etailology

Link-Rot is when  links to a page experience “not found” errors.  This happens most often when site owners (that’s YOU) “upgrade” a site without maintaining the exact same file structure.    When switching from one platform to another, maintaining the same file structure is usually impossible, so a “Custom 404” is the best antidote for link-rot.

Link-Rot didn’t used to matter that much, because bookmarking was a personal thing — it affected those customers or users who suffered through the site upgrade and a little rot was taken in stride (both for the customer and the site owner).

Those days are over.  Why?  Deliciou.us.  Now that bookmarks are social, link-rot can affect an enormous prospect audience for your site.  Remember too that Google ranks your site based in large part on the number and quality of in-bound links; link-rot affects your rankings.  Check your logs … how many people are requesting URLs that don’t exist?