How to fix broken links?

Fixing broken links is part of maintaining a healthy website and ensuring optimal SEO performance. Broken links—whether internal or external—can negatively impact user experience, reduce the flow of link juice, and result in SEO penalties. Search engines like Google favor websites with a seamless user experience, and broken links signal poor site maintenance, potentially lowering your rankings in SERPs.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to identify and fix broken links on your website, improving user experience and SEO.

Step 1: Identify Broken Links

Before you can fix broken links, you need to identify them. There are several tools available that can help you detect broken internal and external links on your site.

Tools to Identify Broken Links:

1. Google Search Console:
   • How to Use:
     • Log in to Google Search Console and select your website.
     • Go to the Coverage section under the “Index” tab.
     • Here, you can find any errors, including pages that return 404 errors (broken pages).
   • Benefits: Google Search Console is free and provides detailed error reports from Google’s perspective.
2. Screaming Frog SEO Spider:
   • How to Use:
     • Download and install Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
     • Crawl your website by entering the URL and starting the analysis.
     • After the crawl, filter the results by Client Error (4xx) to find all the broken internal and external links.
   • Benefits: Screaming Frog provides detailed insights into broken links, including both internal and external URLs.
3. Ahrefs:
   • How to Use:
     • Go to the Site Audit tool in Ahrefs.
     • Run a crawl of your website to identify broken links under the Internal Pages section.
   • Benefits: Ahrefs offers a robust set of tools for auditing backlinks, broken links, and overall site health.
4. SEMrush:
   • How to Use:
     • Use SEMrush Site Audit to crawl your website.
     • After the audit, check the report for broken links under the “Issues” section.
   • Benefits: SEMrush provides a full audit report, including internal and external broken links and suggestions on how to fix them.
5. Broken Link Checker Plugin (WordPress):
   • How to Use:
     • If you use WordPress, install the Broken Link Checker plugin.
     • The plugin will automatically scan your website and notify you of any broken internal and external links.
   • Benefits: This plugin is easy to use for WordPress users and works in the background to monitor your website for broken links.

Step 2: Prioritize the Most Important Broken Links

Not all broken links are equally damaging. Before fixing the links, prioritize which ones should be addressed first:

• Broken Links on Important Pages: Focus first on broken links found on high-traffic pages, such as landing pages, product pages, or cornerstone content, as these are most likely to impact SEO and user experience.
• Backlinks: If you have broken links pointing to your site from external websites, prioritize fixing these to retain link juice.
• Internal Links: These affect navigation and user experience, so prioritize broken internal links, especially those in the main navigation or content body.
• High Authority External Links: Broken outbound links to authoritative sites can affect user trust and SEO. Fix or replace these promptly.

Step 3: Fix Broken Internal Links

Internal links are links within your own website that direct users from one page to another. Fixing these can ensure proper navigation and link equity flow across your site.

Methods to Fix Broken Internal Links:

1. Update the Link to the Correct URL:
   • If the content is still available but the URL has changed (e.g., due to a site migration or a permalink update), update the internal link to point to the correct page.
   • Example: If an internal link is pointing to example.com/old-page, update it to point to example.com/new-page if the page was moved or renamed.
2. Redirect the Broken Link (301 Redirect):
   • If the page no longer exists but there’s a related or updated page, set up a 301 redirect. This will automatically send users to the correct page and transfer link juice.
   • How to Set Up a 301 Redirect:
     • Use your site’s .htaccess file (for Apache servers) or a plugin like Redirection (for WordPress) to create a 301 redirect from the broken link to a valid page.
3. Remove the Link if the Page is No Longer Relevant:
   • If the page no longer exists and there’s no relevant replacement, you may want to remove the link entirely. Ensure that removing the link doesn’t negatively impact the user experience.
   • Example: If you linked to a product page that is permanently discontinued with no similar replacement, simply remove the link.

Step 4: Fix Broken External Links

External links point to pages on other websites. If the destination website has removed the page, changed the URL, or gone offline, you’ll have a broken link.

Methods to Fix Broken External Links:

1. Find an Updated Version of the Page:
   • Search for an updated or alternative version of the page that no longer exists and replace the broken external link with the updated one.
   • Example: If you linked to a blog post on another site that has been moved, find the new URL and update your link accordingly.
2. Link to a Relevant Alternative Resource:
   • If the external resource no longer exists, look for an alternative resource that provides similar value and update the link to this new resource.
   • Example: If you linked to a research study that’s been removed, find another study or report that covers the same topic and link to it.
3. Remove the External Link:
   • If there’s no valid replacement for the broken external link, you may need to remove the link. Ensure that this doesn’t break the flow of the content.
   • Example: If you linked to a website that is now defunct, remove the link to maintain a clean, user-friendly page.

Step 5: Monitor and Maintain Link Health

Once you’ve fixed your broken links, it’s important to regularly monitor your website to catch any future broken links. Ongoing maintenance ensures that your site remains SEO-friendly and delivers a good user experience.

Best Practices for Ongoing Link Health:

1. Run Regular Audits:
   • Schedule regular audits using tools like Screaming Frog, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to detect any new broken links on your site.
2. Use Automated Tools:
   • If you’re using WordPress, plugins like Broken Link Checker will automatically scan for broken links and notify you when they occur.
3. Monitor Backlinks:
   • Use tools like Google Search Console and Ahrefs to monitor your site’s backlinks. If any external sites link to broken pages on your site, contact them to have the link updated.
4. Fix Broken Redirects:
   • Ensure that any 301 redirects you’ve set up are still functioning properly. Over time, even redirected URLs can break if the destination page is moved or deleted.

Fixing broken links is essential for maintaining a user-friendly and SEO-optimized website. By regularly identifying broken internal and external links, updating or redirecting them, and monitoring your link health, you can improve user experience, retain valuable link juice, and avoid any negative impact on your SEO rankings. Regularly using tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and Ahrefs ensures that your link structure remains clean and effective.