Ever feel like your SEO efforts are stalling despite all your hard work? You’re not alone, and one sneaky culprit might be broken backlinks. These invisible issues often fly under the radar, quietly draining your site’s authority and damaging your rankings without you even knowing it.
I get it—managing a website is a full-time job in itself. You’ve got content to create, strategies to plan, and now you’re supposed to track down broken links too? It sounds exhausting. But here’s the thing: I’ve been deep in backlink strategy for years, and I can tell you from experience that fixing broken backlinks is one of the most overlooked and easy SEO wins out there.
In this guide, you’ll learn exactly what broken backlinks are, why they matter, and most importantly, how to find and fix them.
What Are Broken Backlinks?
Broken backlinks are links from other websites that point to pages on your site, but those pages no longer exist or can’t be accessed properly. When someone clicks on the link, they either see an error message or land on a dead page. It’s like being handed the wrong directions to a house that’s been demolished.
These broken hyperlinks can appear on both:
- Internal links (within the same website)
- External links (pointing to another site)
As someone who works in link building services, I’ve seen firsthand how broken backlinks can quietly chip away at your SEO performance if you’re not paying attention.
Why is Fixing Broken Backlinks Important?
Broken backlinks hurt your SEO, plain and simple. If search engines see that people are linking to dead pages on your site, it sends a signal that your content might be outdated or poorly maintained. That’s not a good look.
Worse, you’re losing valuable link equity, the “SEO juice” from external sites that helps improve your rankings. Every broken backlink is a missed opportunity to pass authority to your site. And in some cases, broken links can even hurt user experience, which leads to higher bounce rates and less trust.
I always tell clients: fixing broken backlinks is one of the easiest wins in SEO. It’s not glamorous, but it works.
What Causes Broken Backlinks?
There are a bunch of reasons why backlinks break over time:
- You moved or deleted a page without setting up a proper redirect.
- The linking site made a mistake in the URL (typo or formatting issue).
- Your site structure changed during a redesign or migration.
- You switched to HTTPS but didn’t update old HTTP links.
- You changed your CMS or permalink structure.
- Technical errors on your server block access.
These things happen a lot. That’s why regular backlink audits are non-negotiable for me as a link building specialist.
What Are Common Types of Broken Backlinks?
Not all broken backlinks are created equal. Here are the most common types I deal with:
- 301 Redirect Chains: When a link goes through multiple redirects before reaching the final page. This weakens link equity and slows down crawling.
- 403 Forbidden Errors: The link points to a page the server refuses to show—usually due to permission issues or security settings.
- 404 Not Found Errors: Classic broken link. The page is gone, and there’s no redirect in place. This is the most common issue I fix.
- Soft 404 Errors: These pages return a 200 OK status but behave like a 404 (empty or irrelevant content). Search engines don’t like this.
- 500 Internal Server Errors: Server misconfiguration or overload can make pages temporarily inaccessible. These are tricky because they can come and go.
- Broken Image Links: These are often overlooked. If an external site links to your image and it’s been removed or moved, that’s a broken asset link.
- Malformed URLs: This happens when the linking site messes up the link—missing slashes, weird characters, or incomplete URLs.
- SSL Certificate Errors: If your site’s SSL certificate expired or wasn’t configured properly, secure links (https://) will break.
How to Spot Broken Backlinks
I use a few different methods to find broken backlinks while link building. You don’t need to be a tech wizard—just consistent.
Google Analytics
While Google Analytics won’t directly show you broken backlinks, it can give you clues. I look for high-bounce landing pages or ones with unusually low engagement. If a top-referral page suddenly drops traffic, that’s a red flag. It could be a broken link or a landing page that no longer exists.
SEO Software
This is where the real magic happens. I use tools like:
- Ahrefs – Their “Best by Links” report is great for spotting 404s with backlinks.
- SEMrush – The Backlink Audit tool flags toxic or broken links.
- Screaming Frog – Good for internal checks and spotting redirect chains.
- Google Search Console – Under “Coverage” and “Links,” you can often catch errors indirectly.
These tools save me hours of manual work.
How To Fix Broken Backlinks
Once I’ve found the broken backlinks, here’s how I fix them:
- Set Up 301 Redirects: If the page is gone but there’s a newer or related page, I create a 301 redirect to pass the link equity.
