How to Find and Fix Broken Links: The Complete 2026 Guide

Foundations

What Are Broken Links and Why Do They Matter?

A broken link is any hyperlink that leads to a page returning an error status code — most commonly 404 Not Found, but also 410 Gone, 500 Server Error, and other failure states. They fall into two categories:

• Internal broken links: Links from one page on your site to another page on your site that no longer exists. These are fully within your control to fix.
• External broken links: Links from your pages to other websites that have moved, deleted content, or shut down. You control the link but not the destination.

The SEO impact of broken links

Search engines penalize broken links indirectly but meaningfully. Here is what actually happens when Googlebot encounters a 404 on your site:

1. Crawl budget is wasted. Googlebot spends a crawl request on a page that returns nothing useful. For large sites, this can mean important pages are crawled less frequently.
2. Link equity is lost. When you link to a 404 page, the PageRank signal you intended to pass goes nowhere. If the 404 is a page that used to exist and accumulate links, all that equity disappears until you redirect it.
3. Trust signals degrade. A site with many crawl errors appears poorly maintained. Google's quality systems factor in the overall health of a site's technical infrastructure. For more on how this fits into your broader audit, see our technical SEO audit guide.
4. User experience suffers. Real users clicking broken links leave your site immediately and may never return. High bounce rates and poor engagement metrics compound the ranking damage.

Finding Broken Links

How to Find Broken Links on Your Website

There are several methods to find broken links, from instant free tools to enterprise-grade crawlers. Use more than one — each catches different types of errors.

Method 1: Use a dedicated broken link checker

The fastest way to get started. Foglift's broken link checker crawls your site and returns a full list of broken internal links, 404 pages, and dead external links in seconds. You get actionable results without installing anything or creating an account.

For a complete scan, enter your homepage URL and let the tool recursively follow links across your entire site. Review the output sorted by severity — internal 404s first, then redirect chains, then external broken links.

Method 2: Google Search Console Coverage report

Google Search Console (GSC) is an authoritative source because it shows you exactly which URLs Google has tried to access and failed. Navigate to Pages → Not Found (404) to see every 404 error Google encountered while crawling your site.

The advantage of GSC is that it prioritizes pages Google has actually attempted to crawl — meaning these are URLs that may have external links, are in your sitemap, or were previously indexed. Fix these first.

GSC also shows you the "linked from" data for many 404 pages, letting you identify exactly which pages are linking to the broken URL.

Method 3: Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free up to 500 URLs)

Screaming Frog is the industry-standard desktop crawler. The free version audits up to 500 URLs. After crawling, filter by response code to see all 4xx and 5xx errors. It shows you both the broken destination URL and every page on your site that links to it — essential for bulk fixes.

Method 4: Server log analysis

Your web server logs every request, including requests that return 404 errors. Analyzing logs reveals broken links that other tools miss — including those triggered by external sites, email newsletters, or social media posts that link to pages you deleted. Check your hosting control panel or ask your developer for access to error logs filtered by 404 status codes.

Method 5: Browser extensions for on-page checking

For checking individual pages while browsing, tools like the "Check My Links" Chrome extension highlight broken links in red as you view any page. Useful for a quick spot-check before publishing new content or after editing an existing page.

Fixing Broken Links

How to Fix Broken Links and 404 Errors

The right fix depends on why the link is broken and what the destination was. Work through this decision tree for every broken link you find.

Fix 1: Set up a 301 redirect (most common fix)

If a page was moved, renamed, or restructured, a 301 (permanent) redirect is the correct fix. A 301 tells search engines and browsers "this page has permanently moved to this new URL" and passes approximately 99% of the original page's link equity to the destination.

How to implement 301 redirects depends on your platform:

• Next.js: Add an entry to redirects() in next.config.js
• Nginx: Add a return 301 /new-url; directive in your server block
• Apache: Add Redirect 301 /old-url /new-url to .htaccess
• WordPress: Use the Redirection plugin or Yoast SEO Premium
• Vercel / Netlify: Add redirects to vercel.json or _redirects file
• Shopify: Use the URL Redirects section in the Admin dashboard

After setting up redirects, verify each one works and check that you haven't created a redirect chain (A → B → C). Each additional hop dilutes link equity and slows page load. Chains should be collapsed to direct redirects (A → C).

Fix 2: Restore the deleted page

If a page was accidentally deleted or unpublished and it had valuable inbound links, restoring it may be the best option. Check your CMS trash, version history, or a Wayback Machine snapshot of the page's previous content and republish it at the original URL.

Fix 3: Update the source link

For broken external links (links on your site pointing to other websites), setting up a redirect on the destination is not possible. Instead:

1. Find the current live version of the content (search for the article title or check the Wayback Machine).
2. If a live equivalent exists, update your link to point to it.
3. If no equivalent exists, remove the link entirely or replace it with a link to a comparable resource you control or trust.
4. Never leave a dead external link in your content — it signals poor maintenance and may confuse users.

