How to Find and Fix Broken Links on Your Website
Broken links frustrate visitors and tell Google your site is neglected. Here is how to find every dead link and fix it the right way.
Reviewed by Jacob Rhinehart for Strelva's co-founder; products and operations lead responsibilities.
A broken link is a promise your site fails to keep. The visitor clicks, hits a "page not found," and leaves. Pile up enough of them and search engines read your site as poorly maintained. Broken links are one of the most common audit findings and among the easiest to clear.
Why it costs you
Internal broken links waste the authority you have built and dead-end your visitors. External broken links make your content look out of date. Both burn crawl budget that should go to pages you care about.
Step by step
- List every broken link. Use your audit results, a site crawler, or the "Not found (404)" report in Search Console. Note the broken URL and the page it sits on.
- Sort by type. Split them into internal links (highest priority, fully in your control), external links to other sites, and broken images or files.
- Fix internal links first. If the target page moved, update the link to the new URL or add a 301 redirect from old to new. If it was deleted on purpose, point the link somewhere relevant instead.
- Repair external links. Find the page's new home and update the link, or remove it if the resource is gone for good.
- Re-link broken images and files. Re-upload missing media and correct the path.
- Re-scan to confirm. Run the crawl again and verify the broken-link count dropped to zero.
Stop them coming back
Most broken links appear when a page is renamed or deleted. Make a habit of adding a redirect whenever you change a URL, and re-crawl your site monthly so new breaks surface before visitors find them.
Frequently asked
What business owners ask next.
What is the difference between fixing the link and adding a redirect?
If you control the link, update it to point at the correct URL directly; that is cleanest. A redirect is for cases where you cannot update every link, or where outside sites and search engines still reference the old URL.
Do broken external links really hurt my SEO?
They hurt user experience more than rankings directly, but a site full of dead links signals neglect. Keeping outbound links current is part of looking trustworthy and well maintained.
How often should I check for broken links?
A monthly crawl is a sensible rhythm for most small sites. Check sooner after any large content change, migration, or URL restructure.