Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How to fix broken links?
-
Hi,
I use WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin. I have just found out that my 403 errors increased dramatically. It seems that all my tags below of each post are being broken for some reason. When i click on the tags i get the following massage: **403 Forbidden Request forbidden by administrative rules. **
I assume it has something to do with the configuration within Yoast SEO plugin.
Dose anyone know how should i fix that?
Thanks,
Raviv
-
Awesome! Definitely happy you let us know
-
Hi Dan,
Just wanted to let you know that the problem is fixed at last:)
WP support suggested to check this out with the hosting and bingo! Apparently is happened because of a massive on many WP sites ( Brute Force Attack ) which blocked some of my files and that was the reason for the 403's.
I thought that you might want to know.
Again, thanks so much for your help!!!
Raviv
-
For sure!
-
Hi Raviv - great, that will be your quickest source to the answer I think at this stage. Do update us if you can!
-Dan
-
Hey Dan,
Thanks so much for your help! really!
I still didn't fix it but as you said the tags themselves are broken. when i viewed them in the tags archive i get the same thing guess what? 403!
anyways, I will contact the help forum as you suggested hopefully they'll be able to tell me how to get it done.
Thanks again!
Raviv
-
Ah good! We've ruled out Yoast. Either one of two things are going on;
1. Tags are simply broken.
2. Maybe the link to the tags are just broken.
Can you adjust the URL at all to get to tags? Maybe the links are adding something extra in the URL making it incorrect? Or you can't get to tags at all. From within the Admin section, try going to Posts->Tag and hovering over a tag click "view" to try and view that tag archive. If it's still broken then it's tags themselves.
Either way this is leaning more towards a development issue, and maybe you want to contact the help department for your theme, or try the WordPress help forum.
-Dan
-
Hey Dan,
So I've tested it and it seems that I still get those broken links even when the Yoast plug in was disabled. In both tests i got the same results- 403.
Any suggestions of how to fix it?
Cheers,
Raviv
-
Hi Raviv
Yes, go to plugins and hit "disable" - you shouldn't lose your information, but I would take screenshots or write down of your settings just in case. Definitely don't delete the plugin - just disable it temporarily.
Let me know!
-Dan
-
Hi Dan!
Thanks for helping here!
2nd test result - even when I'm not being logged in to WP then I still get the 403 error
with regard to the 1st test ( shunting off the plugin) : 1 ) shall i do it by the 'deactivate' function in the plugins section? or is it something in I need to do withing the setting of Yoast plug in itself.
- either way is shutting off the plug in means that I will have to reconfigure the plugin from the beginning after switching it back on?
Sorry ... I'm still very new to this
Thanks Again
Raviv
-
Raviv
Just to make sure we're not assuming incorrectly, temporarily shut off the Yoast SEO plugin. This should be fine to do for just a few minutes. Do you still get the 403 errors? If so, then it is not the Yoast plugin but some other issue.
Also, do you get this error while logged out of WordPress? Trying doing it on your site in incognito mode in Chrome without logging in.
Let us know what happens with both of those tests!
-Dan
-
Hi Ed,
Thanks for that! But I need now to find out how to fix those broken links
Cheers,
Raviv
-
Hi Raviv,
I used this Worpress plugin to fix my broken links, hope it helps http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/08/05/broken-link-checker-for-wordpress/
Regards
Ed
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Updating inbound links vs. 301 redirecting the page they link to
Hi everyone, I'm preparing myself for a website redesign and finding conflicting information about inbound links and 301 redirects. If I have a URL (we'll say website.com/website) that is linked to by outside sources, should I get those outside sources to update their links when I change the URL to website.com/webpage? Or is it just as effective from a link juice perspective to simply 301 redirect the old page to the new page? Are there any other implications to this choice that I may want to consider? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Liggins0 -
Links under Meta Description when performing a search
Doing research for clients, I have came across seeing sites displaying hyperlinks underneath their own meta description. keywords that I have googled that result with hyperlinks displaying under meta descriptions: Google'd: iacquire (brand) bmw wheels (Beyern Wheels, position 1) aftermarket bmw wheels (MMR Wheels, position 2) These companys have hyperlinks underneath their descriptions. Anyone have any ideas why this happens or how it happens?
Technical SEO | | frnprz0 -
Dofollow and Nofollow links
What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow links? I know that some sites/blogs only let you post nofollow links. In such a case how do I know if a comment I posted on a certain site will be a nofollow or dofollow? How about big traffic sites such as Huff Post. Do they only allow nofollow links?
Technical SEO | | greenfoxone0 -
Find broken links in Excel?
Hello, I have a large list of URL's in an excel sheet and I am looking for a way to check them for 404 errors. Please help! Adam
Technical SEO | | digitalops0 -
International Site Links In Footer
We have several international sites and we have them linked in the footer of our main .com site . Should we add "nofollow" to these links? Our concern is that Google could see these sites as a network?
Technical SEO | | EwanFisher0 -
Advice on Linking to an Adult Related Website
I have a question regarding whether or not Google would penalize my main website for linking to a website that has adult content. The site I am linking to is not a porn site, rather it is a site that sells web site templates for adult related stores selling sexy toys, videos, etc. For example my site that is linking to the adult related website is here: http://www.websitetemplatedesign.com/ and the link to the site is in the footer at the bottom left which is an icon. And it links to http://www.adultsextemplates.com/ Im just looking for advice as to whether or not this could be a penalty or not. I did suffer major SERP loss in the last month and Im trying to find what I am doing that may have caused this. Any advice would be appreciated.
Technical SEO | | jmccommas0 -
Forum Profile Links
Are they really important? Many preach they are, and there are tonnes of services out there who give you thousands of forum profile links in no time. I strictly believe in genuine links built the hard way, and definitely don't want to get into anything which is black hat. Please suggest if building several Forum Profile Links is an appropriate way of building links?
Technical SEO | | KS__2 -
How to find links to 404 pages?
I know that I used to be able to do this, but I can't seem to remember. One of the sites I am working on has had a lot of pages moving around lately. I am sure some links got lost in the fray that I would like to recover, what is the easiest way to see links going to a domain that are pointing to 404 pages?
Technical SEO | | MarloSchneider0