Which URL is consired as Valid ,while checking for Broken Links

Question

I have bunch of URLs and im trying to check if these URLs are Valid(Errors like 404 etc).In such a scenario what URLs are considered as Valid?

Example Scenarios

The server responds with some HTTP 3XX Error(Moved Permanently/Temporary)
Redirect

Are these URLs considered Valid ? For example the URL http://www.acoss.fr Redirects to http://www.acoss.fr/home.html Is this URL Considered as 'Valid' ?

Another case http://www.cadastre.gouv.fr/ Responds with 301(Moved Permanently) to https://www.cadastre.gouv.fr/scpc/accueil.do

Is this URL Considered 'Valid'?

@MichaelHampton The use case is checking for broken links within a website. — techno, Mar 12 '18 at 13:27
I saw the question title. But your question asks only about redirects. You haven't said anything about actually broken links. What criteria do you want to use to consider whether a redirect is valid or broken? — Michael Hampton, Mar 12 '18 at 17:24
@MichaelHampton Example Scenario: I have hired an SEO agency,they have given me a set of offsite links,i need to check if these URLs are Valid and not broken. — techno, Mar 12 '18 at 17:28
@MichaelHampton Regarding the Redirect.. some URLs gets redirected to their corresponding HTTPS version,if they have recently installed SSL.In that case i get a 3XX Response.. So i'm unsure how to handle this. — techno, Mar 12 '18 at 17:29
[Cross-posted to SO](https://stackoverflow.com/q/49232108/1591669) — unor, Mar 13 '18 at 13:32

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 13 '18 at 05:32

There can be many definitions of "valid" here, so you should ask for clarification from the agency what they consider valid.

My own guideline for links is that every link on the site itself should lead directly to the destination without any intermediate 301 or 302 redirects, except for some login related URLs where one might use 302 redirect to navigate away from the login URL.

For external URLs I aim to have redirects in place so that no external link to your site points to a non-existing page.

Which URL is consired as Valid ,while checking for Broken Links

1 Answers1