Broken Link Checker

You’re only human and it’s only technology…but sometimes broken links on your website happen. We know you have a lot going on and keeping up with broken links just isn’t on your radar. But they are more important than you think. So the quick and easy fix is a plugin like Broken Link Checker right? A quick scan and a click and all your broken link troubles are solved. Well, maybe not. Let’s talk this one out.

What Broken Link Checker Is and What It Does.

Okay so obviously it’s a plugin. It is supposed to be a tool to help fix broken links, which occurs when a post or page has been moved, renamed, or deleted. When links to a page or post become broken, it messes up the user experience. Once the plugin is installed it is supposed to scan your site, tell you which ones are broken, and allows you to fix them from the plugin dashboard. It monitors your site and tells you when new links become broken.

What the Broken Link Checker Plugin Really Does.

Broken Link Checker does do all the things we mentioned above. It just doesn’t do it very well. There are several types of links that it doesn’t look for, such as replies to comments that have been deleted for broken links. It doesn’t look at links that are in the body of comments either. And since it’s a plugin, it eats up memory and slows your site down. We mentioned in our blog before about blacklisted plugins that WP Engine doesn’t allow the Broken Link Checker plugin because since it runs in the background it is constantly sending queries to the host server. This bogs it down and can affect the performance of the server and your website.

All in all, it’s better to go with a different service that is NOT a plugin when you are checking for broken links. There are many people and servers that say Broken Link Checker just isn’t worth the hassle and doesn’t perform. Next week let’s talk about a plugin that really isn’t needed and why.