A broken link (also “dead link” or “404 link”) is an internal or external reference whose destination is no longer reachable. Clicking it lands the user in a dead end, typically with the HTTP status code 404 Not Found, sometimes also 410 (Gone), 500 (server error) or a DNS error message. What seems harmless in the individual case quickly adds up on larger websites: broken navigation, frustrated users, wasted crawl budget and, in the medium term, sinking rankings. Broken links are one of the most underestimated maintenance topics in web operations, and at the same time one of the easiest to eliminate.
Causes of broken links
- Renamed or deleted pages: a URL changes but the link still points to the old address
- Relaunch without redirect mapping: the new site has clean URLs, the old links point into the void
- Typos: when linking manually (
https//instead ofhttps://, missing slashes) - Changed external content: linked third-party sites are moved, shut down or restructured (link rot)
- Capitalisation / casing:
/Produktevs./produkteon servers with case-sensitive paths - HTTPS migration without mixed-content cleanup: old
http://image or asset links remain - CMS bugs: some editors produce redirects to their own preview URLs when inserting links
- Forgotten test/dev URLs: links to staging slip into live content unnoticed
Consequences of broken links
| Area | Effect |
|---|---|
| User experience | Frustration, loss of trust, sinking conversion |
| SEO | Wasted crawl budget, link equity is lost, downward ranking pressure |
| Analytics | High bounce rates on error pages distort the metrics |
| Ad campaigns | Ads with a broken landing page are often paused or deactivated by the tool |
| Legal | Mandatory information (legal notice, terms, privacy policy) pointing to dead links can be legally actionable |
Finding broken links – the right tools
Google Search Console
In the “Coverage” report, GSC shows all URLs Google couldn’t reach, including the source (which page links to them). Free, but delayed (data often 1–7 days old).
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
The tool crawls an entire domain like a search engine bot and lists every internal and external link with its status code. The filter “Response Codes → 4xx, 5xx” delivers the broken-link list with click path. Free up to 500 URLs, paid beyond that.
Ahrefs / Semrush / Sistrix
The site audit modules of the big SEO suites find broken links incl. link source and backlink loss (“broken backlinks”). Commercial, but with historical trend analysis.
Online checkers
- Dead Link Checker: quick spot check without installation
- W3C Link Checker: classic, technically reliable
- Broken Link Checker for WordPress: plugin, automatic email notification
Server logs
In the access logs, 404s can be grouped by path, and the link source (Referer header) shows where the broken request comes from. Particularly useful for external broken links that a crawl doesn’t see.
A strategy for remediation
If you find 200 broken links at once, don’t blindly click through each one; proceed systematically:
- Sort by frequency: fix the ten most-clicked 404s first – they deliver the biggest effect
- Separate internal and external links: internal ones can be corrected directly in the CMS; external ones need either a replacement or removal
- Recognise patterns: several broken links often share one cause (a renamed category, a deleted section) – fix that, and all its links at once
- Set 301 redirects: if the original page has moved, redirect permanently via
.htaccessor the CMS redirect module - Handle 404 cleanly: a dedicated error page with a search field, navigation and top content, so users don’t bounce
- Replace external broken links: if the original content has vanished, find a current replacement (Archive.org as fallback), or remove the link
- Check repeatedly: broken links arise anew every day. A monthly crawl or an automatic job keeps the problem small
Broken links and backlinks
Particularly valuable is the category of “broken backlinks”: external sites linking to a no-longer-existing URL of your domain. That link equity would practically be given away, but can be reclaimed with a single 301 redirect. Tools like Ahrefs or Semrush list broken backlinks together with the linking page’s domain authority score – a worthwhile quick win in an SEO audit.
Frequently asked questions about broken links
How many broken links are “normal”? On a website with many external links, 1–3% dead links over time are almost unavoidable; the web changes. What matters is that no internal broken links exist and external ones are updated regularly.
Do external broken links hurt my ranking? Indirectly, yes: they signal neglect. Current studies show no direct ranking factor “number of dead links”, though. The UX effect is the bigger lever here.
Should I set a redirect for every deleted page? If there’s a sensible, thematically fitting destination: yes, with a 301. If not: better to serve a clean 404 than to set a mass redirect to the homepage. Google treats catch-all redirects to / as soft 404s.
How does the sitemap help? The sitemap actively lists the “good” URLs. If a 404 shows up there, Search Console reports it prominently, so the sitemap simultaneously serves as a self-check.
What’s the difference from a soft 404? A classic 404 returns HTTP status 404. A soft 404 is a page that shows “page not found” but technically answers HTTP 200. Google recognises this and treats it like a 404, but tools frequently miss it. Always check the HTTP status, not just the visible content.
Conclusion
Broken links are a quiet SEO and UX killer: barely visible, but cumulatively effective. Clean up once and then run a short monthly routine, and the topic stays permanently in the green. As part of every SEO audit we check internal and external broken links incl. backlink recovery – feel free to reach out for a no-obligation consultation.