What Is A Broken Link?

Date First Published: 20th August 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: SEO

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 3/10

Learn more about what a broken link is in this article.

A broken link, also known as a dead link, is a link that points to a non-existent page or one that is inaccessible to a user. When a user tries to visit a broken link, the server will return an error, often a 404 error, meaning that the requested page cannot be found. Broken links give a poor user experience, especially if a user tries to visit a page and finds out that the link no longer works. They also greatly increase bounce rate as users will often move onto a different site if broken links exist and they cannot find the information they are looking for.

Broken links may cause errors other than 404 errors. These include:

• 400 Bad Request - This means that the server was unable to process the request sent from the browser due to an error on the client side, such as size too large or invalid request syntax.
• Timeout errors - These occur when a user makes a request that takes longer than a server was preparing to wait.
• Invalid URL - For example, a URL using disallowed characters, missing slashes, using the wrong protocol, etc.

Causes Of Broken Links

Broken links can be caused by:

• The website owner mistyping the URL to the targeted page.
• A change in the URL structure of a website without a 301 (permanent) redirect, causing 404 errors. (e.g. 'example.com/article-1.html' may be moved to 'example.com/articles/article-1.html')
• The external site moving, no longer being available, or temporarily being down.
• Links to pages and content that have been moved, deleted, or renamed.
• Expiration of domain name registration.
• Blocking by content filters, firewalls, or geographical location restrictions.

Are Broken Links Bad For SEO?

Broken links can have an effect on bounce rate, the time spent on the website, and user experience. In addition, too many broken links, even broken external links, signal to search engines that the website is outdated, abandoned, and no longer maintained, but there is no strong evidence to support the idea that the number of broken links on a page influences the ranking of it in SERPs. But, they can affect link equity, which is the value and authority that a backlink passes onto another website. For example, if Website A linked to a page located on Website B and Website B deleted the page, the backlink would get broken and no authority would be passed onto Website B.

Broken links have no benefits. Search engines cannot crawl and index broken links that point to pages that do not exist or are inaccessible. If a search engine crawled and indexed a page and the webmaster renamed the page without redirecting the old one to the new one, a searcher could click on the link in the search results and unexpectedly end up with an error. This is bad for the reputation of a website.

How To Fix Broken Links?

Depending on the broken link, there are some options for fixing broken links below:

• For misspelt links: Fix the misspelling or redirect the misspelt link to the correct link.
• For broken links to external sites: Site owners have no control over broken external links. However, too many broken external links can indicate to users that a website is abandoned and no longer maintained. Removing the external link or replacing the link with a valid external link from another source will fix this issue.
• For moved or renamed pages: Redirect the old link to the new link so that users can quickly find it. Also, update all links pointing to it.
• For links unnecessary for a website: Completely removing the broken link is the easiest option for dealing with broken links. This option should only be chosen if the internal or external link is no longer needed.

How To Check A Website For Broken Links?

For small websites, manual checks could be okay. However, for larger websites, it will take a very long time to manually inspect every link and check that it points to the correct page without any errors. Tools, such as Google Analytics, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Ahrefs, Dead Link Checker, SEMrush, Online Broken Link Checker, and Dr. Link Check can scan a website for broken links. If using a CMS, such as WordPress or Joomla, there are plugins for finding broken links, such as Broken Link Finder, which finds and verifies links posted on a website.