The Difference Between Internal vs External Links in Cascade CMS

This article explains the difference between internal and external links in Cascade CMS and why the distinction matters for long-term website maintenance. Internal links reference assets within Cascade and automatically update if pages are moved or renamed, supporting dependency tracking and reducing broken links. External links point to outside URLs and require manual maintenance. The article also defines what an asset is in Cascade CMS and outlines best practices for choosing the correct link.

Summary

When managing content in Cascade CMS, one small decision can have a big impact on your website’s stability and long-term maintenance: choosing between an internal and an external link. While both may look the same to visitors, they function very differently behind the scenes. Understanding how Cascade handles these link types is essential for maintaining site integrity, preventing broken links, and ensuring your content remains accurate as pages are moved, renamed, or reorganized.

What is an internal link

In Cascade CMS an internal link is one that points to another page, file, or asset within the same Cascade site and is selected using Cascade’s asset chooser. In Cascade CMS, an asset is any individual piece of content that is stored, managed, and published through the system. When you create an internal link, you browse and select a page, folder, file, or asset inside Cascade, and Cascade stores a reference to the asset (not just a URL address).

 

Why it matters

• If a page is moved or renamed, Cascade updates the link automatically.
• Broken link reports can detect internal link issues (most broken links due to pages moving can be avoided when using internal links to link to other pages in CWU's website)
• Supports dependency tracking, allowing Cascade to notify you when a change to a page will result in 404 Page Not Found errors.
• Helps maintain site integrity and governance.

 

What is an external link

In Cascade CMS an external link points to a URL outside your Cascade site. To create an external link you manually enter the full URL (https://...) into the Link Source field in Cascade. Cascade treats the URL as plain text, and there is no dependency tracking.

 

Why it matters

• If you link to a page within Cascade as an External Link changes or edits the page, will not be tracked by Cascade. This means that you may be creating 404 Page Not Found errors on the website without  knowing it.
• Broken link detection depends on external scanning tools.

 

Best Practice

• Always use internal links when linking to pages within your Cascade site.
• Use external links only for non-CWU pages or resources.
• Avoid pasting full internal URLs into the WYSIWYG editor to maintain proper asset references.