How Do I Quickly Find and Fix Broken Links on My Site?

• Overview
• What I Think
• Deep Dive: Finding and Fixing Broken Links
• 10-Step Action Plan for Website Linking Strategies and Overall Link Health
• Quick Solutions
• About Us

Overview

Crawl errors, specifically broken links, play a role in how effectively search engines can crawl and index your website’s pages. 

That’s why addressing these issues helps your visitors experience seamless navigation while at the same time boosting your site’s overall performance in search. 

When you use the right tools and a structured approach, you can identify and fix link issues.

What I Think

A seamless experience is key for both search engines crawling your site and visitors navigating it. Broken links disrupt this experience. 

Routine audits using site monitoring tools like Google Search Console or Screaming Frog are helpful to uncovering these hidden errors.

Redirecting outdated or moved URLs using 301 redirects helps retain the link equity built over time. Likewise, custom 404 pages help improve the user experience.

Ultimately, maintaining a clean, functional website aligns with SEO best practices and drives better engagement and search engine visibility.

Deep Dive: Finding and Fixing Broken Links

Here are some ways to keep your website in tip-top shape for search engines and visitors: 

Identify the Issues

Identifying broken links is the first step toward improving site crawlability and user experience. 

Tools like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog provide reports on 404 errors and other link issues. 

Establishing a routine audit process addresses issues before they escalate. Incorporating these audits into your regular site maintenance schedule is a best practice.

Monitoring tools can provide alerts for new errors, so you can have quick response times. But you’ll want to ensure these tools are configured correctly to make things go more smoothly. 

When analyzing these reports, you can pinpoint the exact URLs that are causing problems. 

Resolve Broken Links

Once broken links are identified, you can start the repair process. For internal links, you can update the incorrect URLs to the correct destination. 

Implementing 301 redirects is a good solution for managing broken links in most cases. These types of redirects inform both users and search engines about the permanent relocation of content to preserve link equity.

External links require a different approach. You’ll need to contact the linking site to update the URL or implement redirects. 

Address the Root Cause

Addressing the root cause of broken links, whether it’s outdated content or structural issues, can help prevent recurrence. 

This may mean a stronger attention to the way the content is structured and internally linked or organized in the directory. 

The right approach improves crawlability and ensures all content is accessible. 

Keep Sitemaps Up-to-Date

Sitemaps play an important role in guiding search engines to your critical pages, reducing the likelihood of broken links being overlooked. 

Regular updates to the sitemap, paired with proper submissions to search engines like Google and Bing, can help ensure comprehensive coverage. 

Be sure to validate the sitemap through testing tools to confirm accuracy. 

10-Step Action Plan for Website Linking Strategies and Overall Link Health

To ensure your site offers a good user experience for both search engines and users, follow these 10 steps: 

1. Use Google Search Console and/or Bing Webmaster Tools. Navigate to the coverage report for your website.
2. Identify excluded or error pages within the report and note URLs flagged with 404 errors or similar issues.
3. Use Screaming Frog to perform a comprehensive crawl of your site, and cross-reference with other tools to ensure all broken links are identified.
4. Categorize broken links as internal or external for the targeted action. 
5. For internal links, locate pages or elements causing the errors and update incorrect URLs to direct to their correct destinations. Implement 301 redirects for any permanently moved or deleted pages. Test redirects to confirm they are functioning as intended.
6. For external links, contact the respective site owners to request updates.
7. Validate your XML sitemap to include all critical pages and submit the updated sitemap to Google and Bing. Regularly monitor the sitemap for changes and accuracy.
8. Establish an internal linking strategy to strengthen site architecture, and link from high-authority internal pages to newly created or lesser-known pages. Use descriptive anchor text for all links to enhance relevance.
9. Conduct routine audits to identify newly broken links promptly as you use monitoring tools for real-time error detection alerts.
10. Address root causes of recurring errors, such as outdated plugins or scripts.

Need assistance in identifying and fixing crawl issues on your site? 

Contact Us for a Consultation!

Quick Solutions

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About Us

Bruce Clay Inc. has been a leader in SEO and digital marketing innovation since the mid-1990s. We are dedicated to helping businesses thrive with technical SEO complemented by on-page, off-page and content strategies. Learn about our history and expertise on our About Us page.

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

See Bruce's author page for links to connect on social media.