How to find and fix broken links on your site

A broken link is a link that leads to an error page. Someone clicks, expecting your service page or a useful resource. They get a "page not found" message instead. Most of them leave.

This guide shows you how to find those links, which ones to fix first, and how to fix them. You do not need to be technical.

Two kinds of broken links on a small business site

Not all broken links are the same. Sort them into two groups before you start.

Internal broken links

These are links on your site that point to another page on your site. Maybe you renamed "Services" to "What We Do." Maybe you deleted an old promotion page. Any menu item, button, or text link that still points to the old address is now broken.

You control these. Fix them all.

External broken links

These point from your site to someone else's site. A supplier changed its website. A city page moved. A blog you cited shut down. You did not break these, but your visitors still hit the dead end.

Fix these too, but they matter a little less than the first group.

Do broken links hurt your Google rankings?

Here is the honest answer. A page that does not exist is not a ranking penalty on its own. Search Engine Journal's review of Google's guidance says Google's position is that 404 errors do not affect how your other pages perform in search results.

That does not mean you can ignore them all. The same review notes one exception. If other sites link to a page that now returns an error, that page can lose the value those links carried. And if a page you still want is broken, you lose visitors no matter what Google does.

So the goal is not zero errors. The goal is that nobody who wants something on your site hits a dead end.

How to find broken links with free tools

You have three practical options. Use one or all of them.

Google Search Console

Search Console is free from Google. Add your site, then open the page indexing report. Google explains how to read it on its page indexing report help page. Look for pages listed as "Not found (404)." This shows you the broken addresses that Google has actually tried to visit.

It also helps you spot "soft 404" pages. These look empty or say "not found" but tell the browser everything is fine. If you see soft 404s, fix them. Either bring back real content or make the page return a true 404 or a redirect.

A crawler tool

A crawler visits every page on your site like a visitor would. It reports each link that fails. Free versions of popular desktop crawlers work well for small sites. Run it, then export the list of broken links and the page each one sits on.

That second column matters. It tells you where to go to fix the link.

Your own click-through

For a small site, this works too. Open your home page, menu, footer, and top five service pages. Click every link. Do it after any redesign or after you change a page address.

If your site runs on WordPress, a plugin can scan links too. Be careful with those. Some slow your site down. Run the scan, fix what you find, then deactivate it.

Which broken links to fix first

You may end up with a long list. Work through it in this order.

1. Links in your main menu and footer. Every visitor sees these.
2. Links on service, contact, and booking pages. These are where customers decide.
3. Links in your Google Business Profile. Check that your website button lands on a working page.
4. Pages that other sites link to. If a trusted site sends people to a dead page, redirect it.
5. Old blog posts. Fix these last, and only if the posts still get read.

How to fix a broken link

You have four choices. Pick the one that fits.

Update the link

If the page moved, edit the link and point it to the new address. This is the cleanest fix for internal links. Change it where it appears, not just at the destination.

Add a 301 redirect

A 301 redirect sends anyone who visits the old address to a new one. Use it when a page moved or was replaced by a close match. Redirect to the most similar page. Do not send everything to your home page. That confuses visitors and search engines.

Most website platforms let you add redirects in settings. WordPress has plugins for it. Ask your web person if you are not sure.

Remove the link

If the page is gone and nothing replaces it, delete the link. That is fine for an old news item or a link to a closed business. A missing link is better than a broken one.

Replace an external link

For a dead outside link, find a current page that covers the same thing. If you cannot, remove it. Do not link to a page you have not opened.

Make your 404 page useful

Some broken addresses will always exist. A visitor may mistype a web address. An old bookmark may still point to a page you deleted.

Give that visitor a helpful 404 page. Keep it simple:

• A short, friendly message
• Your phone number
• A link to your home page and main services
• A search box if your site has many pages

Make sure the page really returns a 404 status, not a normal "OK" status. A good developer can check this for you. That avoids the soft 404 problem.

A simple schedule you can keep

Broken links come back. Pages move, partners change, and staff edit things.

Set a calendar reminder for each quarter. Check Search Console, run a crawl, and fix what turns up. Also run a check right after any redesign, any change to page addresses, or any time you remove a page.

Removing a page is where many broken links start. Plan the redirect before you delete.

When to ask for help

Hire help if you have hundreds of broken links, a site rebuilt recently, or no access to your redirect settings. This is a quick job for a developer, and it should not take long on a small site.

Ellment Creative is a web design and search visibility studio in St. Louis Park, and you can ask us to check your site for broken links.

Quick checklist

• Open Search Console and look for "Not found (404)" pages.
• Run a crawler and export broken links with their source pages.
• Fix menu, footer, and service page links first.
• Use 301 redirects for moved pages, sent to the closest match.
• Remove links that have no replacement.
• Build a helpful 404 page that returns a real 404 status.
• Repeat each quarter.