Broken Links SEO
A broken link is a hyperlink that no longer leads to a working page or file and typically returns an error such as 404 Not Found or 410 Gone.
Key takeaways
- Broken links return 404 or 410 errors.
- They hurt user experience and waste crawl budget.
- Common after URL changes without redirects.
- Fix with 301 redirects or update the link.
- Monitor with Google Search Console or crawlers.
Broken links are a routine technical issue that can harm user experience and waste crawl budget.
Example
- You have a blog post linking to a product page.
- The product page URL changes from
/product/oldto/product/new. - The old link now returns a 404 error.
- Visitors clicking the link see an error page instead of the product.
When should I use this?
- After deleting or renaming pages without setting up 301 redirects.
- During or after a site migration or URL structure change.
- When running a regular SEO audit to maintain site health.
- When you notice a drop in organic traffic or user engagement.
What it is not
- Not a penalty: broken links alone don't trigger manual actions.
- Not the same as a 404 page: a 404 is the error; a broken link is the cause.
- Not only internal: external links and resources (images, PDFs) can also break.
- Not always fixable: some broken links point to deleted external content you can't control.
Quick start
- Use Google Search Console to find "Not found" URLs.
- Run a crawler like Screaming Frog to list all broken links.
- For each broken link, decide: update the URL or set a 301 redirect.
- If the page is intentionally removed, let it return a 410 Gone.
- Re-crawl to confirm fixes.
Common mistakes
- Treating every 404 as a problem instead of distinguishing between intentional removals and fixable broken links.
- Deleting or renaming URLs without mapping redirects first.
- Ignoring broken links in navigation, footers, image links, PDFs, and other non-body content.
- Fixing only internal links and forgetting broken outbound links or backlinks.
Next step
FAQ
Are all 404 errors bad for SEO?
No. Intentional 404s (e.g., deleted products) are fine. The problem is broken links that should still work.
Do broken external links hurt my SEO?
They don't directly hurt rankings, but they degrade user trust and can signal poor maintenance.
Related topics
Sources
- Google Search Central — Best source for how Google handles crawl errors, redirects, indexing, and site maintenance issues.
- Google Search Console Help — Useful for documenting where broken or not-found URLs appear in reporting.
- Delante SEO Definition — Concise definition of broken links and basic SEO context.
- SEOlvl Glossary — Clear technical definition that includes error-status behavior.
- SEMrush Blog — Practical SEO explanation of causes, detection, and fixes.
- Backlinkor — Broken Link Building — Step-by-step broken-link outreach method and common pitfalls.
Reviewed by Lucía Marín, Founding editor.