Has link with a URL referencing LocalHost or 127.0.0.1
This means that the URL in question contains at least one outgoing anchor link with a URL referencing LocalHost or 127.0.0.1.
Why is this important?
LocalHost is the standard host name given to the address of the local computer, and the IP address for your localhost is 127.0.0.1. The local server isn't connected to the internet, but makes it possible to see your site in the browser as if you're viewing it online - so LocalHost addresses may be used during development of a website.
Since these files are not publicly accessible, when the website is set live, the hostname is replaced with the actual domain name.
This Hint addresses instances where links remain to LocalHost addresses, which will be inaccessible to the public and should be removed/corrected.
What does the Hint check?
This Hint will trigger for any internal URL which contains at least one outgoing anchor link where the href references LocalHost or 127.0.0.1.
Examples that trigger this Hint:
Any of the example links below would trigger the Hint.
An anchor with a URL referencing 127.0.0.1 with port
An anchor with a URL referencing 127.0.0.1 without port
An anchor with a URL referencing LocalHost with port
An anchor with a URL referencing LocalHost without port
How do you resolve this issue?
This Hint is marked 'Critical' as it represents a fundamentally breaking issue, which may have a serious adverse impact upon organic search traffic. It is strongly recommended that Critical issues are dealt with as a matter of high priority.
To resolve this issue, identify the anchors which reference LocalHost or 127.0.0.1 in the href attribute, and correct each one on a case-by-case basis - which may require reviewing the code that generates the links.
Our recommendation is to remove all references to such files, and replace the links with publicly available resources. If no replacement page is publicly available, then remove the link entirely.
How do you get more data from Sitebulb?
From the URL List, click the blue Hint Details button, which will bring up a slide-across window with specific details about the Hint for each URL.
This will show you any outgoing anchor links which reference LocalHost or 127.0.0.1, highlighted in red in the HTML. The right-hand scrollbar will show you the area to scroll down to, and then once you have scrolled you will see the highlighted link in red.