Fix 4: Create a custom 404 page

Even after fixing all known broken links, some 404 errors are inevitable — mistyped URLs, old bookmarks, and links from external sites you cannot control. A custom 404 page converts these dead-ends into opportunities:

• Include a search bar so users can find what they were looking for
• Link to your most popular pages or categories
• Keep your site's navigation so users can explore rather than leaving
• Add a friendly message that explains what happened
• Do NOT return a 200 status code on your 404 page (this creates a "soft 404" which confuses Google)

Fix 5: Use 410 for permanently removed content

If content is genuinely gone and will never return, consider returning a 410 Gone status instead of 404. A 410 is a signal to Google that the page has been intentionally and permanently removed, which causes Google to deindex it faster than a 404 would. Use this for deleted products, closed accounts, or content removed for compliance reasons.

Prioritization

How to Prioritize Which Broken Links to Fix First

Not all broken links are equally damaging. If you have hundreds to fix, use this priority order to maximize SEO impact per hour of work.

Priority 1: 404 pages with inbound external links

Pages that other websites link to are the most valuable to fix. Every backlink pointing to a 404 is wasted link equity. Check your backlink tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Search Console's Links report) to identify which of your 404 pages have external links pointing to them. Redirect these to the most relevant live page.

Priority 2: Broken links on high-traffic pages

A broken link on a page that gets 10,000 visits per month affects far more users than one on a page with 10 visits. Cross-reference your broken link list with Google Analytics to identify high-traffic pages with broken outgoing links. Fix these next to protect user experience.

Priority 3: Broken internal links on key conversion pages

Broken links on landing pages, product pages, pricing pages, or checkout flows directly reduce conversions. Audit these pages manually even if automated tools have already run — dynamic content can introduce new broken links that crawlers miss.

Priority 4: Broken links from your internal linking structure

Review your on-page SEO checklist against your internal links. If hub pages or cornerstone content link to 404s, the link equity flowing through those pages is being lost. Fix these to restore your technical SEO health.

Priority 5: Remaining broken external links

External broken links matter less for your crawl budget (they are on other domains) but still hurt user experience and your site's perceived quality. Work through them systematically after handling the higher-priority items.

Prevention

How to Prevent Broken Links From Accumulating

Fixing broken links is reactive. The better long-term strategy is to minimize how many new ones appear. These practices reduce broken link accumulation significantly.

Set up redirects before deleting or renaming pages

The single biggest source of internal broken links is page deletion or URL restructuring without redirects. Build this into your editorial workflow: before deleting or renaming any page, check what links to it (using an internal link report in Screaming Frog or your CMS) and set up a redirect to the new destination.

Maintain a redirect log

Keep a spreadsheet or a CMS field that tracks: old URL, new URL, date of change, and reason. This prevents duplicate redirects (A → B → C) from building up over time as you redirect pages that were already redirected.

Audit external links periodically

External websites change without warning. Pages you link to in articles published two years ago may no longer exist. Run a monthly external link audit using your broken link checker and update stale links proactively.

Link to stable resources

When adding external links, prefer linking to established, stable resources rather than blog posts or landing pages that might disappear. Prefer authoritative sources: government sites, academic institutions, well-funded companies, and Wikipedia. These resources are far less likely to return a 404 six months later.

Monitor with automated alerts

Manual audits catch existing broken links but not new ones. Set up automated monitoring so you are alerted when new 404 errors appear. Foglift's monitoring checks your site regularly and sends email alerts when broken links are detected — letting you fix issues within hours rather than weeks.

Advanced

Advanced Broken Link Strategies

Broken link building

Broken links on other websites are not just a problem — they are a link building opportunity. The "broken link building" strategy works like this: find pages on other sites in your niche that link to dead resources, create equivalent content on your own site, and contact the site owner to suggest updating their broken link to your live resource.

This is one of the highest-quality white-hat link building techniques because you are providing genuine value (helping them fix a broken link) rather than cold-pitching for a link. Use tools like Ahrefs' Broken Link feature or check competitor domains for 404 pages with backlinks.

Recovering lost link equity from deleted pages

If you deleted pages months or years ago that had valuable backlinks, you may be sitting on a significant amount of wasted link equity. Use Ahrefs or Semrush to run a "Best by Links" report filtered to 404 status. Any 404 page with external backlinks is link equity waiting to be recovered — set up a 301 redirect to the most relevant live page and that equity starts flowing again within days.

Handling broken links from site migrations

Site migrations — moving to a new CMS, changing your URL structure, switching from HTTP to HTTPS — are the most common source of mass broken links. Before any migration:

1. Crawl your entire old site and export all URLs
2. Map every old URL to its new equivalent (or a close substitute)
3. Implement all redirects before the migration goes live
4. Crawl the new site immediately after launch to catch any missed redirects
5. Monitor GSC for a spike in 404 errors in the two weeks following migration

Broken Link Fix Priority Checklist

Use this checklist when working through your broken link audit results:

Frequently Asked Questions

Bottom Line

Broken links are one of the most fixable SEO problems on your site. Unlike slow site speed or weak backlinks, fixing 404 errors is straightforward: find them, redirect or remove them, and monitor so they don't pile up again. The link equity you recover, the crawl budget you save, and the user experience you improve all compound over time into measurably better rankings.

Start with a free broken link scan with Foglift to see exactly how many 404 errors are currently on your site. Most websites have more than they realize.