In one paragraph
Broken sign up link means a recognised action link on the scan entry page points to a target recorded as an eligible error during the crawl. Repair the destination or source link, then verify the complete sign-up, booking, or purchase journey safely. A passing result only means no matching recorded error was found; it does not confirm that forms, authentication, payment, or external services work.
Why it matters
A call to action can be prominent and persuasive while its destination fails. Important routes deserve functional checks because an otherwise successful homepage response does not establish that a new customer can proceed.
The impact depends on the audience, affected route, frequency, and alternatives. WebAuditOS assigns this finding critical severity as a product priority; that is not evidence that every detected case has the same business loss or security severity as another category.
An error can reflect a deleted route, deployment problem, temporary dependency failure, or unexpected access policy. Status exclusions and bot handling should be interpreted as measurement choices, not proof excluded responses are harmless for real visitors.
How WebAuditOS evaluates this finding
The supplied rule reads qualifying short visible anchor text on the entry page, using a fixed English and Czech action-phrase list, then looks up destinations in the crawl's internal error record. Eligible 4xx or 5xx targets fail critically; matching candidates without a recorded eligible error pass.
No candidate or specified bot-protected cases can be ungraded. Excluded 401, 403, and 429 responses, external hosts, uncrawled targets, script buttons, icon-only actions, and runtime links create important limits. The scan does not submit forms, create accounts, or purchase anything.
How to fix it
- Inspect the quoted action text, target, and recorded status. Reproduce the actual public journey in a suitable test context rather than checking the homepage alone.
- Distinguish a wrong href from a failing destination. A renamed sign-up route needs corrected source links and suitable old-URL handling; a 500 needs application or infrastructure investigation.
- Keep action links relevant to their promise. For example:
<a href="/signup">Create an account</a>Use a real intended endpoint and truthful terms. A syntactically valid link is not a complete registration implementation.
- Update the shared navigation or CTA component so the repair reaches every intended page and language. Test environment variables and base URLs to prevent staging or retired hosts from leaking into production.
- Review access and rate-limit failures separately even when excluded by this rule. A public sign-up blocked by an unintended policy is still a user problem.
- Test external identity, checkout, or booking destinations explicitly. Another hostname can lie outside the internal crawl and therefore pass by lack of an error record rather than successful verification.
- Use authorised test accounts and provider test modes where appropriate. Confirm validation, confirmation, cancellation, and recovery without making real purchases or changing customer records casually.
- Rescan and add suitable monitoring for critical journeys. Preserve meaningful statuses and avoid redirecting a broken action to an unrelated homepage just to remove the error.
What the fix can break
A bulk redirect can make the HTTP error disappear while sending visitors to the wrong task. Verify destination relevance and successful continuation.
Changing an endpoint can affect callback URLs, session handling, analytics, and integration configuration. Test the connected flow, not merely the first GET.
Do not describe a pass as a conversion guarantee. Runtime state, provider availability, and later steps remain outside this read-only rule.
Questions
Does a pass prove someone can buy or register?
No. It is a match against recorded internal errors, not a completed end-to-end transaction.
Why was a button not checked?
The supplied candidate logic is based on selected anchor text and href links, not every scripted control.
Are excluded access statuses always fine?
No. Determine whether they are intended for the real visitor and route.
Which related checks help?
Review broken internal links, HTTP errors, and the website audit checklist.