How to Find & Fix Broken Links on Your Website (2026 Guide)
Did you know that 68% of customers in the U.S. and UK will leave a brand they liked after just two or three bad experiences? Broken links on your website are one of the most common — and most damaging — causes of those bad experiences. They quietly erode the trust you’ve worked hard to build with your visitors and push them straight toward your competitors.
But broken links don’t just frustrate users. According to Backlinko, top-ranking pages have 3.8× more backlinks than lower-ranking results — which means protecting your link equity matters enormously. Every broken internal link cuts off authority flow to your important pages. Every broken backlink is lost ranking power you’ve already earned.
In this complete 2026 guide, you’ll learn exactly how to find broken links on your website using free and paid tools, how to fix them using the right method, and how to stop them from coming back — all in straightforward steps you can act on today.
What Are Broken Links?
Broken links — also called dead links or link rot — are hyperlinks on your website that no longer lead to a valid, accessible destination. When someone clicks a broken link, instead of landing on the page they expected, they hit an error message like “404 Not Found” or “500 Internal Server Error.”
Think of your website like a physical store. Working links are the doors that take customers to exactly what they’re looking for. Broken links are locked doors — frustrating dead ends that make visitors wonder whether your business is organised, trustworthy, or even still operating.
Three categories of links can break on any website:
- Internal links — links within your own website connecting one page to another
- External links (outbound) — links from your website to pages on other websites
- Backlinks (inbound) — links from other websites pointing to pages on your site
Each type causes a different kind of damage, which is why your broken link strategy needs to address all three.
Types of Broken Links and Why Each One Matters
1. Broken Internal Links
Imagine you’re in a store where every time you try to open a door to see more products, the door is locked. That’s exactly what broken internal links feel like for your visitors.
Think about this: 7 out of 10 people judge how good a company is based on how they interact with it. When someone clicks around your website, they’re forming an opinion about your business. If they keep hitting dead ends, they’ll conclude your business isn’t organised or professional — and leave.
From an SEO perspective, broken internal links are equally costly. They interrupt the flow of link equity (also called PageRank) through your site. Every working internal link passes authority from one page to another. A broken internal link severs that connection, meaning your important pages receive less authority and rank lower as a result.
2. Broken External Links (Outbound)
When you link to an external resource and that page later disappears, moves, or restructures, your link breaks. This isn’t your fault — but your visitors won’t see it that way.
When a visitor clicks an outbound link on your site and lands on an error page, they think:
- “This website isn’t up to date.”
- “I can’t trust the information here.”
- “Maybe I should look somewhere else.”
Search engines also notice. Google evaluates the quality of pages you link to as part of its E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) assessment. Linking out to broken or low-quality destinations is a negative signal.
3. Broken Backlinks (Inbound Dead Links)
Broken backlinks are links from other websites that point to pages on your site that no longer exist — typically because you deleted a page, changed a URL, or restructured your site without redirecting the old URLs.
These are particularly damaging because:
- You earned those links — they represent real SEO value
- When the destination page returns a 404, that link equity is lost entirely
- The referring website’s visitors who click those links will land on your error page, creating a terrible first impression
The good news? Broken backlinks are also your biggest quick-win opportunity — you can reclaim that lost link equity without building new links from scratch (more on this in the broken backlink recovery section below).
4. Broken Media Links
Media links are references to images, videos, PDFs, and other files embedded in your pages. If those files are moved or deleted, the link breaks — even if the surrounding page still works. Visitors see broken image icons, missing embedded videos, or download buttons that lead nowhere. This also affects Core Web Vitals scores if missing resources cause layout shifts.
5. Redirect Chains and Redirect Loops
While not technically broken links in the traditional sense, redirect chains (where URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C) and redirect loops waste crawl budget, slow page load times, and dilute link equity. Google recommends resolving redirect chains to a single, direct 301 redirect wherever possible.
