Few things frustrate website visitors more than clicking a link and landing on a "404 Page Not Found" error. Broken links interrupt the user journey, waste crawl resources, and can prevent valuable link equity from flowing through your site. Over time, as pages are deleted, URLs change, and external websites disappear, almost every website builds up broken links. The good news is that finding and fixing them is one of the most straightforward SEO improvements you can make. This guide explains why broken links matter and how to fix them.
How AAMAX.CO Helps Maintain Healthy Websites
Keeping a website free of broken links requires regular monitoring and careful technical work. AAMAX.CO is a full-service digital marketing company that offers web development, digital marketing, and SEO services worldwide, and their technical SEO audits include comprehensive broken link analysis. Their team finds broken internal and external links, sets up proper redirects, recovers lost backlink value, and puts processes in place to prevent future issues, so clients' websites stay user-friendly and search-engine friendly.
What Are Broken Links?
A broken link is a hyperlink that points to a page or resource that no longer exists or can't be reached. Common causes include:
- Pages deleted without redirects.
- URL changes during site redesigns or migrations.
- Typos in link URLs.
- External websites removing or moving content.
- Expired domains or discontinued websites.
- Server errors or misconfigured redirects.
Broken links typically return HTTP status codes like 404 (Not Found) or 410 (Gone), though server errors like 500 can also make links fail.
Why Broken Links Affect SEO
Google has said that 404 errors are a normal part of the web and don't directly cause site-wide ranking penalties. However, broken links can still harm SEO performance in several ways:
- Poor user experience: Visitors who hit dead ends may leave your site, reducing engagement and conversions.
- Lost link equity: Backlinks pointing to deleted pages no longer pass value to your site.
- Wasted crawl resources: Search engines spend time crawling broken URLs instead of discovering valuable content.
- Weakened internal linking: Broken internal links disrupt the pathways that help search engines understand your site structure.
- Reduced credibility: Content filled with broken references can appear outdated and less trustworthy.
Step One: Find Broken Links
Several tools can help identify broken links on your website:
- Google Search Console: The page indexing report shows URLs Google found that return 404 errors.
- SEO crawlers: Tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, Semrush, and Ahrefs crawl your site and report broken internal and external links.
- Backlink analysis tools: These show external websites linking to broken pages on your domain.
- Analytics: Tracking visits to your 404 page can show which broken URLs users encounter most.
Step Two: Prioritize Fixes
Not all broken links are equally important. Prioritize:
- Broken pages with valuable backlinks from external websites.
- Broken links in main navigation, footers, and high-traffic pages.
- Broken links on key conversion pages, such as product or service pages.
- Broken links found frequently by users according to analytics.
Step Three: Fix Broken Internal Links
For broken links within your own website, the best solution is usually to update the link to point directly to the correct, live URL. If the content has moved, update every internal link to the new location. If the content no longer exists, link to the most relevant alternative page or remove the link entirely. Updating internal links directly is better than relying on redirects, since it creates a cleaner experience and avoids unnecessary redirect chains.
Step Four: Redirect Removed Pages
When a page has been deleted or moved, set up a 301 redirect to the most relevant replacement page. This sends users and search engines to useful content and helps preserve the value of external backlinks. Avoid redirecting every deleted page to your homepage, since Google may treat irrelevant redirects as soft 404s. If no relevant replacement exists, it's acceptable to let the page return a 404 or 410 status.
Step Five: Handle Broken External Links
For outbound links pointing to external pages that no longer exist, you have several options: update the link to the page's new location if it moved, replace it with a link to another authoritative source covering the same topic, link to an archived version if appropriate, or remove the link if it's no longer needed. Keeping outbound references current improves your content's reliability.
Step Six: Reclaim Lost Backlinks
If external websites link to broken pages on your site, you're losing valuable authority. Redirecting those URLs to relevant live pages recovers much of that value. In some cases, you might also contact the linking website and ask them to update the link to your current URL. This process, often called link reclamation, can be one of the most efficient link-building tactics available.
Step Seven: Create a Helpful 404 Page
Some broken links will always exist, especially from external sites you don't control. A custom 404 page with clear messaging, a search bar, and links to popular content helps visitors find what they need instead of leaving. Make sure your 404 page returns a proper 404 status code rather than a 200 status.
Preventing Future Broken Links
Prevention saves time and protects performance. Plan redirects before deleting or moving pages, use consistent URL structures, schedule regular site crawls, and include link checks in your content update process. During redesigns and migrations, create detailed redirect maps to prevent large-scale link breakage. Regular maintenance should be part of any ongoing search engine optimization program, and it supports a better experience across your broader digital marketing campaigns, since ads and emails that point to broken pages waste budget.
Final Thoughts
Fixing broken links is a practical, high-impact way to improve your website's SEO and user experience. By regularly finding broken links, prioritizing important fixes, updating internal links, setting up relevant redirects, and reclaiming lost backlinks, you can protect your authority and keep visitors engaged. Make link maintenance a routine part of your site management, and your website will stay healthier and more competitive in search.
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