Digital Siddesh is the best SEO expert Chennai, helping medium scaled businesses gain stronger online presence and connect with their customers effectively.
Contents
Introduction
Your website might be losing visitors right now, and you don’t even know it.
Every time someone clicks a link on your site and lands on an error page, they leave frustrated. Broken links are silent killers of your website’s success. They hurt your search rankings, damage user trust, and make Google think your site is poorly maintained.
When you fix broken links, you’re not just cleaning up errors. You’re opening doors for better traffic, higher rankings, and more satisfied visitors.
Search engines love websites that work smoothly. Users stay longer when every click takes them where they expect to go. The good news? Finding and fixing these problems is simpler than you think.
This guide walks you through everything about broken links. You’ll learn what they are, why they matter for SEO, how to find them fast, and the exact steps to fix broken links permanently.
Whether you run a small blog or manage a business website, these strategies will help you boost your online performance. Let’s get your website back in shape and climbing those search rankings.
1. What Are Broken Links
Broken links are clickable elements on your webpage that lead nowhere.
When someone clicks them, they see error messages instead of useful content. These dead ends frustrate visitors and signal problems to search engines.
Simple Meaning of Broken Links
A broken link happens when the destination page no longer exists or moved to a new address.
Think of it like giving someone directions to a store that closed down months ago. The address you shared doesn’t work anymore.
On websites, this shows up as 404 errors or “page not found” messages.
Common causes include:
- Someone deleted the page
- Changed the URL structure
- Made a typing mistake when creating the link
- External websites removed their content
- Companies changed their domains
Internal links break when you reorganize your site without updating the connections. External links break when other websites remove their content or change their domains.
Either way, broken links create dead ends that stop users from reaching valuable information.
Why They Stop Pages From Opening
Links break for several clear reasons. The most common cause is deleted content.
When you remove old blog posts or product pages without redirecting them, every link pointing to those pages stops working.
URL changes also create broken links. If you switch from “example.com/old-page” to “example.com/new-page” without proper redirects, the old links fail.
Website migrations cause massive link breakage when businesses move to new platforms or redesign their sites.
Other reasons links break:
- Typos in URLs mean the destination doesn’t exist
- External sites changing their structure
- Partner websites reorganizing their content
- Server issues taking sites offline
- Expired domains going offline permanently
When you fix broken links, you need to understand what caused them. This helps prevent the same problems from happening again.
How They Make Users Leave the Website
Nothing frustrates visitors faster than clicking a link that goes nowhere.
When users hit a broken link, they immediately question your website’s quality. Most people won’t stick around to give you a second chance. They hit the back button and look for information elsewhere.
This creates a terrible user experience that damages your reputation.
Imagine reading an interesting article and clicking to learn more, only to see “Error 404.” That kills trust instantly.
Users expect websites to work correctly. When yours doesn’t, they assume you don’t care about maintaining it.
What happens next:
- Visitors leave within seconds
- They find competitors instead
- Your bounce rate shoots up
- Google notices this behavior
- Your rankings drop
Broken links also waste people’s time. Visitors came to your site with specific goals. Dead links prevent them from achieving those goals, so they leave disappointed.
Search engines notice this behavior. High bounce rates from broken links tell Google your site doesn’t satisfy users, which hurts your rankings even more.
2. Why Broken Links Are Bad for SEO
Search engines judge your website’s quality by how well it functions.
Broken links send negative signals that drag down your rankings and visibility. Understanding this impact helps you prioritize fixing the problem.
Google Thinks the Site Is Not Well Cared
Google’s crawlers constantly scan websites to index content and evaluate quality.
When these bots encounter multiple broken links, they form a clear opinion about your site. They see it as neglected and poorly maintained.
Google wants to send users to reliable, well managed websites. A site full of dead links doesn’t meet that standard.
This perception affects how often Google crawls your pages.