HTTP Error Codes You’ll Encounter When Fixing Broken Links
When you run a broken link audit, your tools will surface links by their HTTP response code. Understanding what each code means helps you prioritise fixes correctly.
| Status Code | What It Means | Best Fix | SEO Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| 404 Not Found | Page doesn’t exist at that URL (may be temporary or permanent) | Update the link or set up a 301 redirect | 🔴 Critical |
| 410 Gone | Page has been permanently deleted (tells Google not to index it) | Remove the link entirely; or 301 to alternative content | 🔴 Critical |
| 408 Request Timeout | The server took too long to respond | Check server performance; retry later | 🟠 High |
| 5xx Server Errors | Server-side problem preventing page from loading | Investigate hosting/server configuration | 🟠 High |
| 301 Redirect | Permanent redirect — passes ~90% of link equity | Ensure redirect chains are resolved to one hop | 🟡 Monitor |
| 302 Redirect | Temporary redirect — does not fully pass link equity | Change to 301 if the redirect is permanent | 🟡 Monitor |
Why Should You Care About Broken Links? (SEO + User Experience Impact)
You might wonder why broken links are such a big deal. Here’s the full picture:
- They Frustrate Your Visitors: When people come to your site, they expect things to work. Broken links are roadblocks that stop them from getting the information they need. Studies show that poor user experiences after just two or three interactions are enough to lose a customer permanently.
- They Hurt Your SEO Rankings: Google’s crawlers follow your links to discover and index content. Broken links waste your crawl budget — the number of pages Google crawls per visit. On large sites, this can mean important new content gets discovered and indexed more slowly, directly impacting rankings.
- They Drain Your Link Equity: Every broken internal link interrupts the authority flow between your pages. Every broken backlink is link equity you already earned — but can’t use.
- They Damage Your E-E-A-T Signals: In 2026, Google places significant weight on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. A site riddled with broken links signals to both Google and users that your content isn’t maintained or trustworthy.
- They Waste Your SEO Investment: If you’ve put effort into building backlinks, creating content, and optimising pages, broken links silently undo that work over time.
Common Causes of Broken Links
Understanding why links break helps you prevent new ones from appearing. The most common causes are:
- Typos in the Web Address: A simple spelling mistake in a URL creates an instant 404.
- Changed or Deleted Pages: Moving a page to a new URL without updating or redirecting the old links breaks every link pointing to the old address.
- Website Restructuring: Reorganising your site’s folder structure or URL format (e.g., adding or removing category prefixes) can break thousands of links simultaneously.
- External Website Changes: External sites you link to may restructure their content, delete pages, or shut down entirely — without notifying you.
- Moved or Deleted Media Files: Images, PDFs, or videos that are moved or removed leave behind broken media links that tools like Ahrefs can help you export and fix.
- Plugin or Theme Conflicts (WordPress): Certain WordPress updates, plugin changes, or theme switches can alter URL structures unexpectedly.
- Domain Migration: Moving your site to a new domain without implementing comprehensive 301 redirects breaks every existing inbound backlink.
- Firewall or Geographic Restrictions: Some content is only accessible from certain countries or IP ranges, causing links to appear broken for some users.
- Website Downtime: Extended hosting outages cause all links to the site to temporarily appear broken, and if prolonged, can impact Google’s crawl coverage.
5 Ways to Find Broken Links on Your Website
There’s no single perfect method for finding every broken link. The most thorough approach uses a combination of the free and paid tools below — each surfaces a different category of broken links.
Method 1: Google Search Console (Free — Best for 404s Google Has Already Found)
Google Search Console is the most authoritative free tool for finding broken links because it shows you exactly what Google’s own crawlers have discovered on your site. There’s no guesswork — these are real errors affecting your indexing and rankings right now.
Step-by-step guide to finding broken links in Google Search Console:
- Log in to Google Search Console.
- Select the property (domain) you want to analyse.
- In the left-hand menu, click “Indexing” → “Pages”.
- Scroll down to the “Why pages aren’t indexed” section.
- Click on “Not found (404)” to see every URL Google tried to crawl that returned a 404 error.
- Click on any individual URL to see which pages link to it (under “Referring pages”).
- Export the full list by clicking the “Export” button — choose Google Sheets, CSV, or Excel.
Pro tip: Also check the Coverage > Crawl Stats report to see if broken links are consuming a significant portion of your crawl budget. On large sites, this is a critical signal.
Method 2: Screaming Frog SEO Spider (Free up to 500 URLs — Best for Full Site Crawl)
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is the gold-standard tool for comprehensive technical site audits. Its free version crawls up to 500 URLs and identifies broken internal and external links across your entire site — far more efficiently than any manual check. For deeper insights and implementation, combining this with professional technical SEO services ensures your site is fully optimized for performance, crawlability, and search rankings.
