Ralink Confidential
Office Riders · Strategic Analysis

Broken Links Recovery Guide

Diagnostic, redirection plan & implementation roadmap

ClientOffice Riders
Prepared byRoalink
DateApril 2026
DocumentConfidential
Roalink × OfficeRiders

Broken Links Fix Guide

April 2026 · Confidential

Broken links identified
300+
External domains pointing to pages that no longer exist on officeriders.com
Sessions hitting 404 pages (90 days)
479
Sessions landing on "Article non trouvé" pages with 74% bounce rate confirmed in GA4
Authority being wasted
Daily
Every day without redirects = link equity from external sources lost. No content effort needed to fix this.
The complete process
Follow these steps in order. Estimated total time: 4–6 hours across dev and content team.

Export the broken backlinks list from Ahrefs

30 min
Where to find it and what to export:
A
Log into Ahrefs. Go to Site Explorer. Enter officeriders.com in the search bar.
B
In the left sidebar, click Backlinks → Broken Backlinks. This shows all external domains linking to pages that return a 404 or error code.
C
Click Export → CSV. The file will include: the broken URL on officeriders.com, the referring domain, the anchor text used, and the DR of the referring domain.
D
Sort the export by Referring domain DR (highest first). The highest-DR domains linking to broken pages should be fixed first. Those carry the most lost authority.
E
Also export from Site Audit → Internal Pages → 4XX errors to catch broken internal links within the site itself.

Categorize each broken URL and decide where it redirects

1–2 hours
Not every broken URL should redirect to the same place. For each broken URL in the export, ask these three questions:
Does a page on a similar topic still exist?
Redirect to that page. Example: a deleted blog post about "coworking Paris" redirects to the new /fr/coworking/paris page once it is built.
Is it a venue or space page that moved or was deleted?
Redirect to the city category page. Example: a deleted venue page in Lyon redirects to /fr/coworking/lyon or to the search results page for Lyon.
Is there no relevant equivalent?
Redirect to the homepage /fr as a last resort, only if nothing else fits. Avoid mass redirecting everything to the homepage as it weakens the signal.
Do not redirect everything to the homepage. Search engines detect mass redirects to a single destination and discount them. Each redirect should point to the most topically relevant existing page. Specific beats generic every time.

Build the redirect map CSV and give it to the developer

1 hour
The developer needs a simple CSV with exactly two columns. No extra formatting. Here is the exact format:
redirect-map.csv · format for developer
# Column A: broken URL (from)
# Column B: destination URL (to)
# All redirects are 301 (permanent)

from_url,to_url
/fr/worklib/coworking-paris,/fr/coworking/paris
/fr/blog/espace-de-travail-hybride,/fr/solutions
/fr/salles/ancien-nom-espace,/fr/france/paris
/worklib/guides/salle-reunion,/fr/guides/location-salle-reunion
# ... continue for all 300+ broken URLs
Dev ticket template · copy and use directly
Priority · Week 1
What to do
Implement 301 redirects for all URLs in the attached redirect-map.csv file. All redirects are permanent (301). The "from" column is the broken URL. The "to" column is the destination.
Implementation method
Preferred: via .htaccess or Nginx config for server-level redirects. Alternative: via the CMS redirect manager if available. Do not use JavaScript redirects. These are not followed by search engine crawlers.
Acceptance criteria
1. Each "from" URL returns HTTP 301 status. 2. Browser and crawler are forwarded to the correct destination. 3. No redirect chains (A → B → C). Each redirect goes directly to the final destination.
How to verify
Use a tool like httpstatus.io or run a curl command: curl -I [url]. Should return HTTP/1.1 301 and the correct Location: header.

Verify implementation and confirm in Ahrefs

30 min · after dev deploys
A
Once redirects are deployed, re-run Ahrefs Site Audit. The 300+ broken backlinks count should drop significantly.
B
Check GA4 in 2–3 weeks. The "Article non trouvé" page sessions should drop toward zero as the redirects route users to the correct destinations.
C
For any high-DR referring domain (DR 40+), manually verify the redirect works by visiting the broken URL in a browser. Confirm it lands on the correct destination page.
D
Add the fixed redirect list to a shared document so future developers know these redirects exist and do not accidentally remove them.
Expected outcome: Within 4–6 weeks of implementation, the domain's URL Rating on previously broken pages will begin to recover as search engine crawlers discover the redirects and pass authority to the destination pages. This is one of the fastest improvements available with zero new content required.
Redirect destination logic · reference table
Use this to decide where each broken URL should redirect. Start filling this in as you go through the Ahrefs export.
Broken URL pattern Type Where to redirect Reason
/worklib/... or /fr/worklib/...
Rebrand
/fr or equivalent new page
Old Worklib URLs. Redirect to the OfficeRiders equivalent or the homepage.
/fr/salles/[deleted-venue]
Venue
/fr/france/[city] or /fr/coworking/[city]
Deleted venue pages redirect to the city category page for that venue's city.
/blog/[deleted-post]
Content
/fr/blog or closest topical page
If there's a related guide, redirect there. Otherwise redirect to the blog index.
/fr/france/[city]/[deleted-category]
Category
/fr/france/[city] or /fr/coworking/[city]
Old category pages within a city redirect to the city root page.
/en/... (English pages)
Language
/fr/... equivalent or /fr
English pages that no longer exist redirect to the French equivalent or homepage.
app.officeriders.com/workspace/[old-id]
Venue
app.officeriders.com/workspace/[new-slug]
When venue slugs are updated, old numeric URLs must 301 redirect to the new named slugs.
Tools needed
All free or already available in the existing Ahrefs subscription.
Export broken links
Ahrefs Site Explorer
Backlinks → Broken Backlinks → Export CSV. Also use Site Audit for internal broken links.
Verify traffic to 404s
Google Analytics 4
Reports → Engagement → Pages → Filter by "Article non trouvé" or 404 page title.
Verify redirect status
httpstatus.io
Free tool. Paste a list of URLs and it returns the HTTP status code for each. Confirms 301s are working.