If crawlers keep hitting broken links, they might visit your site less frequently. That means new content takes longer to get indexed. Your fresh blog posts and updated pages won’t appear in search results as quickly.
The impact on your site:
- Slower indexing of new content
- Lower crawl frequency
- Reduced site authority
- Missed ranking opportunities
- Wasted SEO efforts
Google also uses site quality as a ranking factor. Websites that work smoothly and provide good experiences rank higher.
When you fix broken links regularly, you show Google your site deserves attention. It proves you actively maintain your online presence and care about visitor experience.
Website Ranking Goes Down
Broken links directly damage your search engine rankings in multiple ways.
First, they waste your crawl budget. Search engines allocate limited time to scan each website. When crawlers spend time following dead links, they have less time to discover your valuable content.
This means some of your best pages might not get indexed at all.
Second, broken links break the flow of link equity across your site. Internal links pass authority from one page to another. When these connections break, your important pages lose the ranking power they need.
How rankings suffer:
- Pages drop from page 1 to page 2 or 3
- Competitors with cleaner sites move ahead
- Your best content gets less visibility
- Traffic decreases month by month
- Revenue opportunities disappear
External broken links also hurt because they show poor editorial standards. Websites with many dead outbound links appear outdated and unreliable.
Google’s algorithms factor this into rankings. The result? Your pages drop in search results.
When you fix broken links quickly, you protect your hard earned rankings and give your SEO efforts a better chance to succeed.
Users Feel the Site Is Not Trusted
Trust is everything online. Broken links destroy that trust faster than almost anything else.
When visitors repeatedly click links that don’t work, they make assumptions about your entire business. They think you’re unprofessional, careless, or possibly even unreliable with important matters like customer service or product quality.
This perception extends beyond just website maintenance.
If you can’t keep your links working, how can customers trust you with their money or personal information?
The damage goes deeper with returning visitors. Someone who encounters broken links once might give you another chance. But if they see the same problems on their next visit, they’ll probably never come back.
Trust breakdown happens when:
- First time visitors hit multiple errors
- Returning customers see ongoing problems
- Negative reviews mention broken links
- Social media complaints spread
- Word of mouth warnings reach prospects
Building trust takes years, but broken links can destroy it in seconds.
Professional websites work correctly. Every click should lead somewhere useful. When you fix broken links and keep them fixed, you build a reputation for quality and attention to detail.
That reputation translates into better conversion rates, more loyal customers, and stronger brand authority in your industry.
3. How to Find Broken Links
You can’t fix problems you don’t know exist.
Finding broken links requires the right tools and a systematic approach. These methods work for websites of any size.
Free Tools Anyone Can Use
Several excellent free tools help you discover every broken link on your website.
This free platform from Google shows crawl errors, including broken pages and links.
Log into your account, check the Coverage report, and look for 404 errors. The tool tells you exactly which pages have problems and which URLs are linking to them.
The free version scans up to 500 URLs, perfect for small to medium websites.
Download the software, enter your website URL, and start the crawl. It finds broken internal links, external links, images, and scripts. The results show you every dead link with clear labels.
This simple online tool works through your browser.
Paste your website URL, and it scans your pages for broken links. The report highlights problems in red, making them easy to spot.
4. Broken Link Checker Plugin (WordPress)
For WordPress users, this plugin runs automatically in the background.
It monitors your site constantly and alerts you when links break. You can fix broken links directly from your dashboard.
These tools save hours compared to manually clicking every link on your site.
How to Check Links Step by Step
Step 1: Start with Google Search Console
Open Google Search Console and navigate to the Coverage section under Index. Look for errors marked as “404” or “Not found.” Download the list of affected URLs. This gives you a starting point.
Step 2: Run Screaming Frog
Launch the program, enter your homepage URL, and click Start. Wait for the crawl to complete.
Once finished, click on the Response Codes tab at the top. Filter for “Client Error 4xx” to see all broken links. The software shows you which pages contain these broken links, making fixes easier to plan.
