broken links

Hello,
I've just checked my site using http://xxx.brokenlinkcheck.com, and found 569 broken links, mostly 500 and several 404.
I have no idea how to fix them manually or why are they considered "broken links"
I'll be very thankful if someone may assist me how to fix the errors, I am very novice in this field... :huh:
Here are 3 samples, the first 2 500 and the third 404:

(error 500)

<div class="navNextPrevList"><a href="http://w w w .petrutech.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=&zenid=2650b8cf94328282c9d06e62b188edd2"><img src="includes/templates/free_blue/buttons/english/button_next.gif" alt="Next" title=" Next " width="47" height="22" /></a></div>

(error 500)

<div id="askaquestionsideboxContent" class="sideBoxContent centeredContent"><a href="http://w w w .petrutech.com/index.php?main_page=ask_a_question&products_id=58&zenid=9fa48c591ea4cd2aae4060be8fbe61c5"><img src="http://www.petrutech.com/images/question.gif">

(error 404)

<div class="navNextPrevList"><a href="http://w w w .petrutech.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5&zenid=845581beb76507935a1a000c4ab4e7a9"><img src="includes/templates/template_default/buttons/italian/button_return_to_product_list.gif" alt="Torna a elenco articoli" title=" Torna a elenco articoli " width="65" height="15" /></a></div>

That is not a Zen Cart code bug. Moving this out of the Bug Reports section.

Someone please?

What EXACTLY is "broken" about those links?

Hello,
Thank you for answering,
Unfortunately, I have no idea what or where is wrong.
I've just logged in to this site, and used "Online Broken Link Checker".

I've received a list of 569 errors. mostly "500" several "404"
The site shows me where are the problems, and I've copied the line as appearing on the site (3 errors from 569, as an example).

As I am a novice, I don't know what I can do...

Thanks again,
Ridgh

Perhaps that site isn't so reliable?
Have you tried actually clicking on the links it claims are problematic? What happens? Do YOU get the same errors that it's reporting? If not, then they've got something broken, and you probably can't rely on their information.

Hopefully their site has at least told you that 404 means "Page not found" and 500 means "Internal Server Error" (or security problem). If not, then they're making all kinds of assumptions about your level of knowledge, and not being particularly helpful to you.

YOUR task is to verify each of their claims. Once you have YOUR OWN list of broken links THEN you'll be better able to sort out what's wrong, if anything at all.

Hello again,
No I haven't click on links, I've checked only the link "img src="http://w w w .petrutech.com/images/question.gif", and it does shows me the picture.

as what they show is: (one example):
################################################################################_

<!--// bof: askaquestionsidebox //--> <div class="rightBoxContainer" id="askaquestionsidebox" style="width: 150px"> <h3 class="rightBoxHeading" id="askaquestionsideboxHeading">Ask A Question</h3> **<div id="askaquestionsideboxContent" class="sideBoxContent centeredContent"><a href="http://w w w .petrutech.com/index.php?main_page=ask_a_question&products_id=58&**amp;zenid=774a616262c61a392504fe6a3389d436"><img src="http://w w w .petrutech.com/images/question.gif"> </div></div> <!--// eof: askaquestionsidebox //-->

The IMG SRC references are to pictures ... and those are low priority.
The A HREF things are what you need to pay attention to, since those are "links" (and you're talking about broken "links", right?), things that people click.

And, in your particular case, it looks like your page is somehow producing a link to an Ask A Question addon page, but your site no longer has that page on it. So, that suggests you've only partially removed or partially installed an addon when you should have done all or nothing instead.

Thank you very much DrByte,
It makes sense. I'll check, and if indeed is missing, I'll have to do my best to "produce" an "Ask A Question addon page" - I have no idea how to do it, or where to put it, but I'll try to find an answer on this forum (Q/A) or maybe at google...
Thanks again,:smile:
Ridgh

Most of these so-called "link checkers" and "seo-evaluators" - in fact the VAST MAJORITY of them - generate "reports" that you should use a seriously big pinch of salt with, before you take them too seriously.

And why should you be sceptical ?:huh:

Well... how do you think these guys make money?

They certainly won't make any money if their report says:

"We checked your site and it is pretty much perfect... a handful of minor errors that you can fix yourself..."

Oh no... their report will ALWAYS tell you (often in technical mumbo-jumbo) that yiour site is in a disastrous mess and that unless you hire them to fix it (implied in most cases), great big lightning bolts are going to shoot our of your screen, or perhaps a :lamo: ... and your site will collapse in a heap of dust...

So... in a naive panic, many people sign up and can't wait to click their paypal "Buy Now" button in the fervent hope that chucking money at them will magically make their next report a little less toxic.

Treat all of these services as an INDICATOR only, then, research what they report to be at fault, and go about resolving any real issues in a methodical manner...

View the source of your home page, you have 2 head sections one of which is in the body section

<head>
<title>Petrutech Technologies, Spy-shop for Bugging, Spying Electonic Gear</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Surveillance, Room bugs, Phone Transmitters, Receivers & Combined Sets,  Crystal Controlled,  Bug, Spy, Bugging, equipment, UHF  bugs, covert bugs, wiretap, Bugs, spy-shop, spy-store, transmitter, infinity transmitter" />
<meta name="description" content="Petrutech Technologies - Surveillance, Room bugs, Phone Transmitters, Receivers & Combined Sets,  Crystal Controlled,  Bug, Spy, Bugging, equipment, UHF  bugs, covert bugs, wiretap, Bugs, spy-shop, spy-store, transmitter, infinity transmitter" />
<meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no" />
<meta name="author" content="The Zen Cart™ Team and others" />
<meta name="generator" content="shopping cart program by Zen Cart™, http://www.zen-cart.com eCommerce" />

<base href="http://www.petrutech.com/" />

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="includes/templates/free_blue/css/stylesheet_new.css" />
</head>

<body id="indexHomeBody">

<div id="mainWrapper">

<head>
<meta content="en-us" http-equiv="Content-Language">
</head>

I just had a look too... somehow this has been hard-coded into a tpl file... possibly tpl_main_page.php in your free blue template's COMMON folder.

Actually... you need to check the free blue html_header.php file as well, because it is missing a few essential features.

COMPARE (using winmerge) your template's html_header.php file, with its CORE counterpart, and bring in the new code elements.

One example is:

<?php if (isset($canonicalLink) && $canonicalLink != '') { ?>
<link rel="canonical" href="<?php echo $canonicalLink; ?>" />
<?php } ?>

I wish to apologize about not replying, got a severe flu, and I wasn't able to do anything, just to lie in bed...
Thank you very much to all the members who tried to help me.
Unfortunately, after checking the answers, I must admit that I AM AN IGNORANT :oops:
For example, nigelt74 wrote:

View the source of your home page, you have 2 head sections one of which is in the body section

OK, I've seen it, however I have no idea how to EDIT my source page. I have no idea WHERE is this page located...

schoolboy wrote:
I just had a look too... somehow this has been hard-coded into a tpl file... possibly tpl_main_page.php in your free blue template's COMMON folder.

Actually... you need to check the free blue html_header.php file as well, because it is missing a few essential features.

COMPARE (using winmerge) your template's html_header.php file, with its CORE counterpart, and bring in the new code elements.

One example is...

Well, it looks Chinese for me (and I don't know Chinese)... I've bought 2 more domains, and wish to install the new version, 15, at least on one of them. There I can experiment, as I am scarred about changing something on my working website...

Thanks a lot for the good will...