Dead link
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A dead link or broken link is a link on the world wide web that points to a webpage or server that is permanently unavailable. Dead links are commonplace on the Internet, but they are considered to be unprofessional.
The most common result of a dead link is a 404 error, which indicates that the web server responded, but the page could not be found.
The browser may also return a DNS error indicating that a web server could not be found at that domain name.
Or, the link may be dead because of some other form of blocking such as content filters, firewall blocking.
Dead links can also refer to URLs that point to sites unrelated to the content requested, e.g., a search for "Sports at ESPN.com" resulting in pornography or advertisements.
Link rot is the process by which links on a website gradually become irrelevant or broken as time goes on, because websites that they link to disappear, change their content or redirect to new locations.
There are also links that are crafted especially to not resolve, as a kind of meme, known as Zangelding, which apparently means in Dutch Tanglething. A zangelding is a list of self referencing broken links.
Prevention and replacements
Dead links can be prevented using permalinks.See also
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