Step 3: Separate internal and external links
Check both types separately. Internal broken links are your responsibility and easier to fix. External links require different solutions since you don’t control the destination sites.
Step 4: Export to spreadsheet
Export your results to a spreadsheet. Organize the data by priority.
Focus on broken links that appear on multiple high traffic pages first. Those cause the most damage. Pages with just one or two broken links can wait.
Step 5: Test manually
Click through your most important pages manually. Sometimes automated tools miss problems. Your homepage, contact page, and top blog posts deserve manual checking.
Make a List of All Bad Links
Organization is critical when you fix broken links at scale.
Create a detailed spreadsheet with specific columns:
Column 1: Source Page URL Where the broken link appears
Column 2: Broken Destination URL The dead link address
Column 3: Anchor Text The clickable text used
Column 4: Error Type 404, 410, or other status codes
Column 5: Priority Level High, medium, or low importance
Column 6: Status Not started, in progress, or fixed
Column 7: Notes Why the link broke and any special instructions
Priority ranking guide:
- High Priority: Homepage, navigation menus, popular blog posts, product pages
- Medium Priority: Less visited pages, older content with some traffic
- Low Priority: Archived posts, minimal traffic pages
Include notes explaining why each link broke. Did you delete a page? Did an external site go down? Understanding the cause helps prevent future problems.
Share this document with your team if others help maintain the site. Regular updates keep everyone informed.
Review and update your list monthly. New broken links appear constantly as you add content and as external sites change. Staying on top of this ongoing task keeps your website healthy and your SEO strong.
4. How to Fix Broken Links
Finding problems is half the battle.
These proven methods solve broken link issues permanently.
Update With the Right Link
The best solution for broken links is updating them to point to the correct destination.
This works perfectly when content moved to a new URL rather than being deleted entirely.
How to update links:
Step 1: Log into your website’s content management system
Step 2: Open the page containing the broken link
Step 3: Find the hyperlink in your text editor
Step 4: If you use WordPress, highlight the linked text and click the link button
Step 5: Replace the old URL with the new correct address
Step 6: Save your changes and test the link immediately
For internal broken links, check if you moved the page recently. Look in your site’s URL structure for the new location. Update all links pointing to the old address.
Time saving tip:
If you have many instances of the same broken link, use the find and replace function in your CMS. Search for the old URL and replace every occurrence at once. This saves massive amounts of time on large sites.
For external broken links, sometimes the destination site just changed their URL structure. Visit the domain and search for the content you originally linked to. If you find it at a new address, update your link accordingly.
When you fix broken links this way, you preserve the value of the link and maintain the good user experience you intended. Regular updates keep your content fresh and reliable.
Remove the Link if No Need
Sometimes the best fix is simply removing the broken link entirely.
This makes sense when the linked content no longer exists anywhere and isn’t coming back. If you linked to a discontinued product, outdated news article, or defunct website, removal is your cleanest option.
When to remove links:
- The destination is permanently gone
- The content is no longer relevant
- You can’t find a suitable replacement
- The text makes sense without being linked
- The reference doesn’t add value anymore
How to remove properly:
Access the page with the broken link through your CMS. Highlight the linked text. Instead of fixing the URL, just remove the hyperlink formatting. The text stays, but it’s no longer clickable.
Alternatively, delete the entire sentence or paragraph if it doesn’t add value without the destination. Don’t leave obvious references to things readers can’t access.
For example, if your text says “click here to download the guide” but the guide is gone forever, rewrite or remove that whole section. Leaving it creates confusion.
Special attention areas:
- Navigation menus with broken links need immediate removal
- Footer links that broke years ago
- Sidebar widgets pointing nowhere
- Old promotional banners
After removing broken links, scan the page to make sure it still reads smoothly. Sometimes deleting a link leaves awkward phrasing behind. Edit for clarity.
This approach is quick when you fix broken links in bulk.
Replace the Link With a Better Page
When the original destination is gone but similar content exists elsewhere, replacement is your smartest move.