- Reinstate the Deleted Page: Sometimes the easiest fix is just to bring back the original page (or a similar version) if the link is still valuable.
- Reach Out to the Linking Site: If the link is pointing to a bad or malformed URL, I’ll email the site owner and ask them to update it. Most are happy to fix it.
- Fix Internal Structure or Server Errors: If it’s a technical issue like a 403 or 500, I work with the dev team or hosting provider to fix the root cause.
- Replace Broken Images: If people are linking to your images, make sure they still exist or redirect to the right asset.
Fixing broken backlinks isn’t glamorous—but it’s high-impact. As someone who’s been doing backlink outreach and cleanup for years, I always include this step in any ongoing SEO strategy. It’s a simple way to reclaim authority, improve rankings, and keep your site in good standing with Google.
How Broken Backlinks Fit into Backlink Strategy Overall
Broken link building is one of my go-to link building strategies because it’s efficient, white-hat, and often overlooked. While other methods rely heavily on cold outreach or time-consuming content creation, broken links offer quality backlinks that are just sitting there, waiting to be claimed.
Why Broken Link Building Works
When a website links to a dead page, it’s bad for user experience and SEO. By helping the site owner fix the problem—and offering your own working content in place of the dead resource—you provide value and increase your chances of earning a backlink.
Here’s why this strategy is effective:
- You’re helping site owners improve their link profile
- You earn quality backlinks from relevant pages
- It strengthens your backlink profile without spammy tactics
- It’s scalable with the right tools
How I Find Broken Link Building Opportunities
I use a combination of tools and tactics to spot broken links across the web:
- Broken link checker tools (like Check My Links or Screaming Frog)
- Exporting backlinks reports from platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush
- Analyzing competitors’ referring domains for outdated or broken pages
Once I find a dead resource that used to have strong external links, I:
- Recreate or improve the missing content
- Reach out to the webmasters linking to the broken content
- Suggest replacing the broken link with a link to my updated page
Why It Belongs in Every Link Building Strategy
If you’re serious about building authority, you can’t ignore broken link building. It’s:
- Low-cost (especially compared to paid outreach or link placements)
- High-impact (because the links already have SEO value)
- Sustainable (as new broken link building opportunities pop up constantly)
You can download my link building checklist for more step-by-step tips.
Broken Backlinks FAQ
Here are some questions people also ask me about broken backlinks, backlinking strategy, and SEO more generally.
How does indexing affect broken backlink strategies?
Indexing plays a vital role in broken backlink strategies because search engines can’t rank or recognize a page if it isn’t properly indexed. When broken backlinks point to pages that are missing from the index, it signals a gap in your website’s SEO.
Fixing or reclaiming these broken links can help boost your presence in the SERP by restoring lost link equity. Updating your content to align with search algorithms and ensuring that your website’s SEO and site’s SEO fundamentals are in place increases the chance that both the repaired page and referring domains are crawled and ranked correctly.
Why should I check my website for broken links during a site audit?
A site audit helps uncover error pages, bad status codes, and areas where broken backlinks point to non-functional URLs on your site. These broken links disrupt user experience and prevent search engines from properly crawling your content.
What are the best tools to identify and fix broken backlinks?
To find and fix broken backlinks, you’ll want to use a reliable backlink checker or SEO tool that scans your domain authority, detects lost links, and provides a backlinks report.
Examples include:
- SEMrush: Includes a backlink audit feature that highlights toxic or broken links and suggests fixes.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A powerful desktop crawler that scans websites for broken internal and external links.
- Google Search Console: Free tool from Google that helps you monitor crawl errors and backlinks, including 404 pages.
- Broken Link Checker by Ahrefs: A free tool that checks any webpage for broken outbound links.
- Sitebulb: Offers visual audits with link health checks, making it easier to spot broken links across large sites.
- Dr. Link Check: Cloud-based tool that reports broken, redirected, or suspicious links on websites.
Why is quality content important when replacing broken backlinks?
When replacing broken backlinks, the success of your outreach often depends on the strength of your quality content. If the content you’re suggesting isn’t relevant or high-quality, webmasters and website owners are unlikely to update their links.
Instead, aim to offer a relevant page or FAQs that match the context of the original link. Providing helpful, informative resources not only increases the chances of link placement but also strengthens your backlink profile in the long run.
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