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How to Increase Your Search Ranking — By Doing Absolutely Nothing!

December 20, 2009 By

(Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes)

Doing nothing can pay off in search results.

Here’s why: When other people fiddle around with and “fix” their blogs, they break links.

Don't let this be your blog

Don't let this be your blog

I see this all the time. I use the excellent Broken Link Checker plugin, which provides me a list of links returning HTTP 404 errors.

Every broken link is one less search result for you to compete with.

If you haven’t used Broken Link Checker, try it out. You might be startled at how many broken links it finds on your blog. You might be dismayed at how many of those links are internal links – on your blog – that you broke!

As I write this, I’ve just finished eliminating a half dozen broken links. Some internal, some external. One needed complete replacement. I had to do a web search to find it’s new URL.

Eliminating broken links on your blog isn’t difficult, but you do need to keep track of your own 404 logs, and make sure you’re not delivering any HTTP 404 error pages. Make sure every valid incoming URL has a home, whether that incoming URL is stale or not. Sure, maybe you changed some permalinks. That’s cool, just make sure to get everything redirected properly. I use Godley’s Redirection plugin extensively, it’s the right tool for the job.

Once you have great content on your website, don’t fiddle around with your links. Your unoptimized links may hurt for SEO in the short term… in the long term, not so much. The upshot:


The less you fiddle, the less you break.

If you really need to change your linking strategy, make a plan, start small, test extensively, consider hiring a professional web developer.

But think hard beforehand… your position in the search engine’s index could be at risk.

Filed Under: Building Traffic Tagged With: , , ,

Comments

  1. Dave Doolin says:
    December 20, 2009 at 8:45 am

    I was unpleasantly surprised first time I installed Broken Link Checker. Now it’s default on every new site I set up.
    .-= Dave´s last blog ..What Does a Pink Limousine Have to do With Blogging? (It’s the Week in Review!) =-.

  2. K. Praslowicz says:
    December 20, 2009 at 8:42 am

    That plugin looks pretty sweet. I shall have to try it.
    .-= K. Praslowicz´s last blog ..My Favorite Ansel Adams Photograph =-.

  3. Karilee says:
    December 20, 2009 at 9:01 am

    Broken Link Checker is a great plugin, and I recommend it highly as well. Thanks for the info on Godley’s Redirection, as well as the detailed advice on how to use it in your July post. That will save me looking for a redirection tool.
    .-= Karilee´s last blog ..Tools For Finding Domain Names – Part 2 =-.

  4. Heather Kephart says:
    December 20, 2009 at 11:34 am

    Hey thanks, that’s some good advice! I recently imported from a Blogger blog and I think I lost a ton of links by doing so. (Not sure how.) I’m going to try the plugins you suggested and see what comes of it.
    .-= Heather Kephart´s last blog ..Goals for 2010: Blogging or Writing? =-.

  5. Mike Crimmins says:
    December 20, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    I deactivated the plugin a while ago, after reading this post I decided I needed to try it out again.

    Anyone else have problems with the admin area going really slow after activating this plugin? Since I’ve already had two problems with conflicts with the new wordpress 2.9, I’m wondering if it’s that.
    .-= Mike Crimmins´s last blog ..Fresh Brews: Coffee Obsessed And Free Wifi =-.

  6. Dana @ Online Knowledge says:
    December 20, 2009 at 5:16 pm

    yup, single broken link will affect our SERP. I usually do checking trough web site, but i will give a try the broken link checker plugin that you mention in this article. It seems easier than do checking directly in broken link checker web site.
    .-= Dana @ Online Knowledge´s last blog ..Build Bond and Trust Trough Comments =-.

    • Dr Wordpress! says:
      December 20, 2009 at 5:25 pm

      Dana, checking through an external website is actually better, provided it’s done automatically on a certain schedule, generates good reports, and is cost- and time-effective.

      Broken Link Checker will induce some overhead. It is a plugin, so it will get scanned periodically, and it does have to run a bunch of queries, and that takes time as well.

      I use BLC mostly to save time. I can keep an eye on it while I’m doing other admin chores.

      Were I outsourcing everything or I had an employee handling the grunt work, I would use an external check to be sure.
      .-= Dr WordPress!´s last blog ..Blog World Recap: How to Attract a Large and Loyal Audience =-.

  7. Lisis says:
    December 20, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    Well this is GREAT news… I’m perfectly qualified to do nothing!

    ;)

  8. Max Bronson says:
    December 20, 2009 at 11:34 pm

    Hey Dave,
    Recently I moved my blog to a new URL and server. I did a huge manual check and changed hundreds and hundreds of links. However, it’s possible I missed some. I use this plugin to check for them.