This maintains the value of your content while providing users with something useful.
Finding replacement links:
Option 1: Your own content
Search your website first for related content that serves the same purpose. If you have a newer article covering the same topic, link to that instead. This keeps visitors on your site and strengthens your internal linking structure.
Option 2: Updated content from the same site
Check if the original external site has similar content at a different URL. Many websites reorganize but keep their articles. Use their search function to find alternatives.
Option 3: Authoritative alternatives
If the exact source is gone, find an authoritative alternative from a different trusted site. Link to high quality sources that provide equal or better information.
Replacement checklist:
- Does this serve the same purpose as the original?
- Is it from a trustworthy source?
- Will it likely stay available long term?
- Does it provide value to my readers?
- Is the anchor text still accurate?
This strategy to fix broken links turns a negative into a positive for your SEO and user experience.
5. Tips to Stop and Fix Broken Links
Prevention beats repair every time.
These simple habits keep broken links from appearing in the first place and make maintenance much easier.
Check Links Every Month
Set a recurring calendar reminder to scan your website for broken links monthly.
This regular schedule catches problems while they’re still small and manageable. During your monthly check, run a full site crawl using Google Search Console or Screaming Frog.
Monthly maintenance checklist:
- Run Google Search Console error check
- Scan site with Screaming Frog
- Test main navigation manually
- Review your 10 most visited pages
- Check contact forms and external resources
- Fix broken links discovered immediately
- Update your tracking spreadsheet
Priority during monthly checks:
- Homepage gets checked first
- Popular blog posts second
- Service and product pages third
- Navigation menus fourth
- Footer and sidebar links last
Track your progress in a spreadsheet. Note how many broken links you find each month and how long fixes take.
Search engines notice consistently maintained websites and reward them with better rankings.
Keep Old Pages Updated
Older content on your website needs ongoing attention. As pages age, their links become more likely to break.
Set a schedule to review and refresh your older posts quarterly or twice yearly.
How to update old content:
Step 1: Open your analytics and identify posts that still receive traffic
Step 2: Read through each post completely
Step 3: Click every link to test them manually
Step 4: Replace broken external links with current sources
Step 5: Add links to your newer related articles
Step 6: Update outdated statistics and examples
Step 7: Mark the post with a “last updated” date
Benefits of updating old posts:
- Continued traffic from search engines
- Better user experience for visitors
- Stronger internal linking structure
- Fresh content signals to Google
- Protection of your archive’s SEO value
When you fix broken links during these updates, you boost the entire page’s value. Consider adding a “last updated” date at the top of refreshed posts.
Use Clear and Easy Link Names
Proper URL structure prevents many broken link problems before they start.
When creating new pages, use simple, descriptive URLs that won’t need changing.
Good URL examples:
- yoursite.com/seo-tips
- yoursite.com/contact
- yoursite.com/services
Bad URL examples:
- yoursite.com/2024/post12345/temp
- yoursite.com/page?id=9876&cat=news
- yoursite.com/NEW-PAGE-DRAFT-FINAL-v2
Clear URLs are easier to remember, manage, and maintain. They’re also less likely to require future changes that create broken links.
URL structure best practices:
1. Keep it consistent
If all your blog posts sit under “yoursite.com/blog/” don’t suddenly start putting them under “yoursite.com/articles/.” Consistency prevents confusion.
2. Use redirects when necessary
Set up 301 permanent redirects from old addresses to new ones. This tells search engines and browsers where the content moved. Users and bots automatically reach the right page.
3. Document your structure
Create a simple guide for your team. If multiple people add content, everyone needs to follow the same naming conventions.
4. Keep URLs simple
Avoid special characters, spaces, and unnecessary complexity. Stick with lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
5. Make them descriptive
A URL should hint at what the page contains. This helps both users and search engines.
When you fix broken links, take a moment to improve the new URL structure if the old one was messy.
