Broken Links: Find and Fix Them for Better Rankings

A broken link is a link that leads nowhere — usually to a page that was deleted or moved and now shows a 404 error. Learning how to find and fix broken links is simpler than most guides make it sound: scan your site with a free tool, then update the link, redirect it, or remove it. And here’s the part nobody tells you: Google says most 404 errors are harmless. You don’t need to chase every single one — just fix the links your visitors actually click.

I learned this the unglamorous way. I once clicked a “pricing” link on a small bakery’s site and landed on a dead page. I didn’t try again; I ordered elsewhere. That bakery lost maybe £30 and never knew. Broken links don’t announce themselves — they just quietly cost you people.

Why Broken Links Cost You Visitors (Even When Google Shrugs)

Let’s clear up the biggest myth first. A 404 error is not a Google penalty. Google’s own documentation says it doesn’t index URLs that return 4xx codes, and its Search Console help adds that 404s are “not necessarily a problem” when a page was simply removed. No ranking hammer falls.

But “not a penalty” isn’t the same as “no cost.” The real costs are quieter:

• Lost readers. Every dead link is a door that won’t open. Some visitors try another page. Most just leave.
• Lost link value. If other websites link to a page of yours that now returns a 404, that backlink no longer helps you — Google can’t pass value through a dead page. (If backlinks matter to you, our guide to getting backlinks the white-hat way explains why every live link counts.)
• Wasted crawling. On bigger sites, dead internal links send Google’s crawler down corridors that don’t exist — instead of to your best pages, which is what good internal linking should do.
• Quiet trust damage. A page full of dead sources looks neglected. A prospect comparing you with two competitors won’t say “that link was broken” — they’ll just feel your site is less reliable.

So the goal isn’t “zero 404s ever.” It’s no dead ends where real people click.

How to Find and Fix Broken Links on Your Site: The Free Toolkit

You need two things: a way to find the broken links, and a plan to fix each one. The finding part is free.

1. Google Search Console (Google’s own view of your site)

Open the Pages report under Indexing and look for the “Not found (404)” row. Click it for example URLs — these are the errors Google itself hit while crawling. Any 404 that still has internal links pointing at it is a dead end inside your own house, and it costs you the most.

2. A site crawler (Screaming Frog, free for small sites)

Screaming Frog’s free tier crawls up to 500 pages — plenty for most small business sites. It walks your site like a search bot and lists every link that returns an error. Sort by the number of pages linking to each dead URL and fix the most-linked ones first. One fix, biggest impact.

3. Your WordPress dashboard (Broken Link Checker / Redirection)

The Broken Link Checker plugin flags dead links in your posts and pages. The Redirection plugin goes further: it logs every 404 hit, showing which missing URLs real visitors requested. Those hits are gold — they reveal broken backlinks from other sites.

The Fix Decision: Update It, Redirect It, or Remove It

Don’t treat every broken link the same. Ask three questions in order:

1. Does the content still exist at a new address? Update the link directly — don’t make visitors hop through a redirect when you control the link. If it’s your own moved page, also add a 301 redirect from the old URL, so any links you missed (or anyone else’s) still land somewhere sensible. A 301 tells Google the move is permanent and passes the old page’s ranking value along. Google’s own guidance on how status codes affect crawling confirms 4xx URLs are simply dropped — so a proper 301 is the rescue move.

2. Is there a close substitute? Link to the most relevant alternative. Here’s the trap: don’t blanket-redirect every dead URL to your homepage. It feels tidy, but visitors get confused and Google may treat the page as a soft 404 — a page that looks fine but satisfies nobody. Redirect only to a page covering the same topic.

3. Neither? Remove it. Delete the link and tidy the sentence. A clean sentence with no link beats a link to nothing. Same for dead external sources: find a live replacement source or drop the reference. And while you’re fixing links, check your anchor text too — the clickable words tell Google what the linked page is about.

The Ones Most Guides Miss: Broken Backlinks

When another website links to a page on your site that no longer exists, you can’t edit their page — but you can still catch the traffic. Add a 301 redirect from the dead URL to the closest live page. Check your 404 log monthly: any missing URL with regular outside hits is a broken backlink. Reclaiming those is genuinely free traffic and free link value.

Keep Broken Links from Coming Back: A 20-Minute Routine

Fixing broken links once is a project. Keeping them fixed is a habit. The routine:

• Redirect before you rename. Whenever a page’s URL changes, set up the 301 the same day. “Later” never comes.
• Use a helpful 404 page. Some visitors will still land on dead pages — give them search, popular pages, and a contact link instead of a bare error.
• Run the check quarterly. A free crawler or plugin, plus a glance at Search Console’s 404 row. Put it on the calendar next to your SEO audit checklist review.
• Recheck after every site change. New theme, new CMS, HTTPS switch, redesign — crawl right after. Migrations are where links go to die.

FAQs

How to find and fix broken links on a WordPress site without code?

Install the free Broken Link Checker plugin to scan your posts and pages, and the Redirection plugin to log 404 hits and create 301 redirects. Then work through each flagged link: update the URL, redirect it to the closest matching page, or remove it. No coding is needed.

Will broken links hurt my Google rankings?

Not directly. Google says 404 errors are not necessarily a problem when a page was removed, and there is no site-wide penalty for them. But broken internal links waste crawl budget, broken backlinks leak link value, and dead links drive visitors away. The business cost is real even when the ranking cost is zero.

Should I redirect all broken pages to my homepage?

No. Redirect only to a page that covers the same topic as the dead page. Redirecting everything to the homepage confuses visitors, and Google may treat those pages as soft 404s, so you gain nothing. With no close match, let the page return a proper 404.

How often should a small business check for broken links?

Once a quarter is enough for most small business sites, using a free crawler or WordPress plugin plus Google Search Console’s Pages report. Check immediately after any redesign, CMS move, or URL change, since migrations are the biggest source of new broken links.

What is the difference between a 404 and a 410 error?

A 404 means “not found” — the page might come back. A 410 means “gone” — the page is deliberately removed, and Google drops it from the index faster. For most small business owners, a 404 on a genuinely removed page is perfectly fine and needs no action.

The Bottom Line

Broken links are normal on any site that lives long enough. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s making sure nobody hits a dead end on a page that matters. Find them with the free tools, fix them in the update-redirect-remove order, reclaim your broken backlinks, and run the check once a quarter. Twenty minutes, four times a year, and your site stays one that people — and Google — can move through without tripping.