How to Find and Fix Broken Links: Complete Guide

Find broken links, understand why they hurt SEO, and fix them quickly.

Broken links waste crawl budget, frustrate users, and signal neglect to Google. The average site has 1-3% broken links.

Why They Hurt SEO

Googlebot wastes crawl budget on 404s. Broken internal links prevent link equity flow.

Types of Broken Links

Types:

  1. 1Internal — links to deleted pages
  2. 2External — outbound links to removed pages
  3. 3Backlinks — others linking to your 404s

How to Fix

Fix options:

  • 301 redirect to relevant page
  • Update link to correct URL
  • Remove if no replacement exists
  • Restore if accidentally deleted

Pro Tip

Check broken links monthly. Prioritize homepage and high-traffic pages.

Find all broken links with our Broken Link Checker.

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