How to Fix Broken Links: Find Them, Pick the Right Fix, and Recover Broken Backlinks

A broken link is a link that points to a page that no longer loads, usually because the target returns a 404 Not Found or 410 Gone, a server error, or no longer exists at all. To fix broken links, find them with a crawler and Google Search Console, then give each one the right fix: update the link if the page moved, 301-redirect the dead URL to its closest replacement if other sites link to it, restore the page if it was valuable, or remove the link if the content is gone for good.

Fix them in order of value: broken internal links first (they're fully under your control), then dead pages that still have backlinks, then broken links to other sites.

#What is a broken link in SEO?

In SEO, a broken link is any hyperlink whose destination fails to load properly for users or search engines. There are three kinds, and each has a different owner:

What counts as "broken" in a crawl report:

• 404 Not Found: the URL doesn't exist (deleted page, changed slug, typo).
• 410 Gone: the page was removed on purpose.
• 5xx server errors: the server failed. Often temporary, but a broken link while it lasts.
• DNS failures and timeouts: the domain expired or the server didn't respond, common with outbound links to small sites.
• Soft 404s: the page returns 200 but shows "not found" or almost nothing. Crawlers won't flag these as broken; Search Console will.

#Do broken links hurt SEO?

Less than most guides claim, but they still cost you. Google's position is that 404s are a normal part of the web: a URL that should be gone returning 404 does not harm how the rest of your site is indexed or ranked.

The damage is indirect:

• Backlinks to dead pages are wasted. If other sites link to a URL that now 404s, the value of those links goes nowhere. This is the most expensive kind of broken link.
• Crawling is wasted. Every internal link to a 404 or a redirect chain is a fetch Google spends on nothing. It rarely matters on small sites, more on large ones.
• Visitors hit dead ends. A broken link in your navigation or on a pricing page loses people who were about to act.
• Pages look neglected. A guide full of dead outbound links is a weaker answer than one with working sources.

The problem is common. Pew Research Center's 2024 study When Online Content Disappears found that 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later, 23% of news webpages contained at least one broken link, and 54% of Wikipedia pages had at least one dead link in their references.

#How to find broken links (free and paid tools)

In Search Console, open Indexing → Pages and click Not found (404) under "Why pages aren't indexed". Inspect a URL to see where Google found it. Search Console only lists URLs Google has tried to crawl, so it misses links on pages Google rarely visits.

In Screaming Frog, crawl your domain, open the Response Codes tab and filter to Client Error (4xx). Select a URL and open the Inlinks tab at the bottom to see every page linking to it, with the anchor text. Use Bulk Export → Response Codes → Client Error (4xx) Inlinks to get the whole list as a spreadsheet: source page, broken URL, anchor. That spreadsheet is your work list.

For broken backlinks, use Ahrefs Site Explorer: Pages → Best by links, filtered to 404 status, shows your dead URLs ranked by how many sites link to them. Search Console's Links → Top linked pages is a free starting point; check the status of each URL on it.

#Which fix does each broken link need?

There are only five fixes: update the link, redirect the dead URL, restore the page, replace or remove an outbound link, or let the URL stay gone. Answer three questions and the picker tells you which one applies.

#How to fix broken internal links

1. Export the work list from Screaming Frog (Client Error 4xx Inlinks) or Ahrefs Site Audit: source page, broken URL, anchor text.
2. Start with links that appear everywhere. A broken link in the header, footer or sidebar shows up on every page and inflates the count. Fix the template once and hundreds of "issues" disappear.
3. Then fix links on your most visited pages: homepage, pricing, top landing pages from GA4 or Search Console.
4. Edit each link in your CMS to point to the final URL. If a URL changed site-wide, a database search-and-replace (with a backup first) is faster than editing posts one by one.
5. Update links that point to redirects too. They aren't broken, but each one adds a hop. Screaming Frog's Response Codes → Redirection (3xx) filter lists them.
6. Recrawl to confirm the count is zero.

Internal links are worth getting right beyond the clean-up: see why internal links matter for SEO and how to find all internal links to a page.

#How to fix broken backlinks

Broken backlinks are links from other sites to pages on your site that no longer work. They're the most valuable broken links to fix, because each one is a vote you already earned and are currently throwing away.

