🔍 What Does 'Issues with Links' Mean in Site Audit?

The Issues with Links category in Site Audit flags problems that affect how search engines and visitors navigate your site. OTTO groups these into several issue types, including:

• Broken internal links — links pointing to pages that return a 404 or other error
• Broken external links — outbound links leading to unavailable destinations
• Redirect chains — links passing through multiple redirects before reaching a final URL
• Links to redirected pages — internal links targeting a URL that itself redirects elsewhere
• Nofollow links to important pages — links blocking PageRank flow to pages that should be crawlable
• Missing anchor text — links without descriptive text that help search engines understand context

Each issue type is assigned a severity level — Critical, Warning, or Opportunity — so you can prioritise fixes by impact.

⚙️ What Changes Will OTTO Make Automatically?

When you deploy OTTO fixes for link issues, OTTO can automatically action the following on supported site types:

• Update internal links pointing to redirected URLs so they link directly to the final destination
• Remove or replace broken internal links with corrected URLs where a clear replacement exists
• Add or improve anchor text on links flagged as missing descriptive text
• Adjust nofollow attributes on internal links to allow proper crawling of important pages

OTTO will not automatically modify external links pointing to third-party domains, as those changes require direct access to external resources outside your site. Those issues are flagged for your manual review.

Before any fix goes live, OTTO presents each proposed change for your approval — nothing is applied to your site without your explicit action during the deployment step.

📋 How to Review Proposed Fixes Before Deployment

Follow these steps to inspect what OTTO plans to change before you approve deployment:

1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open SEO Automation inside it to open the OTTO dashboard.
2. Select the relevant site and navigate to the Site Audit section within the OTTO workspace.
3. Click the Issues with Links category to expand the list of detected issues.
4. Click any individual issue type to see a full list of affected URLs and the specific fix OTTO has generated for each one.
5. Review the Current Value and Proposed Fix columns side by side for each item.
6. Use the checkboxes to select the fixes you want to approve, or deselect any you prefer to handle manually.
7. When satisfied, navigate to Local → My Tasks (My Tasks) and click the Deploy all changes button to push your approved changes live.

You are always in control — unapproved fixes remain staged and will not affect your site until you explicitly deploy them.

🕓 How to Review Changes After Deployment

Once fixes have been deployed, you can audit exactly what OTTO changed and when directly inside the OTTO dashboard:

1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open SEO Automation inside it.
2. Open your site's OTTO workspace and navigate to the Site Audit section.
3. Click the Activity Log tab at the top of the page. This is the correct location to view a timestamped record of all changes OTTO has applied.
4. Use the Category filter and select Links to narrow the log to link-related fixes only.
5. Each entry shows the affected URL, the type of fix applied, the before and after values, and the date and time of deployment.
6. If you need to revert a specific change, select the entry and click Undo Fix to restore the original state.

Note: If you previously followed guidance referring to a Fix History page and could not locate it, that section no longer exists in the current platform. The Activity Log tab inside the OTTO Site Audit workspace is the correct and up-to-date location for all deployment history.

✅ Best Practices for Managing Link Fixes

• Run a fresh Site Audit crawl after deployment to confirm issues are resolved and no new ones have been introduced.
• Review broken external links manually — OTTO flags them but cannot auto-fix links pointing to third-party domains.
• Check the Activity Log after each deployment session to maintain a clear record of what has changed on your site.
• Use the Undo Fix option promptly if a deployed change produces unexpected results on your site.

💬 Need More Help?

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.