Good link hygiene becomes easier with clean, logical URL naming from the start.
Conclusion
Broken links silently damage your website every single day they exist.
They frustrate visitors, lower search rankings, and waste the SEO work you’ve already done. The good news is that now you know exactly how to fix broken links and prevent them from coming back.
What you’ve learned:
- What broken links are and why they happen
- How they damage your SEO rankings
- Free tools to find every broken link
- Three methods to fix broken links properly
- Prevention strategies that work long term
Ready to Fix Your Website’s Broken Links?
Don’t let broken links damage your search rankings and user experience any longer.
Digital Siddesh, the best SEO expert Chennai, specializes in comprehensive website audits and SEO fixes that deliver real results. Whether you need help identifying broken links, implementing permanent solutions, or building a maintenance strategy, expert guidance makes the difference.
What you get:
- Complete website audit
- Fix broken links identified and documented
- Professional fix implementation
- Prevention strategy customized for your site
- Ongoing support and maintenance
Get a professional website analysis that reveals exactly what’s holding back your online presence.
Contact Digital Siddesh today for personalized SEO solutions that help your medium scaled business grow. Your competitors aren’t waiting, and neither should you.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I check broken links on my website for free?
Use Google Search Console to check broken links without spending money. Log into your account, navigate to Coverage under Index, and look for 404 errors. The tool shows every broken page and which URLs link to them. For deeper analysis, download Screaming Frog SEO Spider free version to scan up to 500 pages. Both tools identify problems quickly so you can fix broken links efficiently and improve your site’s performance.
2. What causes website link errors on my pages?
Website link errors happen when you delete pages without redirects, change URL structures during redesigns, or make typos when adding links. External sites removing their content or changing domains breaks your outbound connections. Server issues and expired domains also create dead links. Poor site maintenance lets these problems pile up. Regular monthly checks help you catch and fix broken links before they hurt your SEO rankings and user experience significantly.
3. Can I repair dead links automatically or do I need manual work?
Most dead links need manual review to repair dead links properly. Automated tools find the problems but can’t decide the best fix for each situation. You must choose whether to update, remove, or replace each broken link based on context. WordPress plugins like Broken Link Checker can monitor automatically and alert you to new issues. The actual repair requires your judgment to maintain content quality and choose appropriate destinations that serve your visitors well.
4. Which link checker tools actually work best for small businesses?
Google Search Console and Screaming Frog work best as link checker tools for small businesses because they’re free and reliable. Search Console integrates with Google’s index directly, showing real crawl errors. Screaming Frog provides detailed reports on internal and external broken links. For WordPress sites, the Broken Link Checker plugin runs automatically in the background. These tools help you find and fix broken links without expensive subscriptions, perfect for businesses watching budgets carefully.
5. What’s the fastest website SEO fix I can do today?
The fastest website SEO fix you can implement immediately is fixing broken links on your homepage and main navigation. These high visibility areas impact every visitor and carry significant SEO weight. Run a quick scan with a free tool, identify the top five broken links, and update or remove them within an hour. This simple action improves user experience, reduces bounce rates, and shows search engines you maintain your site properly. Results appear quickly.
6. Do broken links really hurt my Google rankings that much?
Yes, broken links significantly damage your Google rankings over time. They waste crawl budget, preventing Google from discovering your valuable content. Broken internal links interrupt the flow of link authority between your pages. High bounce rates from frustrated visitors signal poor quality to search engines. Multiple broken links make your site appear neglected and poorly maintained. When you consistently fix broken links and prevent new ones, you protect your rankings and give your SEO efforts better chances to succeed.
7. How often should I check broken links on my business website?
Check broken links monthly to catch problems before they multiply and damage your SEO. Set a calendar reminder for the same day each month. Run a full site scan using Google Search Console or Screaming Frog, then fix broken links you discover immediately. High traffic websites might need weekly checks. Small sites can stretch to every six weeks if you’re diligent. Regular monitoring prevents overwhelming backlogs and keeps your site performing well for both users and search engines consistently.
