Find Broken Links: Causes & Fixes

Broken links are the potholes of the web. They form quietly as pages move and other sites disappear, and every one of them sends a visitor or a crawler into a dead end. This guide covers the whole lifecycle: the different ways to find broken links, why they happen, what they cost you in rankings and trust, and a repeatable process for fixing and preventing them.

What counts as a broken link

A broken link is any link whose destination fails to load. The most common failure is the 404 Not Found response, which the MDN reference describes as the server being unable to find the requested resource. MDN also notes that such links are commonly called broken or dead links, and that their gradual accumulation is known as link rot.

Not every failure is a 404, though. When you go hunting, you will also meet:

• 403 Forbidden, where the server refuses access, sometimes to bots specifically.
• 410 Gone, a deliberate signal that a page was intentionally removed.
• 5xx server errors, which may be temporary outages rather than permanent breaks.
• Connection timeouts and DNS failures, where the destination host no longer responds at all.

Sorting failures by type matters because each one calls for a different response. A temporary 500 might just need a re-check tomorrow, while a 404 on a deleted page needs a real fix today.

Four ways to find broken links

There is no single "right" method. The best approach combines a few, because each catches links the others miss.

1. Google Search Console. Free for any verified site, its Pages report lists URLs Google could not index, including 404s it hit while crawling. This is the closest thing to seeing your site through Google's eyes, and it is where you should start.

2. A desktop crawler. The free tier of Screaming Frog SEO Spider crawls up to 500 URLs and reports the response code for every internal and external link it finds. This gives you a complete site-wide table in one pass for most small sites.

3. Browser-based scanners. Paste a URL and get a quick report without installing anything. Handy for a single page or a fast spot check.

4. Manual review of key pages. For your highest-value pages, actually click the important links. Automated tools miss context, and a two-minute manual pass on your top ten pages catches links that technically resolve but point somewhere wrong.

For a deeper look at reading a crawler's output, our broken link checker guide breaks the report down column by column, and the general-purpose link checker guide covers wider link auditing.

Why links break in the first place

Understanding the causes helps you prevent repeats. Broken links almost always trace back to one of these:

• Deleted content. A page is removed but links pointing to it are left behind.
• Changed URLs. A slug edit, a category rename, or a platform migration changes an address without a redirect from the old one.
• Typos. A mistyped href when the link was first added, which never worked at all.
• External rot. A site you linked to restructures, moves the page, or shuts down entirely. This is the leading cause of outbound breaks and is entirely outside your control.
• Protocol and domain changes. Moving from HTTP to HTTPS or changing domains can strand old absolute links if redirects are not set up.

What broken links cost you

The SEO impact is real but often overstated, so it is worth being precise. Google's documentation on HTTP and network errors explains that URLs returning a 4xx status are not indexed, that indexed URLs returning 4xx get removed from the index, and that crawl frequency for those URLs gradually decreases. It does not claim that a handful of 404s directly lowers the ranking of your healthy pages.

So the damage is mostly indirect. Crawlers spend effort on dead ends instead of your live content, internal link equity leaks into pages that no longer exist, and the navigational structure you built for readers develops holes. The user cost is more direct: a visitor who hits a dead link loses confidence and frequently leaves. On a content site, broken internal links sever the reading paths that keep people engaged. For the full ranking analysis, see broken links: causes, SEO impact and how to fix it and the focused explainer on the 404 Not Found error.

A step-by-step fixing process

Once you have a list, work it methodically rather than randomly. This order is efficient:

1. Group by type. Separate internal 404s, external 404s, redirect chains, and temporary errors. Each group has one repeatable fix.
2. Fix internal 404s first. They are fully in your control and usually the highest impact. Update the link if the target moved, or add a 301 redirect from the old URL to the closest live page if it is gone for good.
3. Repair external links. Search for the resource's new location and update the link, or replace it with a comparable authoritative source, or remove it if nothing suitable exists.
4. Collapse redirect chains. Where a link passes through several hops, point it directly at the final destination. Our HTTP redirect checker guide shows how to trace a chain.
5. Re-test temporary errors. Check 5xx responses again after a day before treating them as broken.

Prevent the next batch

Finding broken links is not a one-time project. New ones appear whenever you edit URLs and whenever the sites you cite change. Build prevention into your workflow:

• Set up a 301 redirect every time you change or delete a URL, as part of the change itself, not as cleanup later.
• Run a full crawl monthly for an active site, or quarterly for a static one.
• Re-crawl immediately after any migration, redesign, or bulk edit.
• Keep watching the Search Console Pages report between crawls, since it updates as Google recrawls you.
• Prefer linking to stable, authoritative sources for outbound links, which rot less often than obscure ones.

Treated this way, broken links become a small recurring chore instead of an overwhelming cleanup, and your site stays navigable for both readers and crawlers.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find broken links for free?

Use Google Search Console's Pages report to see 404s Google encountered, run the free tier of Screaming Frog SEO Spider to crawl up to 500 URLs and check every response code, and use a browser-based scanner for quick single-page checks. Combining these catches more than any one alone.

What causes broken links?

The usual causes are deleted pages, changed or renamed URLs without redirects, typos in the original link, and external sites that restructure or shut down. Protocol and domain changes, such as moving to HTTPS, can also strand old links if redirects are not configured.

Do broken links hurt SEO?

Google removes 4xx URLs from its index and crawls them less often, but does not say a few broken links directly lower the rankings of your healthy pages. The real costs are wasted crawl budget, leaked internal link equity, and a poorer experience for visitors who hit dead ends.

What is the best way to fix a broken internal link?

If the target page moved, update the link to its new address. If it is permanently gone, add a 301 redirect from the old URL to the closest live equivalent, or link to a relevant existing page. Do not leave the broken link in place or redirect everything to the homepage.

How often should I look for broken links?

Run a full scan monthly for an active site and quarterly for a static one, and always re-check right after a migration, redesign, or bulk URL change. Because outbound links rot without warning, ongoing monitoring is more effective than a single audit.