Editing Link rot (section)

== Prevention and detection ==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2024}}
Strategies for preventing link rot can focus on placing content where its likelihood of persisting is higher, authoring links that are less likely to be broken, taking steps to preserve existing links, or repairing links whose targets have been relocated or removed.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

The creation of URLs that will not change with time is the fundamental method of preventing link rot. Preventive planning has been championed by [[Tim Berners-Lee]] and other web pioneers.<ref name=Berners-Lee1998>{{cite web |author-link = Tim Berners-Lee |first = Tim |last = Berners-Lee |title = Cool URIs Don't Change |year = 1998 |url=https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI |access-date=2019-01-31 | url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000302064802/http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI |archive-date=2000-03-02}}</ref>

Strategies pertaining to the authorship of links include:
* linking to primary rather than secondary sources and prioritizing stable sites<ref name="Koehler2004" />
* avoiding links that point to resources on researchers' personal pages<ref name=McCown2005/>
* using [[clean URL]]s or otherwise employing [[URL normalization]] or [[URL canonicalization]]<ref name=Kille2014>{{cite web | last = Kille | first = Leighton Walter | title = The Growing Problem of Internet "Link Rot" and Best Practices for Media and Online Publishers | publisher = Journalist's Resource, Harvard Kennedy School | date = 8 November 2014 | url = http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/internet/website-linking-best-practices-media-online-publishers | access-date = 16 January 2015 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150112034707/http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/internet/website-linking-best-practices-media-online-publishers | archive-date = 12 January 2015}}</ref>
* using [[permalinks]] and [[persistent identifier]]s such as ARKs, [[Digital object identifier|DOIs]], Handle System references, [[PURL]]s,{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} or [[content-addressable storage|content addressing]]<ref>Sicilia, Miguel-Angel, et al. "[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050919300924/pdf?md5=e9f04c24a1d7114f75df4adbe2a373db&pid=1-s2.0-S1877050919300924-main.pdf Decentralized Persistent Identifiers: a basic model for immutable handlers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510232202/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050919300924/pdf?md5=e9f04c24a1d7114f75df4adbe2a373db&pid=1-s2.0-S1877050919300924-main.pdf |date=2023-05-10 }}." Procedia computer science 146 (2019): 123-130.</ref>
* avoiding linking to documents other than web pages<ref name=Kille2014/>
* avoiding [[deep linking]]{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}
* linking to [[web archives]] such as the [[Internet Archive]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/ | title=Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine | date=2001-03-10 | access-date=7 October 2013 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970126045828/http://www.archive.org/ | archive-date=26 January 1997}}</ref> [[WebCite]],<ref name=Eysenbach2005>{{cite journal | first1 = Gunther | last1 = Eysenbach | first2 = Mathieu | last2 = Trudel | year = 2005 | title = Going, going, still there: Using the WebCite service to permanently archive cited web pages | doi = 10.2196/jmir.7.5.e60 | journal = Journal of Medical Internet Research | volume = 7 | issue = 5 | pages = e60 | pmid = 16403724 | pmc = 1550686 | doi-access = free }}</ref> [[archive.today]], [[Perma.cc]],<ref name=permacc>{{cite journal |last1 = Zittrain |first1 = Jonathan |last2 = Albert |first2 = Kendra |last3 = Lessig |first3 = Lawrence |url = https://cdn.harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/forvol127_zittrain.pdf |title = Perma: Scoping and Addressing the Problem of Link and Reference Rot in Legal Citations |journal = Legal Information Management |volume = 14 |issue = 2 |pages = 88–99 |date = 12 June 2014 |doi = 10.1017/S1472669614000255 |s2cid = 232390360 |access-date = 10 June 2020 |archive-date = 1 November 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201101012831/https://cdn.harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/forvol127_zittrain.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref> Amber,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Harvard University's Berkman Center Releases Amber, a "Mutual Aid" Tool for Bloggers & Website Owners to Help Keep the Web Available {{!}} Berkman Center|url = https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/99276|website = cyber.law.harvard.edu|access-date = 2016-01-28|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160202042259/https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/99276|archive-date = 2016-02-02}}</ref> or Arweave<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arweave - A community-driven ecosystem |url=https://arweave.org/ |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=arweave.org |archive-date=2023-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315024155/https://arweave.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Strategies pertaining to the protection of existing links include:
* using [[URL redirection|redirection]] mechanisms such as [[HTTP 301]] to automatically refer browsers and crawlers to relocated content.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}
* using [[Web content management system|content management systems]] which can automatically update links when content within the same site is relocated or automatically replace links with canonical URLs<ref name="Justaddwater 2007">{{cite web | last = Rønn-Jensen | first = Jesper | title = Software Eliminates User Errors And Linkrot | publisher = Justaddwater.dk | date = 2007-10-05 | url = http://justaddwater.dk/2007/10/05/blog-software-eliminates-user-errors-and-linkrot/ | access-date = 5 October 2007 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071011033526/http://justaddwater.dk/2007/10/05/blog-software-eliminates-user-errors-and-linkrot/ | archive-date = 11 October 2007}}</ref>
* integrating search resources into [[HTTP 404]] pages<ref name="GoogleToolbar">{{cite web | last = Mueller | first = John | title = FYI on Google Toolbar's Latest Features | publisher = Google Webmaster Central Blog | date = 2007-12-14 | url = http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/fyi-on-google-toolbars-latest-features.html | access-date = 9 July 2008 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080913132848/http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/fyi-on-google-toolbars-latest-features.html | archive-date = 13 September 2008}}</ref>

The detection of broken links may be done manually or automatically. Automated methods include [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-ins]] for [[content management system]]s as well as standalone broken-link checkers such as like [[Xenu's Link Sleuth]]. Automatic checking may not detect links that return a [[soft 404]] or links that return a [[200 OK]] response but point to content that has changed.<ref name=Bar-Yossef2004>{{cite conference |first1= Ziv |last1 = Bar-Yossef |first2 = Andrei Z. |last2 = Broder |first3 = Ravi |last3 = Kumar |first4 = Andrew |last4 = Tomkins |year = 2004 |title = Sic transit gloria telae: towards an understanding of the Web's decay |book-title = Proceedings of the 13th international conference on World Wide Web – WWW '04 |pages = 328–337 |doi = 10.1145/988672.988716 |isbn = 978-1581138443 |citeseerx = 10.1.1.1.9406}}</ref>