# Broken backlinks: the links you are losing to pages that are gone

If other sites link to pages you deleted, you are leaking authority and trust. You can find those broken backlinks fast, fix them in one pass, and stop the loss. This guide is for founders who can run a crawl, export from a backlink tool, and ship redirects in hours, not weeks.

Updated 2026-09-13 · Source: https://porteur.ai/guides/broken-backlinks

## Why broken backlinks cost you

A backlink to a 404 or a redirected dead end gives you little or nothing. The linker meant to endorse a page that no longer exists. That weakens your topical authority and wastes crawl budget on errors. It also harms users who click those links and bounce.

On a small site, every solid backlink counts. If five good links now hit 404s, that is the weight of a new feature launch gone. Fixing them is low effort with clear gain, and you can do it once a quarter.

## What counts as a broken backlink

- A link to a URL that returns 404 or 410.
- A link to a URL that now redirects, but the redirect is off topic or loops.
- A link with a typo or out-of-date path that never existed.
- A link to a page you noindexed after launch.

Example: a blog links “yourproduct.com/guides/getting-started” but you renamed it to “/guide/getting-started”. The old path returns 404. That is a broken backlink until you map it to the right place.

## Find broken backlinks quickly

You need three sources. A backlink tool for external links and target status. Your crawler for internal discovery and redirect chains. Your 404 logs from the server or analytics for real user hits. Combine them once, then fix in a batch.

1. **Backlink tool export** Export your backlinks with the target URL and target HTTP status. Filter to targets that are 404, 410, 5xx, or have 3xx and long chains. Save the linking page, anchor and first seen date.
2. **Site crawl** Crawl your domain. Export 3xx chains, 4xx pages, canonicalised URLs that are not indexed, and any page with high inlinks that is non-200. Note pages that should exist but do not resolve cleanly.
3. **404 and 410 logs** Pull the last 28 days of 404 and 410 hits from your server logs or error tracking. Group by path. Mark those with referrers from external domains.
4. **Join and prioritise** Merge by the dead target URL. Score each by referring domains and recent hits. Prioritise anything with multiple referring domains or live traffic. Leave edge cases for later.

> Rule: do the minimum change to make the original link useful to the user who clicks it.

## Use a backlink tool to surface dead targets

Most backlink tools let you filter by target status and export. You want the rows where the target on your domain is not 200. Do not guess from counts alone. Download the detail and inspect a few links by hand to confirm the page is truly gone or wrong.

- Filter: target HTTP status is 404 or 410.
- Filter: target HTTP status is 301 or 302, with more than one hop in the chain.
- Include: source URL, anchor, target URL, first seen, last check, referring domain.

Check a few examples. If a source page links to “/pricing-2022” that now 404s, yet you have “/pricing”, plan a redirect. If a source links to “/features/abc” and the product is gone, a redirect to a category or successor feature may fit, or you retire the link and restore a summary page instead. Decide case by case, with the user in mind.

## Crawl reports and 404 logs to catch what tools miss

Backlink indexes lag and can miss minor blogs or fresh posts. Your own crawl and logs close the gap. A crawl shows broken internal links and long redirect chains you created. 404 logs show real users hitting old paths from bookmarks, emails and embeds that no tool knows about.

1. **Crawl output to check** Export: 3xx inlinks and chains, 4xx URLs with inlinks, non-indexable pages that receive inlinks, and duplicate content that now canonicals away.
2. **Server or analytics logs** Group 404s by path for the last 28 days. Pull referrer where available. Prioritise 404s with external referrers or high hit counts.
3. **Sanity check in a browser** Open the dead URL, confirm status. Click the source page and see the context of the anchor. Decide the best destination based on the promise of the anchor text.

## The redirect rule per page

Map each dead URL to the single best live page that fulfils the same intent. Use a 301. Keep the chain to one hop. If nothing matches, restore the page or return 410 and accept the loss.

| Dead URL | Redirect to | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| /guides/getting-started | /guide/getting-started | Same content moved, fix the path. |
| /pricing-2022 | /pricing | Legacy pricing page, modern equivalent exists. |
| /features/alpha | /features/beta | Direct successor feature replaces alpha. |
| /blog/how-we-measure-lcp | /guides/largest-contentful-paint | Topic moved to a maintained guide. |
| /changelog/v1.2 | /changelog | Old entry, top of changelog helps user find it. |

Keep the redirect decision tight to the anchor. If the anchor says “API rate limits”, the target must explain rate limits, not your generic docs index. If two candidates exist, choose the more specific page even if it has lower traffic. The linker vouched for a topic, not your brand.

> One hop only. If you must replatform again later, update the rule so the old dead URL still lands on the final page in one step.

## When to restore the page instead of redirecting

Restore the page if the link is to unique content that you removed but people still seek. That can be a benchmark, a PDF, an API reference, or a blog post that the web still cites. Do a light refresh, add a banner with the current state, and keep the URL. You avoid mismatched redirects and keep the original promise intact.

- Bring back the exact URL if you can.
- If you must move it, restore then 301 to the new canonical page.
- Add a note at the top that it is archived or updated.

