How Do You Find and Fix Broken Links on Your Website?

To find and fix broken links, run a free link scan, list every page that returns a 404 error, then either update the link, redirect the old address to a relevant page, or remove the link. It is a small job that protects your visitors’ trust and your search results, and most businesses can do it in an afternoon.

Why broken links matter

A broken link is a link that leads nowhere. The visitor clicks, and instead of the page they expected, they see a “page not found” message, known as a 404 error. It feels like walking up to a shop and finding the door locked.

A few stray 404s will not wreck your rankings. Google has said they are a normal part of the web. But lots of them, especially on pages people actually visit, send the wrong signal. Visitors leave, enquiries get lost, and search engines waste time crawling dead ends instead of your good pages.

Where broken links come from

Most broken links appear for ordinary reasons, and none of them mean you did something wrong:

• You renamed or deleted a page, post or product without setting up a redirect.
• You changed a page’s web address (slug) after it had already been shared or linked to.
• Another website you link to moved, closed or removed the page.
• A typo crept into a link someone typed by hand.
• A site redesign or move changed your address structure.

There are two kinds to look for. Internal broken links point to pages on your own site, and you can fix those completely. External broken links point to other websites, and you can only update or remove them.

How to find broken links

You do not need to click through every page by hand. Try these free options:

1. Google Search Console. Open the Pages report and look for the reason “Not found (404)”. This shows addresses Google tried to visit and could not reach.
2. A crawler tool. Free desktop tools such as Screaming Frog (free up to 500 addresses) scan your whole site and list every broken link, along with the page it sits on.
3. An online link checker. Several free web-based checkers will scan a smaller site and email you a report.
4. A WordPress plugin. Plugins can scan from inside your dashboard, but they can slow a site down, so run them occasionally and then switch them off.

Start with the pages that matter most: your homepage, services, contact page and top blog posts. A broken link in your main menu is far more costly than one buried in a post from 2019.

How to fix them

For each broken link, choose the simplest fix that helps the visitor:

• Update the link if the page still exists at a new address, or if the link just has a typo.
• Add a 301 redirect if one of your own pages has moved. This sends visitors and search engines automatically to the new page. We cover the steps in our guide to setting up 301 redirects in WordPress.
• Remove the link if there is no sensible replacement, such as a reference to a business that has closed.
• Replace it with a link to a similar, trusted source if you still want to back up your point.

Avoid redirecting every dead page to your homepage. It confuses visitors and search engines alike. Send people to the closest relevant page instead.

Give your 404 page a job to do

Some 404s will always slip through, so your error page is worth a little care. A good one is friendly, says plainly that the page could not be found, and offers a way forward. Include your main menu, a search box and links to your most popular pages or your contact details. A touch of your usual personality helps too, as long as it does not get in the way.

If your theme’s default 404 page is bare, it can usually be improved in the block editor without any code. Our WordPress web design work always includes a considered error page for this reason.

Make it a habit, not a one-off

Links break slowly over time, so a quick check every quarter is plenty for most small business sites. Add it to your regular website upkeep alongside updates and backups. It also pairs well with a content review, because you will often spot out-of-date pages while you are fixing the links on them.

Before any big change, such as renaming pages or redesigning, make a list of your current addresses and plan redirects first. That one step prevents most broken links before they happen.

Want a hand?

If you would rather someone else tidy this up, our team can audit your site, set up the right redirects and make sure your 404 page helps rather than frustrates. Call us on 02 9834 4119 or get in touch and we will take a look.