Broken links on the web are inevitable, but losing valuable context doesn’t have to be.

I’ve been working on a plugin at work, in conjunction with the Internet Archive, to help combat link rot on WordPress sites.

• The plugin scans your content for outgoing links and checks the link statuses on an ongoing basis.
• If a link is broken 3 times in 9 days, it gets redirected to a snapshot on the Wayback Machine if there is one.
• The link continues to get checked, and if it comes back, the redirect stops.
• The plugin also archives your site’s content on the Wayback Machine, future-proofing links that point to your site, too.

I consider this a “set it and forget it” plugin. One it is running, you don’t need to take any action. It works quietly behind the scenes. I’ve been running it on this site for months. Check out the links in Making Rosin and Fly Tying Wax… one of them is broken, and because it redirects to the Wayback Machine, you’ll be able to tell which one it is.

After a soft launch in October, the announcements went out today. I wrote the one for Automattic:

Fixing Links with the Wayback Machine – Automattic

Automattic is excited to collaborate with the Internet Archive to launch the Internet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer, a new free WordPress plugin that keeps your links alive.

automattic.com

One went out at the Internet Archive, too:

Preserving the Open Web: Inside the New Wayback Machine Plugin for WordPress  | Internet Archive Blogs

blog.archive.org

Glynn Quelch is the main person building it with me, and he has been an incredible collaborator. Thank you for your help, Glynn!

If your site runs on WordPress, consider installing the plugin to protect your links.