What Is a Broken Link?
A broken link is a digital dead end. If a visitor clicks a link on your website and gets an error message like “404 – Page Not Found,” they’ve encountered a broken (or “dead”) link — a blank wall instead of a useful resource.
How does it happen? Usually when a page gets renamed, moved to a different folder or deleted — and the links pointing to it never get updated. The original link still exists on your website, but its intended destination is gone.
Broken links aren't rare. They're one of the most common issues on university websites, and they can go unnoticed for months or years.
Why This Matters
We are one Rowan on the web. When a visitor lands on a Rowan page — no matter which department or office runs it — they don’t distinguish it from any others. That page represents the Rowan website. A frustrating experience on one page reflects on all of us.
Broken links also create real accessibility problems. For a student using a screen reader or other assistive technology, a dead-end link isn't just annoying — it’s a barrier to use. Broken links present a direct obstacle to their academic experience.
Good news: this is one of the most fixable issues we have — and Cascade is built to help us prevent it before it happens.
What To Do
To resolve a broken link, you must first diagnose its cause. We’ve listed the most common offenders below and outlined how to address each scenario:
The page or resource moved or was rebranded
- Issue: This is the most common cause. A department renamed a program, a PDF moved to a new office, or a page was reorganized into a new folder. The content still exists — it just lives somewhere new.
- Solution: Find the correct new URL and update the link on your page.
The page or resource is gone entirely
- Issue: If you can't find where the content went, do a quick search — on the Rowan website, in Cascade, or even a general web search — to see if the resource still exists somewhere.
- Solution: If it's truly gone, remove the link from your page. A missing link is always better than a broken one.
The link is inside a PDF
- Issue: PDFs with broken internal links are a separate challenge. Before spending time fixing a PDF, ask: does this document still need to exist?
- Solution: Our preferred approach, in order, is:
- Delete it — if the content is outdated, tag it for removal in Cascade.
- Archive it — if it needs to be preserved but is no longer actively linked, tag it for archival in Cascade.
- Convert it to a web page — HTML is almost always more accessible than a PDF, and far easier to maintain.
- Remediate it — only if the PDF must stay as-is, utilize best practices when remediating, recreating, or redesigning content, i.e.Microsoft Word or Grackle accessibility checker.
Start using internal linking in Cascade
In the past, contributors had to type out full URLs when linking to other Rowan pages. That's how many broken links were born — typed once, never updated, forgotten. Cascade supports internal linking, which builds an everlasting relationship between your page and its target. When a page is renamed, moved, or flagged for deletion, Cascade warns you. You stay informed before a link breaks — not after a visitor reports it.
All contributors now have basic access to every site in Cascade. This means searching for and linking to any Rowan page directly inside the platform — no URL typing required. This is one of the most important habits we can build together.
404, 403… What Are These Error Messages?
If you’ve ever clicked on a broken link, your browser may have displayed a page that said “404 - Not Found” or “403 - Forbidden.” Those numbers and their associated messages are called HTTP Status Codes, each of which corresponds to an error that prevents your computer from retrieving information from a server.
Among the most common HTTP status codes, 404 and 403 indicate that the desired content was not found at the linked address. To correct this, you’ll need to check Cascade and use the resolution strategies outlined above; if those strategies fail, contact Web Services for assistance.
What To Avoid
- Don't just delete the link text without checking the content. Sometimes the linked page moved — removing the link entirely undermines the page’s value for your visitors.
- Don't rename or move pages without requesting a redirect. A redirect will automatically forward visitors from the broken link to a new page. Please contact Web Services Support for more assistance.
- Don't type links to Cascade content by hand. Hand-typed URLs skip Cascade's relationship tracking and are invisible to our governance tools.
- Don't spend time remediating a PDF that should be deleted or converted. Fix the right problem, not just the immediate one.
How To Fix and Prevent Broken Links in Cascade
Web Services recently onboarded Siteimprove, a web-based digital optimization platform, which helps content contributors improve a website’s quality, search engine optimization (SEO), and accessibility. Siteimprove interfaces with Cascade CMS, so it identifies broken links for users to then remedy in Cascade. Web Services will be onboarding users to Siteimprove over the coming weeks and months, enabling content contributors across the university to address issues like broken links.
Visit our training resources below for a full walkthrough of how to use Cascade's internal linking tool, check incoming links before making changes, and work with Siteimprove to find broken links on your pages.
Not sure where to start, or need help identifying which links on your site are broken? Submit a support request — we'll point you in the right direction.
Resources & Next Steps
Learn More
Questions about a specific broken link or PDF on your site? Reach out to Web Services — we're here to help.