Step-by-step guide to finding broken links with Screaming Frog:
- Download and install Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free for up to 500 URLs).
- Open the tool and enter your domain in the URL bar at the top, then click “Start”.
- Wait for the crawl to complete (time varies based on site size).
- Click on the “Response Codes” tab at the top of the results.
- Use the filter dropdown on the right to select “Client Error (4xx)” — this shows all broken links.
- Click on any broken URL to see the “Inlinks” tab at the bottom — this shows you which of your pages contains the broken link.
- Export the full list via Reports → Response Codes → Client Error (4xx).
Pro tip: To also find broken external links, go to Mode → Spider → Configuration and enable “Check External Links” before starting your crawl. Note this significantly increases crawl time.
Method 3: Ahrefs Site Audit & Site Explorer (Best for Comprehensive Internal + Backlink Analysis)
Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO toolkit that tackles broken links from two directions: internal broken links (via Site Audit) and broken backlinks (via Site Explorer). It’s particularly useful for exporting all broken media links alongside standard hyperlinks.
Finding broken internal links with Ahrefs Site Audit:
- Log in to Ahrefs and go to Site Audit.
- Create a new project for your domain and run a full crawl.
- Once complete, go to the “Issues” tab.
- Search for or scroll to “4XX page” errors — these are your broken internal links.
- Click on any issue to see the full list of affected URLs and which pages link to them.
- Click “Export” to download the full broken links report (including media links) as a CSV.
Finding broken backlinks (inbound dead links) with Ahrefs Site Explorer:
- Navigate to Site Explorer and enter your domain.
- In the left-hand menu, click “Backlink profile” → “Backlinks”.
- Use the “Broken” filter to show only backlinks pointing to broken pages on your site.
- Sort by Domain Rating (DR) to prioritise the most valuable broken backlinks first.
- Export the list — you’ll use this for your backlink recovery outreach (covered in Section 10).
To export all broken media links specifically: In Site Audit, go to Page Explorer → Filter by “Resource” and select status codes 4XX. This surfaces broken images, PDFs, and videos separately from standard hyperlinks.
Ahrefs also offers a free version of their broken link and backlink checker tool, which shows you the total number of broken inbound and outbound links. To access full reports and fix-level detail, a paid Ahrefs plan is required.
Method 4: Semrush Site Audit & Backlink Analytics (Best for Ongoing Monitoring + Backlink Recovery)
Semrush is a comprehensive digital marketing platform with two distinct tools for broken link detection: Site Audit for internal links, and Backlink Analytics for broken backlinks. Both are referenced frequently in our target keyword set for good reason — they’re among the most powerful tools available.
Finding broken internal links with Semrush Site Audit:
- Log in to Semrush and navigate to Site Audit in the left menu.
- Set up a new project for your domain and run a full crawl.
- Once complete, click on the “Issues” tab.
- Filter by “Errors” and look for “Pages returned 4XX status code” and “Pages returned 5XX status code”.
- Click on any issue to see all affected URLs and the pages that link to them.
- Click “Export” to download the broken links data as a CSV.
Finding broken backlinks with Semrush Backlink Analytics:
- In Semrush, go to Link Building → Backlink Audit.
- Enter your website URL and click “Start Backlink Audit”.
- Once complete, go to “Target pages” and filter by “Target URL error”.
- This reveals all external sites linking to broken pages on your domain.
- Sort by Authority Score to prioritise the most valuable links for recovery.
- Export via the “Export” button (Google Sheets, CSV, or Excel).
Using Semrush as an internal link checker: Within Site Audit, navigate to the “Internal Linking” report. This shows your full internal link structure, highlights orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them), and flags broken internal links that are disrupting your authority flow.
Method 5: Free Online Tools (No Account Required — Good for Quick Spot Checks)
If you want a quick check without signing up for a tool, these free online broken link checkers are useful for spot-auditing specific pages or smaller sites:
- BrokenLinkCheck.com — Checks an entire website for dead links online. No download required. Good for small sites.
- Dead Link Checker — Free tool with single-page and multi-page check options. Useful for quick audits of specific pages.