8. What happens if I just ignore website link errors?
Ignoring website link errors leads to declining search rankings, frustrated visitors, and damaged brand reputation. Google crawls your site less frequently when it encounters repeated broken links. Your pages drop in search results as competitors with cleaner sites move ahead. Visitors lose trust when clicks lead nowhere, causing them to leave and warn others. The problems compound over time, requiring major cleanup projects later. Professional maintenance means you fix broken links regularly instead of facing emergency repairs that cost more time and money.
9. Can broken links cause my website to get penalized by Google?
Google doesn’t issue manual penalties specifically for broken links, but they indirectly harm your rankings through algorithmic factors. Broken links waste crawl budget, create poor user experiences, and signal neglect. These factors influence how Google evaluates and ranks your site. Many broken links combined with other quality issues might trigger algorithmic demotions. The solution is simple ongoing maintenance. When you fix broken links regularly and keep your site healthy, you avoid these problems entirely and maintain strong search visibility.
10. How do I fix broken links in WordPress without technical skills?
Install the Broken Link Checker plugin to fix broken links in WordPress easily. It scans automatically and shows broken links in your dashboard. Click on each problem link, then choose Edit Link to update the URL, Unlink to remove it, or Edit Post to replace it with better content. The plugin makes changes simple through point and click actions. For manual fixes, edit any post or page, highlight the broken link text, click the link button, and enter the correct URL. Save your changes and you’re done.
11. What’s the difference between 404 errors and other website link errors?
404 errors mean the requested page doesn’t exist at that URL anymore. Other website link errors include 301 redirects for moved content, 403 forbidden access errors, 410 gone permanently status, and 500 server errors indicating technical problems. Each requires different solutions when you fix broken links. 404s need updating, removing, or redirecting. 301s are intentional redirects but might need review. 500 errors require technical fixes. Understanding error types helps you address problems correctly and maintain better site health overall for improved SEO performance.
12. Are external broken links as bad as internal broken links for SEO?
External broken links hurt less than internal ones but still damage your SEO. Internal broken links waste crawl budget and break your site’s authority flow between pages. External broken links mainly hurt user experience and make your content appear outdated. Both types matter for site quality. Prioritize fixing internal broken links first since you control those completely. Then address external links by finding replacement resources. Maintaining both types shows search engines and visitors you run a professional, well maintained website worth ranking highly.
13. How long does it take to fix broken links on a 50 page website?
Fixing broken links on a 50 page website typically takes two to four hours depending on how many problems exist. Scanning with free tools takes 10 minutes. Reviewing results and prioritizing fixes takes another 30 minutes. Actually updating, removing, or replacing each broken link averages five minutes per link. A site with 20 broken links needs about two hours total. Working systematically with a spreadsheet keeps you organized. Digital Siddesh can handle this process efficiently, ensuring thorough fixes that improve your SEO performance quickly.
14. Will fixing broken links improve my website traffic immediately?
Fixing broken links improves website traffic gradually over several weeks rather than immediately. Google needs time to recrawl your pages and recognize the improvements. You’ll notice reduced bounce rates first as visitors stop hitting dead ends. Search rankings typically improve within four to eight weeks as Google’s algorithms process your site’s better quality signals. The impact accelerates when you combine fixing broken links with other SEO improvements. Consistent maintenance delivers the best long term traffic growth for your business website and online presence.
15. What tools do professional SEO experts use to check broken links?
Professional SEO experts use enterprise tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Ahrefs Site Audit, Semrush Site Audit, and Google Search Console to check broken links comprehensively. These platforms scan thousands of pages quickly and provide detailed reports on all link errors. Experts analyze patterns to identify root causes and prevent future problems. They also use custom scripts for large sites. Digital Siddesh combines these professional tools with manual review to ensure nothing gets missed, delivering thorough audits that improve your website’s SEO performance effectively.