Not every broken link looks the same, and not every one needs the same fix. Before chasing them down, it helps to know exactly what you’re looking for and how to scan a site without opening every single page by hand.
What Actually Counts as a Broken Link
A broken link isn’t just a page that returns a 404. It also covers redirects that loop back to nowhere, internal links pointing at a page you deleted or renamed, and external links pointing at sites that have since restructured or gone offline. Broken image sources behave the same way — the src attribute points at a file that no longer resolves, so visitors see a blank box instead of a picture.
How Often You Should Actually Check
A small site that rarely changes can get away with checking every couple of months. A site that publishes regularly, links out to other sites, or has recently gone through a redesign, a URL restructuring, or a migration needs a check right after that change and then on a regular schedule — monthly is a reasonable default for most growing sites.
Step 1: Scan the Page Instead of Reading It
Clicking through every link on a page one at a time doesn’t scale past a handful of pages. Our Broken Link Checker scans a page’s links for you and flags exactly which ones don’t resolve, so a page that would take twenty minutes to check manually takes a few seconds instead.
Step 2: Separate Internal Links From External Ones
This matters because the fix is different for each. An internal broken link is something on your own site — you have full control over it. An external broken link points at someone else’s page, which means you can’t fix the destination, only what you link to. Sorting the results this way before touching anything makes the next step much faster.
Step 3: Fix Each Type the Right Way
For internal links, the usual options are a 301 redirect to the closest working replacement, or updating the link to point at the page’s new address if you know it. For external links, either swap in a working replacement if one exists, or remove the link entirely rather than leaving visitors at a dead end. Avoid linking to a broken page “temporarily” — it’s easy to forget and leave it that way for months.
Step 4: Recheck After You Fix Anything
A rewritten link can still be broken if there’s a typo in the new URL, so it’s worth running the checker again on any page you’ve just edited rather than assuming the fix worked. This takes seconds and catches mistakes before a visitor does.
Reading the Status Codes
When a checker reports a problem, the code tells you what to do next.
- 200: the link works.
- 301 or 302: the link redirects. A single redirect is fine, but update the link to the final address when you can, and fix chains of several redirects.
- 404: the page was not found. Replace, redirect or remove the link.
- 410: the page is gone on purpose. Remove the link.
- 403: access is blocked. This is sometimes caused by a site refusing automated checks, so open the link in a browser before deleting it.
- 500 or 503: a server error, often temporary. Test again later before assuming the page is dead.
Where Broken Links Hide
Besides body text, check menus, footers, sidebars, buttons, image links and old blog posts. Older posts are the usual culprits, because the sites they link to have had years to change. Also look at links to files such as PDFs and downloads, which are often moved without anyone updating the page.
Prioritizing the Fixes
Start with broken links on your most visited pages and on pages that sit high in your navigation. Fix internal links before external ones, because you control them completely. Then handle broken images, since a missing picture is more noticeable to readers than a dead outbound link. For the reasoning behind this, read our guide on why broken links hurt SEO.
A Monthly Checklist
- Scan your top 10 pages with the Broken Link Checker.
- Fix or redirect every 404 you find.
- Re-scan to confirm the fixes.
- Check the Pages or Coverage report in Search Console for newly reported 404 errors.
Make It a Routine, Not a One-Time Fix
Pairing regular link checks with an up-to-date XML Sitemap helps search engines find your working pages faster, and running key pages through our SEO Page Checker at the same time catches other issues — missing titles, thin content, broken metadata — before they pile up alongside the broken links.