- Dr. Link Check — Checks for broken links and also flags invalid SSL certificates and malicious links. Good for trust and security audits.
- Check My Links (Chrome Extension) — A browser extension that highlights working and broken links on any page you’re viewing in real time. Ideal for manual page-by-page reviews.
Limitation: Free tools typically don’t have the depth or backlink data of paid platforms. Use them for surface-level checks; use Ahrefs, Semrush, or Screaming Frog for thorough audits.
Best Broken Link Checker Tools: Free vs. Paid Comparison (2026)
| Tool | Free / Paid | Best For | Crawl Depth | Key Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | ✅ Free | 404s Google has already discovered | Full site (Google’s crawl) | Official Google data — most accurate for indexing impact |
| Screaming Frog | ✅ Free (up to 500 URLs) / 💰 Paid | Full technical site crawl | Full site | Industry gold-standard crawler; finds internal + external broken links |
| Ahrefs | ✅ Limited free / 💰 Paid | Internal audit + broken backlink recovery | Full site + backlink index | Best for finding broken backlinks by DR; includes media link export |
| Semrush | ✅ Limited free / 💰 Paid | Ongoing monitoring + internal link audit | Full site + backlink index | Best for internal link checker + authority score-based backlink triage |
| Sitebulb | 💰 Paid (trial available) | Visual crawl maps & team reporting | Full site | Visual link maps make it easy to spot link architecture problems |
| SE Ranking | 💰 Paid (affordable) | Budget-friendly ongoing monitoring | Full site | Great value all-in-one platform; good for smaller agencies |
| Dead Link Checker | ✅ Free | Quick spot checks on small sites | Limited | No login required; instant results for a single URL or full domain |
| Dr. Link Check | ✅ Free / 💰 Paid | Trust & security link audits | Limited (free) / Full (paid) | Also flags malicious links and invalid SSL certificates |
How to Fix Broken Links: 5 Proven Methods
Now that you’ve found your broken links, it’s time to fix them. The right fix depends on why the link broke and where the broken link lives (internal vs. external vs. backlink).
Fix Method 1: Update the URL (Correct the Link Destination)
The simplest fix: if the page you linked to still exists but moved to a new URL, just update the link to point to the correct address. This works for both internal links (your own site) and external links (other sites). Always test the new URL before publishing the fix.
Best for: Pages that moved but still exist | Typos in URLs | Internal links after a site restructure.
Fix Method 2: Set Up a 301 Redirect
A 301 (permanent) redirect automatically sends visitors and search engines from the old, broken URL to a new working URL. This is the most SEO-friendly fix because a 301 redirect passes approximately 90–99% of the original page’s link equity to the destination.
When to use it: When you’ve permanently moved or renamed a page on your own site.
How to implement in WordPress: Use the free Redirection plugin — go to Tools → Redirection → Add New Redirect, enter the old URL and new URL, and save.
⚠️ Avoid redirect chains: If you already have a redirect from URL A to URL B, and now URL B is moving to URL C, update the original redirect to go directly from A to C. Chains waste crawl budget and lose equity at each hop.
Fix Method 3: Remove the Broken Link
If the linked page is completely gone with no suitable replacement, remove the link entirely. You can either delete the linked anchor text or keep the text visible but remove the hyperlink from it. This is cleaner than leaving a broken link in place.
Best for: Dead external links where no suitable replacement exists | Links to permanently deleted pages with no alternative content.
Fix Method 4: Replace with Equivalent Content
If you were linking to useful content that’s now gone, find a similar, current resource to link to instead. For example, if you linked to an article about technical SEO that’s been deleted, find another authoritative guide on the same topic to reference.
Best for: Broken external links where the topic is still relevant | Editorial links supporting a specific claim or statistic.
Fix Method 5: Recreate or Restore the Destination Page
If you were linking to your own content that was accidentally deleted or lost during a site migration, consider recreating that page — especially if other websites are linking to it. Recreating the page at the original URL means all existing backlinks instantly start working again without any outreach needed.
Best for: Your own deleted pages that have backlinks | High-traffic pages lost in a migration | Pages that anchor important internal linking flows.
Test Every Fix
After fixing a link, always verify it manually in your browser before marking it resolved. Then re-run your broken link checker to confirm the error no longer appears in your tool reports.
