Lasso has a built-in broken link checker that helps you get notified when one of your affiliate links might no longer be working and losing you revenue!
But Lasso might get it wrong sometimes, because there are infinite amount of link variations as well as ever-changing usecases for adding links into Lasso displays.
This guide will take you through step-by-step troubleshooting tips to understand why a non-broken link might be showing as broken and what you can do about it.
Things To Know About Broken Link Checker
Before we start troubleshooting your links, here's a few key things to know:
Important: Lasso showing broken links is a suggestive report for your information only and does not stop your links from working (unless there is some other reason they are in fact broken)
Lasso's broken link checker is overly sensitive on purpose to minimize any impact of loss of revenue to you
If the broken link checker is unsure if a link is broken or not, it will show it in the broken link report so that you can be encouraged to give it a manual check
Some sites use JavaScript that blocks our crawler from identifying is the link is broken or not; in those cases, Lasso will report it as broken for you to check manually
Some sites block bots aggressively outright, which again could cause Lasso to report it as broken so you can check it manually
There isn't a feature to dismiss a "broken" link as a false-positive yet
Now, onto the troubleshooting!
Step 1: Check The Link Manually In Browser
While it may sound obvious, have you tested your link manually yet?
You'll want to test opening both your cloaked Lasso link (if Link Cloaking is on for it) as well as the Primary Destination URL (your affiliate link).
They're on the Link Details page in these spots:
Open up a new tab/window, and try each link manually to discover if they are reliably going to a working website page.
If the link lands on a working page, these next questions are worth asking yourself to understand what could be getting Lasso mixed up.
Step 2: Is the Final Destination a Product Page?
Lasso's primary understanding of links is that they go to a direct product page, for example:
a bag on an Amazon product page
a t-shirt on a Walmart product page
a memorabilia item on a Fanatics product page
A link could be showing as "broken" if Lasso thinks it's not going to a product page and instead to some other page on a brand/retailer's website.
Some Lasso customers like to use other kinds of links which may or may not also include affiliate tags on them, such as:
a category page
an informational page
a search result
a homepage
Since these are not direct product pages, Lasso can often decide to be overly cautious and suggest them as broken links for you to check.
If you've checked the link manually and it redirects to the right place you want, then you can ignore Lasso's "broken link" report for this particular link.
Step 2: Check the Link Redirect with a Tool
An additional step to take is to use a tool that can follow the redirection route of a link and it will tell you if there are any issues.
Note: WhereGoes.com is a helpful tool in checking the redirection path for a link
Enter the URL into the tool and submit.
You'll get back a trace route of each redirect as well as a HTTP response for that step.
If you see an error HTTP response at any stage of the redirect, then it suggests why Lasso's crawler also thinks it's broken. For example:
HTTP Errors to Look Out For
4XX (e.g. 401)
5XX (e.g. 502)
There could be other problems in the chain, such as many redirects before it reaches a final destination.
This too could cause Lasso's crawler to get confused and, when it's unsure, it'll report it as a broken link.
Step 3: I See Too Many Broken Links, What Can I Do?
If you're seeing lots of broken links in your Lasso broken link report then it could mean that you have a lot of links to update with the affiliate program/network but it could suggest something else isn't working optimally.
In these cases, always reach out to us at [email protected] for help.