Broken Links/Images Non Optimized Content Help

[crazymikesapps]

Hello,

After 4 years of incorrect blog creation and 4000 blog posts I have seen the light.

I have implemented a new theme, SEO friendly, based on a yoast website report and have been creating timeless blogs with correct structure.

However, I have 5400 broken links and images based on the Broken Link Checker.

Additionally, of our 2500 blog posts which are on app reviews, only 500 are optimized so I have been painstakingly been going through each to optimize, while balancing new content output.

The trouble is Google is seeing massive changes and we are tumbling in search.

Any suggestions on how to approach this as it is my understanding that the broken links/images are doing considerable damage to our website overall.

the website is crazymikesapps.com

thank you

Mike

[ThompsonPaul]

Mike, if you're seeing 5400 broken links, its highly likely that your redesign created a configuration change that is causing those breaks. In these cases, it is often possible to fix all the broken links at once with just a few rewrite rules. (I'm betting you changed the permalink structure in the new design per Yoast's recommendations, but then didn't' redirect the old permalink structure.)

Can you give us some examples from the list of broken links and images?

Paul

[crazymikesapps]

Paul,

Actually, we did not change the permalink structure this go around. We have a professional development house assist us.

The 5,400 are from my permalink changes over the years, which have created these issues. So I am going through all 4400 blog posts, so far only 2000 left and removing them.

Some of my questions were: 1) is it better to do this all at once 2) how important is it to fix broken images/links

I got some feedback from a guy on Warrior Forum who was helpful, as well as my developer and I appreciate any feedback you may offer.

After 4 years I have finally figured out correct page structure, too bad this did not come sooner

thank you

Mike

[ThompsonPaul]

Ah - guess I misunderstood the question. If you're asking should you fix the errors quickly or slowly, I'd definitely recommend fixing them as quickly as possible. There's no upside to dragging the process out.

As to the importance, I'd say it's very important. First, for all of those broken pages that might have old incoming links to them, you'll be rescuing the value of those links. which will help your site rank. (I'm assuming you're redirecting the broken pages to appropriate existing ones)

Secondly, but just as important, you'll be fixing the user experience on your site. Nothing lowers a user's trust & enjoyment of a site quicker than constantly coming upon broken images and links that don't work.

Hope that helps;

Paul

[ThompsonPaul]

Also regarding fixing the broken links - the reason I asked about what caused them to break is that, if a couple of permalink structure changes are responsible for the bulk of them, it's likely possible to fix most of them with just one or two rewrite rules.

This will be vastly quicker than manually redirecting each one, and will be much better for your site, as that many individual redirects is going to slow down your site.

Paul