How to Fix Broken Links in WordPress (Plugins & Manual Methods)
If your website runs on WordPress, you have several plugin-based options that make finding and fixing broken links significantly faster.
Option 1: AIOSEO Broken Link Checker Plugin
The Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO is one of the most efficient WordPress-native solutions for ongoing broken link management.
How to set it up:
- Log in to your WordPress admin panel.
- Go to Plugins → Add New and search for “Broken Link Checker AIOSEO”.
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Navigate to Link Checker in your main WordPress menu.
- Click “Run new scan” to start your first audit.
- Once complete, click “View full report” to see all broken links across your site’s posts and pages.
- Fix links directly from the dashboard using the “Edit URL” or “Unlink” actions.
The plugin automatically rescans your site every 3 days, so new broken links are flagged promptly. You don’t need to remember to check manually — it notifies you when issues appear.
Option 2: Yoast SEO Premium (with GSC Integration)
Yoast SEO Premium includes a built-in broken link detection feature connected directly to Google Search Console. It surfaces 404 errors from GSC and allows you to set up redirects from within the Yoast interface without installing a separate redirect plugin.
Option 3: Redirection Plugin (For 301 Redirect Management)
The free Redirection plugin is the best standalone tool for managing 301 redirects in WordPress. Use it to:
- Create individual 301 redirects for moved pages
- Set up regex-based redirect rules for bulk URL pattern changes
- Monitor 404 errors as they occur and create redirects on the spot
- Import redirect lists from CSV after a site migration
⚠️ Performance note: The original Broken Link Checker plugin (not AIOSEO’s version) has been known to slow down WordPress sites on shared hosting, particularly with large link inventories. If you’re on a resource-limited host, use it for periodic audits only — install, run, fix, deactivate — rather than keeping it active continuously.
How to Find and Recover Broken Backlinks (Reclaim Lost Link Equity)
Broken backlink recovery is one of the highest-ROI SEO activities available to any website. You’re not building new links from scratch — you’re reclaiming authority you already earned but temporarily lost when a page was deleted or its URL changed.
Step 1: Identify Your Broken Backlinks
Use either Ahrefs or Semrush (covered in the tools sections above) to export a list of all backlinks pointing to broken pages on your site.
In Ahrefs: Site Explorer → Backlinks → Filter: Broken → Sort by Domain Rating (DR) → Export as CSV.
In Semrush: Backlink Audit → Target Pages → Filter: Target URL error → Sort by Authority Score → Export.
Step 2: Prioritise the Most Valuable Opportunities
Not all broken backlinks are worth pursuing. Focus your outreach effort on links that meet these criteria:
- Dofollow links only — nofollow links don’t pass link equity directly, so prioritise dofollow first
- Domain Rating (DR) of 30+ — higher DR domains pass more authority
- Referring domain traffic of 500+ visits/month — indicates the linking site has a real, active audience
- Contextually relevant pages — links from pages in your niche are more valuable than off-topic references
- Exclude subdomains and known link farms — low-quality sources aren’t worth the outreach time
Step 3: Fix Your End First
Before reaching out, make sure the broken URL on your site either resolves (via a 301 redirect to a relevant live page) or that you have a suitable replacement page to offer. Without a live destination to send the linker’s traffic to, your outreach won’t succeed.
Step 4: Outreach to Reclaim the Link
Send a concise, professional email to the webmaster of each referring domain:
Subject: Broken link on [Their Page Title] — quick fix available
Hi [Name],
I was reading your article at [their URL] and noticed a link pointing to [broken URL on your site] is returning a 404 error — which means your readers are hitting a dead end when they click it.
We’ve updated that content and it’s now live at [new URL]. I thought it might be worth updating the link so your readers can access the resource again.
Hope that’s helpful — thanks for the great content on your site.
Best,
[Your Name]
Keep the email short and frame it as a favour to them — you’re helping their readers, not asking for anything. This approach consistently outperforms generic link request pitches.
Handling Broken Links on Large Sites: Crawl Budget & Automation
For websites with thousands of pages — eCommerce stores, news sites, large service directories — the broken link challenge is fundamentally a systems and automation problem, not a manual one.
