Broken Link Manager
Broken Link Manager records genuine missing URLs, helps you understand where visitors came from, and lets you redirect important old URLs to a useful live page.
- 1Choose a store and inspect its recorded missing URLs before setting a redirect.
- 2For a genuinely moved page, map the old URL to the closest useful live replacement.
- 3Open the old URL in a private browser window and follow its redirect to the destination.
The old address reaches a relevant working page, without a loop or another 404.
Remember: A visitor's query-string parameters can change reports; avoid redirecting every 404 to the homepage. Frontend verification guide →
Best rule
Do not redirect every 404 to the homepage. Redirect only when there is a real relevant replacement. Otherwise a proper 404 is better than sending the visitor somewhere unrelated.
Why is the Store selector needed?
Broken links belong to a domain. Two OpenCart stores can have different URLs, products and redirect needs, so HuntBee keeps broken-link records and redirects store-aware.
What gets recorded?
When a genuine storefront request ends in a not-found page, HuntBee can record the broken URL, hit count and useful referrer information. Repeated hits are aggregated where practical so the database does not grow just because the same error happens many times.
What is Smart Redirect?
Smart Redirect is a helper for finding a real replacement. It does not simply swap one SEO keyword for another. HuntBee identifies a real OpenCart entity and then builds the final public URL using the same shared URL resolver used elsewhere in the Suite.
desktops but the public route is /catalog/desktops, HuntBee must redirect to the complete real URL, not to /desktops or /catalog/.Language handling
Redirect destinations are built for the relevant store and language. On a store where English is the default, English may use a clean URL without a prefix while French may use /fr/.... HuntBee should not redirect a French broken URL to an English-only destination just because the keyword looks similar.
Recommended settings
| Area | Recommended starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 404 logging | Enabled | Lets you see broken URLs that real visitors/crawlers request. |
| Ignored query parameters | Keep HuntBee's recommended defaults | Prevents tracking/sort/filter variants from becoming thousands of separate error records. |
| Automatic cleanup | Keep enabled/default retention | Old low-value system records should not remain forever. |
| Smart Redirect | Use as a suggestion/helper, then check the destination | Relevant redirects are useful; unrelated redirects are harmful. |
| Referrer history | Keep bounded and clear when no longer useful | Referrer logs are diagnostics, not permanent SEO data. |
Ignored query parameters
Parameters used only for sorting, pagination, advertising attribution or tracking usually should not create separate broken-link identities. HuntBee's recommended list includes common examples such as:
sort, order, limit, page, filter, utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, gclid, fbclid
Storage Health
The Tools area shows how much database storage Broken Link Manager is using, including broken URL records, referrers and legacy detailed logs.
| Healthy | No action is normally required. |
| Warning / large storage | Review ignored parameters, URL exclusions and retention. Run cleanup and clear old referrer history if it is no longer useful. |
| Run Cleanup Now | Applies the configured cleanup rules immediately. |
| Clear Referrer History | Removes diagnostic referrer history without deleting the main redirect records. |
How should I decide whether to redirect?
| Broken URL situation | Best action |
|---|---|
| Old product replaced by a newer equivalent | 301 to the replacement product. |
| Old category renamed/moved | 301 to the new live category. |
| Deleted product with a clearly relevant parent category | Possibly 301 to that category if it genuinely helps the visitor. |
| Random bot/spam URL with no equivalent | Leave as 404 and let cleanup remove low-value records. |
| Typo that repeatedly receives real traffic | Redirect to the correct real page. |
Common mistake: redirecting to a route keyword
SEO route words such as catalog are structural pieces, not destinations by themselves. HuntBee's Smart Redirect should only accept a real entity destination and then build its complete URL.
Troubleshooting
- Redirect goes to a wrong/partial URL: remove the stored bad redirect first, then retest Smart Redirect so the corrected destination can be calculated.
- Table grows quickly: inspect ignored query parameters and Storage Health.
- Same referrer appears many times: current builds aggregate/deduplicate referrer logging; run cleanup if old installations already contain large history.
- Important 404 is not logged: confirm it is a genuine OpenCart not-found request rather than a server-level block before OpenCart runs.