A broken link points to a page that no longer exists, returning a 404 error. Fix broken links regularly as they hurt user experience and waste crawl budget. Use tools to find and redirect or remove them.
Understanding Broken Links in SEO
Every link on a website serves as a bridge to another page, either within the same site or on an external domain. When that bridge is broken, users hit a dead end.
From an SEO perspective, broken links send negative signals:
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They disrupt crawling and indexing.
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They reduce the authority flow across your site.
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They frustrate visitors and increase bounce rates.
Google values a clean, crawlable site structure, and broken links are like potholes in that structure.
Types of Broken Links
Internal Broken Links
These occur when you link to a page on your own site that no longer exists or has a changed URL.
Example: Linking to /services-old after you’ve moved it to /services.
External Broken Links
These happen when you link to another website’s page, but that page has been deleted or moved.
Example: Citing a resource that’s been taken offline.
Image or Media Broken Links
Sometimes it’s not a page but an image, video, or file that no longer loads. This affects both user experience and on-page SEO.
Industry Relevance
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E-commerce: Broken links on product or category pages can directly lead to lost sales and poor customer trust.
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Publishing/Media: Outdated citations or resources lower content authority.
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Healthcare/Finance: Broken links can create legal or trust issues if essential information is missing.
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Education: Universities and learning platforms often suffer from link rot in research citations, which affects credibility.
No matter the industry, broken links are a universal problem that damages both SEO and brand image.
CMS Handling of Broken Links
Different CMS platforms deal with broken links in different ways:
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WordPress: Plugins like Broken Link Checker help monitor dead links, but manual oversight is still needed.
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Shopify: Automatically generates 404 pages, but you need to set up proper redirects manually.
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Wix: Offers basic redirect tools but requires careful monitoring.
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Drupal / Joomla: More flexible but require technical setup for systematic link management.
Across all CMS platforms, the golden rule is: set up 301 redirects for moved content and regularly audit links.
Why Broken Links Matter in SEO
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User Experience: Visitors get frustrated when they hit a 404 page. Poor UX often leads to higher bounce rates.
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Crawlability: Search engine crawlers waste resources trying to follow dead links, reducing crawl efficiency.
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Authority Flow: Broken internal links stop link equity from flowing across your website.
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Trust Signals: A site filled with broken links appears neglected, which can affect both SEO and brand credibility.
Think of broken links like cracks in a building foundation: small at first, but if left unchecked, they weaken the whole structure.
Best Practices: Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s
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Run regular broken link checks with tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or SEMrush.
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Fix internal links immediately after making URL changes.
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Use 301 redirects for permanently moved pages.
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Replace external broken links with updated sources.
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Maintain a clean XML sitemap with only live URLs.
Don’ts
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Don’t ignore 404 errors piling up in Google Search Console.
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Don’t rely only on plugins manual spot checks are important.
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Don’t keep broken outbound links; they hurt trust.
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Don’t use temporary redirects (302) for permanent moves.
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Don’t forget to update internal links when restructuring content.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
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Relying only on redirects: Redirects fix broken links, but too many can slow down your site.
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Ignoring external broken links: Many site owners only check internal links, forgetting that outbound links also affect SEO.
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Not auditing old content: Evergreen blogs often contain outdated links that silently hurt rankings.
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Using automated fixes without review: Some tools replace links automatically, but the new resource may not be relevant.
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Overlooking media files: Broken PDFs, images, or videos also count as broken links.
FAQs
What is a broken link?
A broken link (or dead link) is a hyperlink that points to a page or resource that doesn’t exist, returns an error (like 404 Not Found or 410 Gone), or can’t be accessed due to server issues or URL changes.
What causes broken links?
Broken links are caused by things like deleted or moved pages without redirects, misspelled URLs, site reorganizations, expired domains, or external sites being taken down.
How do broken links affect user experience and SEO?
They frustrate users who click expecting content but get an error, which can increase bounce rate. For SEO, they waste crawl budget, reduce link equity, and may signal that the site is poorly maintained.
What types of broken links are there?
Broken links can be internal links (within your own site pointing to non-existent pages), outgoing/external links (your site linking to dead pages), and broken backlinks (other sites linking to pages on your site that are no longer active).
How can you find and fix broken links?
Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, or broken-link checkers to find broken internal and external links. Fixes usually include updating links, removing broken ones, or setting up 301/redirects to the correct or related content.