Why Crawl Budget Matters More on Large Sites
Google allocates a finite crawl budget to each site based on its authority and server speed. Every time Google’s crawler hits a broken page (a 404 or 5xx response), it wastes a crawl cycle that could have been spent discovering new or updated content. On sites with hundreds of broken links, this meaningfully slows down how quickly new content gets indexed and ranked.
Recommended Audit Cadence
- Small sites (<500 pages): Monthly audit using Screaming Frog (free tier) + quarterly GSC review
- Medium sites (500–10,000 pages): Bi-weekly automated monitoring via Semrush or Ahrefs site audit scheduling
- Large sites (10,000+ pages): Weekly automated crawls + real-time 404 monitoring via server logs or a tool like Botify or Sitebulb
Automation Tips for Large Sites
- Use Screaming Frog’s scheduling feature (paid version) to run automatic crawls and email reports without manual intervention
- Set up Semrush or Ahrefs campaign alerts to notify you when new 4xx errors are detected
- Monitor your server access logs to catch 404 errors in real time — invaluable for high-traffic sites
- Build a 301 redirect management process into every content workflow: whenever a URL is deleted or changed, a redirect must be created before the change goes live
- Keep your XML sitemap clean — remove 404 URLs and redirect chains from your sitemap.xml so Google focuses crawl budget on valid, live pages
Preventing Broken Links in the Future
After all this work, you’ll want to prevent broken links from appearing again. Here are the most effective prevention habits to build into your workflow:
1. Schedule Regular Audits
Set aside time every month (for smaller sites) or implement automated monitoring (for larger sites) to check for new broken links. Don’t wait for users to report them — find them proactively before they affect your rankings.
2. Create Redirects Before Deleting Pages
The most common cause of broken links is deleting or moving a page without setting up a redirect. Make it a mandatory workflow step: before any URL is deleted or changed, a 301 redirect must be in place.
3. Think Twice Before Deleting
Before you delete a page, check if any other pages on your site — or any external sites — link to it. Use Ahrefs or Semrush to check for referring pages before you delete. If valuable links exist, preserve the URL or redirect it.
4. Use Descriptive, Stable Link Text and URLs
When you create links, use text that clearly describes what the link is about. Create clean, descriptive URLs that don’t need to change over time. Avoid date-based URL structures (like /2024/march/article-name/) that become misleading as content ages.
5. Keep Good Records of Site Changes
Whenever you make structural changes to your site — new URL patterns, folder restructuring, domain changes — document what changed and when. This makes tracking down the source of broken links much faster during future audits.
6. Be Selective with External Links
When linking to other websites, favour stable, authoritative sources: government sites, established industry publications, official documentation. Avoid linking to small personal blogs or temporary campaign pages that are likely to disappear.
7. Use a Link Management Tool for Large Sites
For sites with ongoing heavy publishing schedules, consider a dedicated link management or redirect management tool integrated into your CMS. This makes it possible to catch broken links as content is being created rather than after it’s already published.
Bonus: Broken Link Building — Turn Competitors’ Dead Links Into Your Backlinks
Broken link building is an advanced SEO strategy that flips the broken link problem into a link acquisition opportunity. Instead of just fixing broken links on your own site, you actively find broken links on other websites — and then pitch your content as a replacement.
How it works:
- Find broken pages in your niche — Use Ahrefs Content Explorer or Semrush to find resource pages in your industry. Filter for pages returning 404 errors that still have backlinks pointing to them.
- Check who still links to those dead pages — In Ahrefs, use Site Explorer → enter the dead URL → Backlinks. You’ll see every site still linking to the broken page.
- Create better replacement content — Build a page that covers the same topic as the dead resource, but does it better, with more current information, better design, and more depth.
- Reach out to referring domains — Email the webmasters of sites linking to the dead page. Let them know their link is broken, and offer your new resource as a replacement. Use a similar outreach email template to the one in the backlink recovery section above.
This strategy works because you’re genuinely helping the website owner fix a problem they have. Your link replacement solves their broken link issue, which means your success rate is significantly higher than cold link-building pitches.
Frequently Asked Questions About Broken Links
What is a broken link and how does it affect SEO?
