare against.
For a small archive, manually checking well-visited pages and older posts can expose problems a crawler misses. Check image credits, embedded audio, PDF downloads, navigation menus and links to files on your own site. A crawl may overlook pages with no incoming links or content behind a login.
For each finding:
- Record the source page: note where the link appears, its visible text and its destination URL.
- Open the destination yourself: use a normal browser, especially if the scan reports an access-denied response or timeout.
- Check the exact address: look for typos, changed paths, missing file extensions and incorrect capitalization where it matters.
- Work out the link’s purpose: was it there to support a claim, offer further listening, credit someone or connect related articles?
Keep a simple log of the source page, destination, problem, chosen fix and date checked. It keeps editors from making competing repairs and leaves unresolved cases visible.
Prioritize by consequence, not error count
A broken navigation link will affect more readers than one tucked into an older review. After navigation, focus on links that support factual claims, identify artists or labels, lead to audio or downloads, or connect important archive pages. A link in a brief note may wait. If readers regularly visit a page or use it to explore the site, check its outgoing links sooner.
Choose a fix that preserves the meaning
For links within your site
If the page still exists at a new address, update links in articles and navigation to point straight to it. If readers may still use the old address through bookmarks, search results or printed material, set a permanent redirect to the closest equivalent page. Test the new link and the redirect. Sending every missing URL to the homepage does not help someone looking for a particular review.
If you deliberately removed a page and nothing equivalent remains, let its address return a clear not-found response rather than a misleading redirect. Edit any surviving articles that still link to it. If the page matters to the publication’s record, you could put a short explanation at its original address, as long as you can accurately say what happened.
Check files as well as articles. Renaming an uploaded audio file can break a player or download while the article itself remains live; test it as a visitor would. Likewise, a link to an orphan file in the Japanese noise underground should reach that investigation, not the archive’s front page.
For links to other sites
Look first for the same page at a new address on the artist’s, label’s or publisher’s site. Make sure it still contains what your sentence promises; a loosely related page is not a substitute just because it loads. If the source has gone, verify the claim elsewhere before keeping it. Otherwise, remove or qualify the unsupported detail. In a historical piece, it may be useful to say that a resource is no longer available, but a dead link should not be offered as a listening option.
Take particular care with domains that now show unrelated material. Remove the link rather than send readers somewhere you have not checked. An archived copy can help establish what a page once said, but identify it as a historical snapshot, not a current artist or label page.
Keep repairs from creating new errors
After editing, open the published source page and follow its link. Check that the linked text describes the destination and that the page, file or player works without an editor login. For a redirect, test the old address and make sure it reaches the right page without a chain of stops. After a site migration, sample URLs across different sections; one working redirect does not validate the whole pattern.
Run another link check after substantial archive changes, then repeat it on a schedule you can maintain. Before deleting or renaming a post, search your site for links to its current address. You may find a review, artist profile or listening guide that needs updating before the old path disappears.
The log entry for a single repair need not be elaborate: “source page: review; old destination: removed label release page; action: replaced with the label’s current page for the same release; checked: date.” The next editor can see exactly what was verified.