Broken Link
A broken link (dead link) is a hyperlink that points to a URL that returns an error — most commonly 404 Not Found — because the destination page no longer exists.
Reviewed by Alexander Yarovenko · Updated: 2026-09-18
What is a Broken Link?
A broken link (also called a dead link or link rot) is a hyperlink that leads to a page that no longer exists or cannot be reached. When a user or crawler follows a broken link, they receive an HTTP error response — most commonly 404 Not Found, but also 410 Gone, 500 Server Error, or a redirect loop.
Types of Broken Links
- Internal broken links — links within your own site pointing to deleted or moved pages
- External broken links — links pointing to other websites that have changed or removed their content
- Broken images and resources — broken
<img src>,<script>, or<link>references
SEO Impact
Broken links harm SEO in several ways:
- Crawl budget waste — Googlebot spends crawl budget on pages that return errors
- Link equity loss — PageRank flowing through internal links cannot reach its destination
- Poor user experience — bounce rates increase when users hit dead ends
- Outbound reputation signal — excessive broken external links can signal a poorly maintained site
How to Find Broken Links
Use the Site Crawler to scan your entire domain for 4xx and 5xx responses. For each broken internal link found, either update the link to the correct destination or remove it. For pages that have permanently moved, implement a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.
Decision guide
| Use when | Fix a broken link by restoring the target, linking to a true replacement, or removing the reference. Sending unrelated missing URLs to the home page does not repair the user journey. |
|---|---|
| How to verify | Crawl internal anchors and embedded resources, separate 4xx from 5xx failures, and prioritize links used in navigation or pages with traffic. Confirm the replacement returns 200 and matches the anchor promise. |