A broken link is a hyperlink that leads to a page returning an error — most commonly a 404 (Not Found) response. Broken links affect SEO in three main ways: they waste crawl budget (Google crawls error pages instead of new content), they interrupt the flow of link equity through your site, and they signal to Google that your website isn’t well-maintained — a negative E-E-A-T signal.
How do I check for broken links for free?
The best free options are: (1) Google Search Console — go to Indexing → Pages → Not Found (404) for a list of all 404s Google has crawled; (2) Screaming Frog — free for up to 500 URLs, crawls your full site and flags all 4xx errors; (3) Dead Link Checker or BrokenLinkCheck.com — free online tools for quick spot checks on individual pages or small sites.
How often should I check for broken links?
For most sites, a monthly audit is a good baseline. Sites that publish frequently or have recently undergone a migration or redesign should check weekly. Large sites (10,000+ pages) benefit from continuous automated monitoring. In 2026, many fast-moving sites run weekly automated crawls, with some using daily checks for high-change environments.
Do broken links affect Google rankings directly?
Broken links don’t directly trigger a ranking penalty, but they cause real ranking damage indirectly. Broken internal links interrupt link equity flow between your pages. Broken pages waste crawl budget. Broken backlinks mean you lose ranking power from links you’ve already earned. Sites with significant broken link issues consistently rank below cleaner competitors with equivalent content and authority.
What is the difference between a broken internal link and a broken backlink?
A broken internal link is a link within your own website pointing to a page on your site that no longer exists. It affects navigation and internal link equity flow. A broken backlink is a link from an external website pointing to a page on your site that no longer exists — it represents lost inbound link equity from a source you don’t control. Both matter for SEO, but broken backlinks are particularly valuable to fix because they represent earned authority that can be recovered through 301 redirects or outreach.
Broken Link Audit Checklist (Quick Reference)
Use this checklist every time you run a broken link audit:
☐ Run a Screaming Frog crawl — export all 4xx URLs and their inlink sources
☐ Check Google Search Console → Indexing → Pages → Not Found (404)
☐ Run Ahrefs or Semrush Site Audit — review 4xx errors under Issues
☐ Check Ahrefs Site Explorer → Backlinks → Broken (for broken backlinks)
☐ Run Semrush Backlink Audit → Target URL error (for broken backlinks)
☐ Export broken media links separately (images, PDFs, videos)🔧 FIXING
☐ Fix typos or update URLs for pages that moved
☐ Set up 301 redirects for permanently moved internal pages
☐ Resolve redirect chains to single-hop 301s
☐ Remove or replace dead external links
☐ Recreate or restore any deleted pages that have backlinks
☐ Update XML sitemap — remove 404 URLs and redirect chains
📬 RECOVERY
☐ Filter broken backlinks by DR 30+, dofollow, 500+ monthly traffic
☐ Ensure 301 redirects are in place for all broken backlink destinations
☐ Send outreach emails to top referring domain webmasters
✅ VERIFICATION
☐ Manually test a sample of fixed links in browser
☐ Re-run Screaming Frog to confirm 4xx count has dropped
☐ Validate redirects return 301 (not 302) via browser DevTools or redirect checker
☐ Re-submit updated sitemap in Google Search Console
☐ Request re-crawl of key fixed pages via URL Inspection tool
📅 ONGOING
☐ Schedule next audit (monthly for small sites, weekly for large sites)
☐ Set up automated alerts in Semrush/Ahrefs for new 4xx errors
☐ Add redirect creation to your standard content deletion workflow
Utilize The Best Broken Links Checker Tools
Finding and fixing broken links manually takes time and effort, but it’s one of the highest-impact technical SEO tasks you can perform for your website’s long-term health. By regularly auditing your links, fixing problems using the right method, and building prevention into your content workflow, you keep your site running smoothly, protect your hard-earned link equity, and signal to Google that your website is well-maintained and trustworthy.
Remember, broken links can quickly shake the trust you’ve built with your visitors. By taking care of these small but important details, you’re showing your visitors that you care about their experience. This attention to detail can help you stand out from competitors and build long-lasting relationships with your customers.
If you’re still struggling to identify and fix broken links, it may be time to partner with a professional SEO agency. Expert technical SEO services can quickly resolve hidden issues, recover lost link equity, and ensure your website stays optimized, user-friendly, and competitive in search results.
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