Redirectors Can Manage Bad Links
The pages on other people's websites you link to can subsequently change their nature. Once a link is out of your control, you can no longer make changes.
Links you can't update include places or situations like this:
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Books. Whether electronic or print, sold by distributors like Amazon or self-distributed, no links can be changed after a reader receives a book.
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Newsletters. After the issue is sent, there's no way to change the copies subscribers received.
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Any print publications — ads, magazines, flyers, …
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Other people's websites — guest posts, ads, …
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Your own website pages are out of your hands and nothing can be changed when someone downloads or saves them to their computer.
A redirector can save the day.
Here are examples of how pages might change their nature and make you wish it was possible to change your link to them:
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The page talked about one of your products. Now, the page talks about one of your competitor's products with high recommendations.
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The affiliate product you linked to is removed from the affiliate program.
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The page content is changed in a way that advocates something contrary to your beliefs or moral standards.
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The page's sales page now uses sales tactics that are contrary to your business ethics or its favorable public image.
When people follow your link, they're likely to assume you linked to the page as it exists when they find it.
And here are two more examples of how web pages you link to might change their nature:
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The page is hacked and tries to load malware into every site visitor's computer.
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The page disappears, goes 404.
There is a way to maintain control of your links — regardless where they're published.
Managing Links With a Redirector
The way to control your links to other websites is by linking only to a redirector. The redirector sends the browser to the correct destination.
If a destination web page changes its nature, simply change the URL in the redirector and send the browser to the new URL of your determination. (If you don't have an alternate destination, create a page that explains the situation and redirect browsers there.)
There are several choices when it comes to redirectors.
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Manual, free, and your own domain.
"Manual" means creating a web page on your server for linking to. The web page will redirect to the URL you specify.
Although it has a lot of good points, this choice requires creating a separate file for each redirect.
The file is a static HTML file. Redirects happen with the meta refresh tag.
Here's the code.
<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; URL=http://example.com/destination.html"> </head> <body> </body> </html>Replace the URL in the meta refresh tag (colored blue in the above code) with the correct destination URL. Publish the page and make a note of its URL. Then, link to the URL of the redirector.
If the page at the destination URL changes its nature, change the destination URL to a page of your choice and you're good to go.
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Perhaps free, and someone else's domain (third-party service).
Numerous third-party services exist that redirect browsers. Before deciding to use one, verify it does allow you to change the destination URL whenever you wish.
There are two potential negatives related to redirectors provided by a third-party service.
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The link is not to your domain. If the link is sent in email, deliverability may suffer because the link domain is different than the email's From address domain.
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Third-party services can decide to go out of business without prior notice.
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Free or paid, and your own domain.
Go Short URL (free) and Short URL V3 (paid) are software you install on your own domain. (comparison chart)
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Add redirect URLs through a control panel instead of manually creating a file for each redirect.
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The URL of the redirector is to your own domain, bypassing different-domain email delivery issues.
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You control the software, unlike using third-party services.
Installing redirecting software on your own domain is likely to be the best choice. But it does depend on your needs and preferences.
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You can't control what other people do with their web pages.
But you can control the browser's destination when a link is clicked.
(This article first appeared in Possibilities ezine.)
Will Bontrager
