Your learning path: 93 lessons.
Module 11 / Lesson 64 · Read, apply, check
Repair a small set of internal links and verify that people reach the intended destination.
Choose an important destination and trace how a visitor reaches it from a relevant page. A useful internal link connects a current question to the next answer. Adding links indiscriminately across a site creates noise and can distract from the main task.
Inspect the anchor, destination URL, response and final page. A link can technically load while pointing to irrelevant content. Distinguish a typo, an obsolete destination, a redirect chain and a genuinely retired resource before deciding what the repair should be.
Use anchor text that helps someone predict the destination in context. There is no need to force the same commercial phrase into every sentence. When a useful resource moves, update internal references to the intended final URL rather than relying forever on intermediate redirects.
Click the repaired link on a phone and with keyboard navigation. Confirm the final destination answers the promised question and that important navigation remains usable. Save a small before-and-after inventory so the content owner can maintain it when the next page change occurs.
Old PDF returns 404 → replace the reference.
Same obsolete PDF → repair this reference too.
Successful response + equivalent measurement instructions.
Both routes work and their anchors describe the destination.
Hypothetical example: a moving company’s booking guide links “read more” to an old staircase-measurement PDF that now returns a not-found response. A current HTML guide covers the same measurement task and includes a diagram. The editor checks that the new guide is public, accurate and useful on a phone, then replaces the old link with “measure your staircase before booking.” She also finds a second page that refers to the same obsolete file and corrects that reference. The test is practical: a new visitor can follow both links and reach the right instructions. The team records the two repairs without claiming that two changed anchors will necessarily increase rankings.
A retired product has no equivalent replacement, but a marketer redirects every old reference to the homepage. Visitors expecting a specific manual instead land on a promotional page. That is not a useful repair merely because the destination returns a successful response. The editor should explain retirement, offer a genuinely relevant alternative where available, or remove the misleading reference while preserving helpful historical information when appropriate.
Misconception: a successful response means the link is fixed. Technical access and semantic relevance are separate checks. A working destination that fails the anchor’s promise still creates a broken customer journey.
Site-wide templates and redirects can affect many pages. Prototype one change and coordinate with the maintainer before deploying broadly. This exercise concerns links you control; external editors retain their own judgment about wording and inclusion.
Do this today · 25 minutes
Repair a small set of internal links and verify that people reach the intended destination.
One important destination and two pages you may edit, or the fictional link inventory below.
Booking guide → /old-stairs.pdf: 404. Delivery FAQ → /old-stairs.pdf: 404. Replacement /guides/staircase-measurements: 200, equivalent instructions.
Before: “Read more” → missing PDF
After: “Measure your staircase before booking” → current measurement guide
Notes stay in this browser. Download a copy to keep them.
Recheck repaired paths after the next content or navigation release; monitor the relevant journey rather than attributing every traffic movement to the links.
Before you move on
Two useful pages link to a missing staircase-measurement PDF. An updated public HTML guide covers the same task. The editor can change the references and wants to repair the customer journey. Which action is the most complete response?
Next lesson →Lesson edition 1 · References reviewed 15 October 2026 · Practical exercise reviewed 15 October 2026. Examples are illustrative teaching scenarios.
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