Broken backlinks are external links from other websites that direct users to your site but lead to a non-existent page (commonly a 404 error). These broken links harm user experience, SEO performance, and your site’s credibility. This article explains what broken backlinks are, their negative impacts, and actionable steps to resolve them.
What Are Broken Backlinks?
A broken backlink occurs when another website links to a page on your site that has been moved, deleted, or renamed, resulting in a “404 Not Found” error. These broken links frustrate users and waste SEO value from referring domains.
Why Broken Backlinks Are Harmful
Poor User Experience: Visitors encountering a 404 page are likely to leave, increasing bounce rates and reducing engagement.
SEO Damage: Search engines devalue broken links, potentially lowering your site’s authority and rankings. Search engines devalue broken links, potentially lowering your site’s authority and rankings. It also wastes crawl budget, with bots spending time on dead pages instead of indexing valid content.
Lost Referral Traffic: Broken links from high-traffic or authoritative sites mean missed opportunities for visitors.
Damaged Relationships: Websites linking to broken pages may stop trusting your content, harming partnerships.
How to Identify Broken Backlinks
Use Google Search Console: Navigate to “Coverage” > “Excluded” to find crawl errors (404s).
SEO Tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz can audit backlinks and flag broken ones.
Crawl Your Site: Use Screaming Frog or DeepCrawl to identify broken internal and external links.
Preventive Measures
Update Internal Links: Ensure internal links point to valid URLs after site updates.
Use Canonical Tags: Avoid duplicate content issues that may lead to accidental link breaks.
Set Up Alerts: Use Google Analytics or third-party tools to notify you of sudden traffic drops (potential broken links).
Conclusion
Broken backlinks undermine user trust and SEO efforts. By proactively identifying and fixing them through redirects, outreach, and monitoring, you can preserve your site’s authority and traffic. Regular maintenance ensures long-term health for your website’s backlink profile.
FAQs
How often should I check for broken backlinks?
A: Monthly audits are recommended, especially after major site updates.
What if the referring site refuses to update the link?
Redirect the broken URL to a relevant page to retain link equity.
Are internal broken links as harmful as external ones?
They harm user experience and SEO but are easier to fix since you control your site.