Patent ID: 7392303

Claim:
A method for maintaining hyperlink integrity on a web site, the web site comprising a document having a content and an original uniform resource locator (URL) reference mapping to an original location on the server where the document is stored, the method enabling a client to retrieve the document after the document is moved from its original location to a new location, comprising: determining if the document that was moved meets predefined criteria; when the document meets the predefined criteria, creating a redirection page, wherein creating the redirection page comprises automatically tracking, via a referential preservation engine, movement of the document, the redirection page being mapped to the original URL reference and containing directions to redirect the client to the new location of the document that was moved, the redirection page being stored in a location associated with the new location of the document so as to be accessible by reference to the document, without reference to a centralized database, wherein tracking, via the referential preservation engine, movement of the document comprises: gathering, by the referential preservation engine, redirection data in response to movement of the document, the redirection data comprising the original location of the document and the new location of the document, tracking, by the referential preservation engine, at least one usage of at least one hyperlink employed to retrieve the document, and gathering, by the referential preservation engine, hyperlink usage data in response to at least one usage of at least one hyperlink employed to retrieve the document; and using the redirection data and hyperlink usage data to update internal hyperlinks within a plurality of web page documents on the server that contain the original URL for the document, which was moved, the updated hyperlinks comprising an updated URL that maps to the new location of the document.