link rot

link rot

The process by which Internet links on a website or search engine lead to a URL that is no longer available. A word of advice to any up-and-coming bloggers or Internet writers in general—don't litter your writing with links to external sources because link rot will inevitably set in.
See also: link, rot
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

linkrot

n. the gradual fading away of URL links in a web page. (The URLs are replaced by newer addresses or simply are deleted.) After a month or two, linkrot sets in and your links become deadends, one by one.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • linkrot
  • throw (something) back in(to) (one's) face
  • buy low, sell high
  • a free bit of advice
  • advice
  • dubya-dubya-dubya
  • pro
  • pro tip
  • nothing is given so freely as advice
  • hit stores
References in periodicals archive
In some studies, the rate of link rot increased over time; in other
Additional studies have found similar rates of link rot. Helene
link rot study of a random sample of 479 items that were solely
2009, link rot was found in 83 of the 479 items (14.3%).
(93) Their findings documented increasing rates of link rot for what are
so, if the rate of link rot was analogous to the rate found in previous
to government websites and therefore be less susceptible to link rot.
which found a link rot rate of 27.6% in a study of solely digital
materials over three years, (104) Tina Ching, who found a link rot rate
whose study of Washington state law review articles revealed a link rot
(106) The only previous study on link rot with a dissimilar
conclusion was Wilkerson's 2006 study, which found a link rot rate
the United States Supreme Court, a link rot rate of almost one-third
longer function shows the depth of the link rot problem.
(explaining that link rot results in "uniform resource locators
Something rotten in the state of legal citation: the life span of a United States Supreme Court citation containing an Internet link (1996-2010)