# Broken link A broken link is a link whose target no longer answers: a 404 or 410, a server error, a domain that lapsed, or a redirect to an error page. On a small site, this wastes crawl, loses trust and can throw away links you earned. You will spot them in Search Console and with a crawler, then fix or redirect them fast. Updated 2026-09-14 · Source: https://porteur.ai/glossary/broken-link ## What counts as a broken link If a user or crawler loads the URL and does not get a working page, the link is broken. That includes 404 and 410, server errors, domains that expired, and redirects that end on an error page. It is not just the blue text. A broken image src, stylesheet or script URL is also a broken link in practice, but this page focuses on page links you click or crawl. ## The three kinds and why they matter - Internal broken links: links between your own pages. They waste crawl and send visitors to dead ends, for example /guides/geting-started from /guides that 404s. - External broken links: links from your page to other sites. They date the page and hurt trust. If /blog/tools links to a guide on an expired domain, fix or remove it. - Broken backlinks: other sites link to a URL of yours that no longer exists. This wastes links you earned. A redirect to the closest live page recovers that value. ## Where to find them Start with your own errors. Search Console's Page indexing report lists your 404s. Click a 404 URL and you will see examples of pages that link to it if Google found any during crawl. Run a crawler on your site to list every internal link to those 404s and any other non 200 targets. Export the source page and anchor so you can fix at the source. Check external links on your pages with the same crawl, filtered to non 200 external targets. Prioritise links on pages that still get traffic, like /pricing or /blog/compare-x-vs-y. For broken backlinks, use link tools. They list backlinks to dead URLs so you can decide a redirect target. Use your server logs or analytics to see if those dead URLs still get hits. > Rule: fix links at the source when you control the source, redirect only when you cannot or when the URL is gone for good. ## How to fix each kind 1. **Internal broken links** On the source page, update the href to the correct live URL or remove the link. If the target URL changed, add a 301 redirect from the old permalink to the new one. Example: /guides/getting-started replaces a mistyped /guides/geting-started, and the old path 301s to the correct guide. 2. **External broken links on your pages** Find a current, relevant replacement and update the link, or remove it. If it must stay, add a note to the text so users are not misled. Example: swap a dead vendor doc to its new docs homepage. 3. **Broken backlinks to your site** Map each dead URL to the closest still relevant page and add a 301. If no close match exists, redirect to the nearest parent category like /blog, not the homepage unless that is the true equivalent. Then, if the topic deserves a page again, recreate it at the old URL. After changes, recrawl the site section and request indexing for key fixed pages in Search Console. Check the Links report for any rise in links to your live targets. ## Traps to avoid - Chaining redirects. One 301 hop is fine, long chains slow users and can fail. Update the source link instead. - Redirecting everything to the homepage. This is a poor match and can show as soft 404. Pick the closest page or recreate the content. - Letting 404s grow. Set a monthly crawl. Add broken link checks to your release checklist before shipping new pages. - Fixing only the status code. If a redirect lands on an error page, it is still a broken link as of 2026. - Forgetting feeds and emails. Update links in navigation, sitemaps, footers, onboarding emails and help widgets. ## Questions ### What is a broken link? A broken link is a link whose target no longer answers, for example a 404 or 410, a server error, a domain that lapsed, or a redirect that ends on an error page. Users hit a dead end and crawlers waste time on it. ### How do I identify a broken link on my site? Use Search Console's Page indexing report to list 404s, then crawl your site to find the pages that link to them. Filter the crawl for non 200 targets, both internal and external. For backlinks to dead URLs, check a link tool that reports links to 404s. ### Can you give me an example of a broken link? From /pricing, a link to /checkout?plan=pro that returns 404 is a broken internal link. From /blog/tools, a link to a vendor guide on an expired domain is a broken external link. A past campaign page at /black-friday-2024, now deleted, with other sites still linking to it, is a broken backlink. ### How do I view a broken link on a page? Open the page, click the link, and check the final URL and HTTP status. If it is not 200 and does not load a working page, it is broken. A redirect that ends on a 404 is also broken. ### Do broken links affect SEO? Internal broken links waste crawl and weaken site structure, which can hold back discovery. Broken backlinks throw away equity you earned, which a 301 to the closest live page can recover. External broken links mostly hurt user trust. ### Should I 404 or redirect deleted pages? If there is a clear successor, 301 to it. If not, keep a 404 or 410 and remove or update links that point there. For deleted pages with backlinks or traffic, prefer a 301 to the closest relevant page. ## Read next - [Broken link checker](https://porteur.ai/tools/broken-link-checker): Every link on one page, up to 150, fetched eight at a time: the ones that 404 with the words they carry, the ones that redirect and where to, as a list. - [How to fix 404 errors reported in Search Console](https://porteur.ai/guides/how-to-fix-404-errors-in-google-search-console): Decide which 404s to fix, find the ones with links or traffic, choose redirect, restore or 410, clean internal links and sitemaps, and revalidate. - [Broken backlinks: the links you are losing to pages that are gone](https://porteur.ai/guides/broken-backlinks): Links point to deleted pages, wasting authority. Learn how to find broken backlinks, map redirects, when to restore pages, and what not to redirect. - [The Links report in Search Console: what it shows and what it hides](https://porteur.ai/guides/search-console-links-report): What Google’s Links report really shows, why counts differ from Ahrefs or Semrush, and two jobs it is good at on a small site. - [Internal linking for a small site: which pages link to which](https://porteur.ai/guides/internal-linking-for-seo): Decide which pages rank. Build hubs, write clear anchors, fix orphans, and crawl your site to map links you control. - [301 redirect](https://porteur.ai/glossary/301-redirect): A 301 redirect is a permanent move. Use it to send users and bots to a new URL, keep signals, avoid chains, and choose 308 when methods must persist. - [How to find and fix broken links on your site](https://porteur.ai/guides/how-to-find-and-fix-broken-links): Broken links come in three kinds and only one of them costs you traffic. Here is how to find each, what to fix, and the routine that keeps a site clean. Paste your URL to run a free broken link check that reads your site, the searches around it and the rivals on them in about thirty seconds, and shows three findings whole before you connect anything to Porteur. Free check: https://porteur.ai/