1. List dead URLs that have backlinks. In Ahrefs: Site Explorer → your domain → Pages → Best by links, filter HTTP code to 404. Sort by referring domains.
2. Redirect each one with a 301 to the closest relevant live page. If no relevant page exists and the old page had strong links, restore it.
3. Check for misspelled links. Ahrefs' broken backlinks report shows links to URLs that never existed (typos, wrong slugs). A redirect from the typo URL recovers them without asking anyone.
4. Monitor the links you care about. Outrank's free backlink monitor checks whether specific linking pages still link to you, still use dofollow, and are still indexable, for up to 20 pages at a time with no signup.

For the outreach side, including links that were removed rather than broken, follow our link reclamation guide. Our post on broken link building covers the reverse tactic: finding dead links on other sites and offering your page as the replacement.

#How to fix broken outbound links

Outbound links break when other sites delete or move pages, let domains expire, or restructure. For each one:

• Search the site for the page's new address (site:example.com topic).
• Check the Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) to see what the page said, then find a current source that supports the same point.
• Remove the link if nothing fits, and reword the sentence so it still makes sense.

Prefer primary sources (official documentation, the original study) when you replace links. They break less often than blog posts that summarize them.

#How to add a 301 redirect in your CMS

After adding a redirect, load the old URL in a private window and confirm it lands on the new page in one hop.

#301 vs 302 vs 410: which code to use

• 301 (or 308) Moved Permanently: the page has a new home for good. Google treats it as a strong signal that the new URL should be the one it shows in search.
• 302 (or 307) Found / Temporary: the move is temporary (a seasonal page, a short test). Google keeps showing the original URL. For broken-link fixes, you almost always want a 301.
• 404 Not Found: there's nothing here. Fine for deleted pages with no links.
• 410 Gone: removed on purpose and not coming back. Google may drop a 410 URL slightly faster than a 404; otherwise they behave the same.

Google has said 3xx redirects don't lose PageRank, so the choice between 301 and 302 is about which URL Google shows, not about "link juice". Our 401 vs 403 guide covers the access-denied codes.

#How to stop links from breaking

Most broken links come from three moments: a redesign, a slug change and content pruning. Prevent them at the source:

• Build a redirect map before any migration or redesign: every old URL in one column, its new URL in the next. Test it before launch.
• Don't change slugs of pages that already rank or have links unless there's a strong reason, and add the redirect the same minute you change one.
• Crawl monthly (weekly on large or fast-changing sites) and fix new 4xx links while the list is short.
• Check the Pages report in Search Console after every release; a spike in 404s is usually a deployment mistake.

If you're auditing more than links, the technical SEO audit checklist covers status codes, redirects and the rest of the crawl in one pass.

#FAQ

#What is a broken link?

A broken link is a hyperlink that leads to a page that doesn't load properly, usually returning a 404 Not Found or 410 Gone error, a server error, or nothing at all because the domain no longer exists. Links break when pages are deleted, moved without a redirect, renamed, or when the URL in the link contains a typo.

#Do broken links hurt SEO?

Not directly. Google says 404 errors for pages that no longer exist don't harm the rest of your site's rankings. The cost is indirect: backlinks pointing to dead pages lose their value, crawlers waste time on dead URLs, and visitors who hit dead ends leave. Fix broken links on important pages and dead URLs that have backlinks first.

#How do I find broken links on my website?

Crawl your site with Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs) or Ahrefs' free Site Audit and filter for 4xx response codes, then check the Inlinks tab to see which pages contain each broken link. Also check Search Console under Indexing → Pages → Not found (404) for URLs Google itself found broken.

#How do I fix broken internal links?

Export the list of broken URLs with their source pages from your crawler, then edit each link in your CMS to point to the correct live URL. Start with links in the navigation and footer, which appear on every page, then fix links on your highest-traffic pages. Recrawl afterwards to confirm nothing is left.

#Should I redirect all 404 pages to the homepage?

No. Redirect a dead URL only to a page that covers the same topic. Google can treat redirects to an unrelated page, such as the homepage, as soft 404s, so you gain nothing and confuse visitors. If there's no relevant replacement and no valuable backlinks, letting the URL return 404 is fine.