    Cheers, mate!
    .-= Gordie´s last blog ..How To Use Goals, Autosuggestion, Commitment And Consistency. =-.

  9. Darni says:
    December 21, 2009 at 2:57 am

    Increase my search engine ranking by doing nothing–I like that idea.In fact,I never do anything to my permalinks in case of break links.

  10. Gabe | freebloghelp.com says:
    December 21, 2009 at 7:28 am

    I don’t think bloggers realize how many things they break along the way.

    I tend to be very careful but I assumed that I still might have some broken links so I just grabbed the plugin just to see. No broken links!

    Now I can sleep well tonight.
    .-= Gabe | freebloghelp.com´s last blog ..The 5 bestest features of WordPress 2.9 =-.

  11. Extreme John says:
    December 21, 2009 at 9:21 am

    Such a basic and excellent tip, I know I have been toying around with my 404 pages and bad links for months, never seem to get the job done and tighten things up the way I would like to.
    .-= Extreme John´s last blog ..This Exchange Website, That Exchange Website! =-.

  12. Social Media Guide says:
    December 21, 2009 at 10:53 am

    Nice tip. I’ve totally forgot to check broken links on my blog. Great to hear that there is a plugin to do all the dirty work :)
    .-= Social Media Guide´s last blog ..Introduction to Blog Communities – Beginner Guide =-.

  13. Deacon says:
    December 21, 2009 at 11:35 am

    The one annoying thing on my blog is that I have a relative link written in between some <code> tags, and it registers as a broken link, since the code is displayed out of place.
    Other than that, this plug in is rather nice, and part of my usual suite of plugins I install on a blog.
    .-= Deacon´s last blog ..Christmas Comes Early =-.

  14. Deacon says:
    December 21, 2009 at 11:37 am

    Oh, so code tags work in comments, I see ;)
    Feel free to fix my mess above, Dave.
    .-= Deacon´s last blog ..Christmas Comes Early =-.

  15. Holly Jahangiri says:
    December 21, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    You can use these HTML tags and attributes: 

    .-= Holly Jahangiri´s last blog ..Exhausted & Overexposed: Hand-Crafted Hypertext Disappearing from the Web? =-.

    • Holly Jahangiri says:
      December 21, 2009 at 4:42 pm

      ROFL!! What was THAT? Was that what Deacon meant by a “mess”? Heck, you can’t even be pedantic around here without getting yourself into trouble. (Okay, so maybe that wasn’t so much “pedantic” as it was “smart a$$” but it’s getting to that point in the holidays where I either start sobbing uncontrollably, snap everyone’s head off, or get impossibly silly. Trust me, everyone prefers that last option, in my experience.)
      .-= Holly Jahangiri´s last blog ..Exhausted & Overexposed: Hand-Crafted Hypertext Disappearing from the Web? =-.

    • Dr Wordpress! says:
      December 22, 2009 at 5:53 pm

      Wow.

  16. Jayce says:
    December 21, 2009 at 10:16 pm

    Don’t use any plugin to track 404 pages but using Google Webmaster Tools.
    .-= Jayce´s last blog ..How to hack Facebook account profile =-.

  17. chandan says:
    December 27, 2009 at 3:36 am

    Well I am using blogger blog. On one article I have listen that new google caffeine will rank on seeing different facrors of our blog like our blog loading speed, broken links etc. I have used one tools for check my broken links, but I can not understand how to make good my broken links.

    Well is it one important factors for SEO?

  18. Michelle @ Your Virtual Assistant says:
    January 18, 2010 at 7:44 pm

    I am so glad I happened across this post tonight. I had the plugin on my “must have” list for the longest time but then deactivated it.

    After reading this post this evening I reactivated it and to my surprise I had 18 broken links and 100 redirects (which I have to do more research on).

    Thanks for being a kick in my butt!
    .-= Michelle @ Your Virtual Assistant´s last blog ..2010 Goals for Your Virtual Assistant =-.

  19. Austin says:
    January 19, 2010 at 9:46 pm

    Great suggestion. I’ll definitely be checking out more of your blog soon.

    (Off to fix 12 broken links)

    -Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances

  20. Rob McCance says:
    December 4, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    Dave,

    Just installed this plugin and ran it. Found one bad link, typo on my part.

    Fixed it.

    Good deal, dood, thanks!
    Rob McCance´s last post ..Atlanta Real Estate and Atlanta Homes

Trackbacks

  1. Foodspotting: Twitter and Foursquare Hook Up for Dinner (& Week in Review) | Website In A Weekend says:
    November 1, 2010 at 4:43 pm

    [...] How to Increase Your Search Ranking — By Doing Absolutely Nothing!. Stop fiddling with and breaking your blog links; let other people break theirs. You get ahead by not getting behind! Doing nothing is easy, find out more… [...]