What are Broken Links? & How to Find and Fix Them?

Broken links are one of the most common problems on websites of every size. They frustrate visitors, waste the value of links you've earned, and make a site feel neglected.

In this article, we explain what broken links are, why they matter, and practical steps to find and fix them, including where to look in Google Search Console today.

What are Broken Links?

1. Definition:

• Broken links, also known as dead links, are hyperlinks that no longer lead to a working destination. When clicked, they usually show an error such as "404 Not Found", a server error, or a page that fails to load.

2. Types of Broken Links:

• Internal Broken Links: Links from one page of your site to another page on your site that no longer works. These are fully in your control and should be fixed first.
• Outbound Broken Links: Links from your site to other websites that have moved or gone offline.
• Broken Backlinks: Links from other websites to a URL on your site that no longer exists. You can't edit their link, but you can redirect the old URL.
• Broken Resources: Missing images, scripts, PDFs or videos that break parts of a page even when the page itself loads.

3. Common Causes of Broken Links:

• Moved or Deleted Pages: Pages that have been moved or deleted without proper redirects.
• Incorrect URL: Typos or incorrect URL structures in the hyperlink.
• Changes in Domain: A site moves to a new domain without redirecting old URLs or updating all internal links.
• Platform Migrations: Moving from one CMS or ecommerce platform to another often changes URL patterns.
• External Websites Going Offline: Linked external sites that are no longer available or have removed the linked content. Some services, such as Firebase Dynamic Links, have shut down entirely (25 August 2025), so links built on them now return errors.

Why Broken Links Matter

1. Negative User Experience:

• Broken links interrupt visitors at the moment they want something, whether that's a product, a price list or a contact page. Many will leave instead of searching further.

2. Impact on SEO:

• A few broken outbound links won't sink your rankings, and a 404 on its own is not a penalty. The real SEO costs are more specific:
  • Pages that return 404 are removed from Google's index, so any traffic they used to get is lost.
  • Backlinks pointing to a dead URL no longer benefit your site until you redirect it.
  • Broken internal links make it harder for Google to discover and reach your important pages.

3. Loss of Credibility:

• Websites with many broken links look outdated and unreliable. Keeping links working is a simple way to build trust with visitors.

How to Find Broken Links

1. Use Online Tools:

• Google Search Console: The old "Crawl errors" report has been replaced. Use the Page indexing report and look for "Not found (404)" and "Soft 404". Click a URL and use URL Inspection to see details. The Links report shows your top linked pages, which helps you spot important URLs that need redirects.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A desktop crawler that finds broken internal and outbound links and shows exactly which pages contain them.
• Online Broken Link Checker Tools: Free and paid tools like Dead Link Checker, Ahrefs and Semrush can find broken links on your website, and Ahrefs and Semrush can also show broken backlinks pointing to your site.
• Bing Webmaster Tools: Its free site scan also reports broken links and other technical issues.

2. Manual Checking:

• Regularly click through your menus, footer, key landing pages and checkout, especially after updates.

3. Browser Extensions:

• Extensions like Check My Links for Chrome can quickly scan a page and highlight broken links for easy identification.

How to Fix Broken Links

1. Redirect to Relevant Pages: For pages that have moved, set up 301 redirects from the old URL to the most relevant new page. This sends users to the right content and keeps the value of backlinks. Avoid redirecting everything to the homepage.

2. Update Incorrect URLs: Correct typos and outdated URLs directly in your content, menus and templates. Fixing the link itself is better than relying on a redirect.

3. Remove or Replace Dead Links: If a page no longer exists and there’s no relevant replacement, remove the link or find an alternative resource to link to.

4. Recover Broken Backlinks: Find old URLs on your site that other websites still link to, and redirect them to the best matching page. For important links, you can also ask the linking site to update the URL.

5. Regular Site Audits: Crawl your site on a schedule, for example monthly for active sites, and always after a redesign or migration.

6. Monitor External Links: Keep track of external links and update or remove them if the linked content is no longer available or relevant.

Preventing Broken Links

• Plan URL changes: Before changing permalinks or restructuring, build a redirect map of old and new URLs.
• Keep URLs stable: Avoid dates or temporary words in URLs you'll want to keep for years.
• Use your CMS link tools: Linking to pages through your CMS editor, rather than pasting URLs by hand, reduces typos.
• Link to primary sources: Official pages tend to stay online longer than third-party copies.

Conclusion

Broken links hurt user experience, waste link value and make a site look neglected. They are also one of the easiest technical issues to fix.

Use the Page indexing report and a crawler to find them, fix internal links at the source, redirect moved pages, and audit after every major change.

Ensure Your Website is Free of Broken Links!

Is your website suffering from broken links after an update or migration? Softhat IT Solutions builds and maintains reliable websites for businesses across Pakistan. Explore our web development services, or book a free strategy call to get your links and redirects checked.