F6 — Chapter 6 - Internal Linking

Criterion f6-liens-casses-elimines : Broken links eliminated — guide + checklist

PART 1 - Fundamentals Chapter 6 - Internal Linking Keyword : liens cassés éliminés

This criterion is discreet... until it blocks SEO performance.

The **F6 — Broken links eliminated** criterion is part of our SEO checklist (335 criteria). Here, you have a **practical** method to check and correct it — with a concrete example.

What this criterion covers exactly

This criterion is discreet... until it blocks SEO performance.

**F6 — Broken links eliminated** (Chapter 6 - Internal Linking): Regular audit with Screaming Frog or Ahrefs, correct or redirect

Why it’s important (SEO + UX)

Why it matters: it’s a technical quality factor (crawl, rendering, indexing). When poorly applied, we often observe: ambiguity (wrong query associated), duplication between pages, or loss of performance on indexing rate.

On high-volume generated sites, this criterion also serves as a **safeguard**: a stable rule avoids 1,000 errors at once.

How to check (step by step)

Approach: crawl check (list + export). Recommended tool: **Link Redirect Trace**.

  1. Crawl (Screaming Frog): 200/301/404 + canonicals + depth.
  2. Control the anchor and the target page (intent consistency).
  3. Check for stability (no unnecessary parameters, no redirect chains).

Tip: first isolate 10 “representative” URLs (top pages + generated pages) before scaling the correction.

How to correct properly

Strategy: repair, re-crawl, and monitor in Search Console.

  • Repair broken links (301/update targets).
  • Write **descriptive** anchors (subject + angle), not “click here”.
  • Build a linking structure: pillar pages → sub-pages → returns.

Then: re-crawl 50–200 URLs, then monitor Search Console over 7–14 days (impressions/CTR/indexing).

Concrete example (illustrative)

Example (illustrative):

  • **Context**: product sheet for an aesthetic clinic in Casablanca
  • **Before**: Identical anchors everywhere (“click here”) + broken links.
  • **After**: Descriptive anchors + links to pillar pages (e.g., aesthetic clinic → product sheet).
  • **Note**: Objective: to better distribute internal popularity and guide the crawl.

Checklist to tick

  • [ ] 0 critical broken links
  • [ ] Complies with: correct or redirect
  • [ ] Descriptive anchors
  • [ ] Linking to pillar pages
  • [ ] Reasonable depth
FAQ

Frequently asked questions — F6

What is the most frequent error on “Broken links eliminated”?

Applying an overly generic automatic pattern (same logic on all pages) without adding a differentiating element.

Which tool is the fastest for large-scale control?

For this type of criterion, a crawl (e.g., Screaming Frog) + a targeted check in Link Redirect Trace is generally the fastest combo.

How to prevent this from happening again on 10K generated pages?

Freeze an auto-generation rule (title/structure/schema/URLs) + add an automatic control (crawl or test) before importing into production.

Ready to go from theory to action?

Validate this criterion with an audit, then deepen the method in the Academy.

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