How to find link sources for "links not found"

Discussion in 'Link Development' started by leo, Oct 17, 2007.

  1. #1
    In G! webmaster tools I find the message (external) "link not found [404]", together with an URL of a page which doesn't exist within my site.

    How is it possible to find out where this link to a non-existent page of my website does come from?

    The only method I can imagine at the moment is to place a dummy page under this wrong address, to wait until this dummy page appears under "external links" in webmaster tools, and then to trace back from where this page is linked to. Rather complicated, I agree.

    I feel there should be a better way to find out, but how? I didn't find a useful answer, neither in the webmaster tools FAQ nor anywhere in the discussion forum.

    It is not unimportant to find the source of this wrong link: could be an unknown PR8 linking to my site and having just a few characters misspelled - just imagine the positive effect it might have to get the address corrected!-)
     
    leo, Oct 17, 2007 IP