Example: you deleted “/whitepaper/edge-caching.pdf”. There are ten referring domains to that file. Restore the PDF or publish a HTML version at the same path. If you only redirect to “/guides/edge-caching”, some readers will not get the cited figures and will leave. Restoring keeps trust and usefulness.

## Do not redirect everything to the home page

A mass redirect to the home page breaks user intent and can be treated like a soft 404 as of 2026. You do not earn credit for piling unrelated links onto the root. You frustrate users who expected a specific answer and got your hero banner.

- If a precise match exists, use it.
- If a near match exists, prefer it over the home page.
- If nothing matches, restore or 410. Do not dump to root.

Example: a dead “/blog/schema-examples” should go to “/guides/structured-data-checker” or a schema tutorial, not “/”. A dead “/partners/agency-xyz” should go to “/partners”, not “/”. Match intent or retire gracefully.

## Ship the fixes: mapping, testing and monitoring

1. **Create a redirect map** Build a CSV with from, to, rule type. Keep it under source control with a date. Note why you chose the target, in one phrase.
2. **Implement 301s** Use your platform’s config. Test a sample in a browser and with a header checker. Ensure the final target is 200, indexable and not blocked.
3. **Fix internal links** Update menus, footers, docs and blog posts that still point to the old URL. Internal 301s waste crawl budget and slow users.
4. **Test chains and loops** Run a crawl. Ensure no from URL returns 200, no loops occur, and each redirect is one hop.
5. **Request re-crawl** Fetch the from URLs in Search Console to speed up processing. This helps move link signals faster.

A fixed page looks like this: the old “/pricing-2022” now 301s to “/pricing” in one hop, “/pricing” is 200, canonical to itself, and appears in your links report as the target of those backlinks over time. Your 404 log is quiet for “/pricing-2022” after a week.

## Measure the impact and keep a simple cadence

Track three things. The count of referring domains that now point to live 200 pages. The 404 rate on the fixed paths. The organic traffic to the mapped targets over the next 28 days. Document the batch and compare to the previous one.

- Re-run your backlink export monthly or quarterly.
- Review 404 logs every 28 days.
- Add redirect map updates to your release checklist for any URL change.

## Avoid new broken backlinks

You create most broken backlinks by changing URLs without a map. Lock your URL patterns and only change paths when content truly moves. When you must rename, ship the redirect the same day and update internal links in the same pull request.

- Freeze slugs after publish. Edit the content, not the path.
- Ship redirects with any rename or replatform.
- Use a staging crawl to catch future 404s before deploy.
- Keep PDFs and assets stable, or version them with clear successors.
- Update external docs and partner pages you control when URLs change.

## Questions

### Is 404 a broken link?

If a page returns 404 and another site links to it, that is a broken backlink. Decide whether to restore the page or 301 it to the best matching live page. If neither fits, 410 is fine and you accept the loss.

### How do I fix broken backlinks in SEO?

Export backlinks to dead targets, map each dead URL to the best live page, implement 301 redirects, and update your internal links. Restore pages when the original content is still sought. Avoid mass redirects to the home page.

### How can I view broken links to my site?

Use a backlink tool to filter targets on your domain that return 404, 410 or long 3xx chains. Crawl your site for chains and missing pages. Check your 404 logs for paths with external referrers. Merge the lists and prioritise by referring domains and traffic.

### Can you give an example of a broken backlink?

A tutorial links to “yourproduct.com/guides/getting-started”, but you renamed it to “/guide/getting-started” without a redirect. The link now returns 404. Fix it with a 301 from the old path to the new guide.

### Should I redirect deleted pages to my home page?

No. That often behaves like a soft 404 and breaks user intent. Redirect to the closest matching page or restore the content. If no match exists, return 410 and move on.

### When should I restore a deleted page instead of redirecting?

Restore when the link points to unique content that people still reference, like a white paper, a benchmark or a versioned doc. Put an update note on it. Only redirect if a clear updated equivalent exists and you preserve the context.

## Read next

- [How to get backlinks for a small product site](https://porteur.ai/guides/how-to-get-backlinks-for-a-small-site): What to build, who to ask and how to measure. A founder’s plan to earn backlinks without spam or spend, with examples and a checklist.
- [Referring domains: what the count means and what moves it](https://porteur.ai/guides/referring-domains): Learn what referring domains are, how they differ from backlinks, why breadth beats volume, how tools count them, and what actually moves the number.
- [Backlink gap: the sites that link to your rivals and not to you](https://porteur.ai/guides/backlink-gap): Find the sites that link to rivals and not to you. Read the page, make the ask, and track new links. A practical backlink gap workflow.
- [Redirect checker](https://porteur.ai/tools/redirect-checker): Follow a URL's redirects hop by hop: each status and destination, the time each took, the kind of hop, meta and script redirects, one rule to replace it.
- [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.
- [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.
- [Broken link](https://porteur.ai/glossary/broken-link): A broken link sends people and crawlers to an error. See the types, where to find them, and the exact fixes for a small site.
- [Link gap](https://porteur.ai/glossary/link-gap): Link gap means sites that link to your rivals but not to you. Here is why it matters, how to find it, and how to turn it into links.

Paste your URL to see which searches mention you, where rivals earn links you do not, and three broken backlink fixes to ship in about thirty seconds. Free check: https://porteur.ai/