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Broken links on your website and how to find them

SiteSmith · · 6 min read

A broken link is one that leads nowhere: a "page not found" error, a dead PDF, a phone button that does not dial. You can find them for free in three ways: Google Search Console's list of pages it could not find, a free link-checking tool that crawls your site, and an old-fashioned click through every page on your phone. Most fixes are simple: correct the link, forward the old address to the right page, or remove the link.

To a customer, a broken link means the website is not looked after, and they start to wonder about the business too. If the broken link is "Get a quote" or "Book now", you are losing enquiries without knowing it.

To Google, a few broken links are normal and not a disaster. But broken links inside your own site waste the paths Google uses to find your pages, and an important page with no working links to it can be missed. Broken links from other websites to yours, often after a redesign, mean visitors and the trust those links carried end up on an error page.

  • Links between your own pages that point at a page you deleted or renamed. Common after a redesign or a menu change.
  • Old addresses other people link to. A directory, a supplier or an old blog post links to yourbusiness.com/services.html, and that page no longer exists.
  • Links to other websites that have since moved or closed: a supplier's product page, a local association, a manufacturer's warranty page.
  • Files such as a PDF menu, price list or brochure that was replaced and the old file removed.
  • Phone and email links with a typo in the number or address, or an old number that is no longer yours.
  • Images that show as a broken picture icon because the file was moved.
  • Booking, payment or review links to a service you no longer use.

Way 1: Google Search Console's not-found list

If your site is connected to Google Search Console, Google has already done some of the work for you.

  1. Sign in at search.google.com/search-console and pick your site.
  2. Click "Pages" in the left menu (it may sit under "Indexing").
  3. Scroll to "Why pages aren't indexed" and look for "Not found (404)".
  4. Click it to see the list of addresses Google tried and found missing.

Each one is an address Google knows about, from your own pages, your old sitemap or other sites, that now shows an error. Some will be junk, such as addresses with odd characters. Look for real page names you recognize: old services, old blog posts, the previous site's pages.

To see where a broken address is linked from, paste it into the inspection bar at the very top of the screen. The result sometimes lists the pages that referred Google to it.

If you have not set up Search Console, Google Search Console for small business owners explains how; it is free and worth it for this alone.

Link checkers visit your site the way Google does, follow every link, and list the ones that fail. A few free options:

  • The W3C Link Checker, a free web page run by the World Wide Web Consortium. You type your page address and it checks every link on that page, and optionally pages below it. Plain, a bit slow, but it works.
  • Desktop crawlers with a free version, such as Screaming Frog's SEO Spider, which checks up to a few hundred pages for free. You install it on a computer, type your address, and it lists every page with a "404" or other error code. Most small sites fit within the free limit.
  • Browser extensions that check the links on the page you are looking at. Search your browser's extension store for "broken link checker" and read the reviews before installing; pick one with many users.
  • Your builder or plugin. Some WordPress SEO plugins and some hosting dashboards include a broken link report.

What the results mean:

  • 404 Not Found: the page does not exist. Fix or forward.
  • 301 or 302: the link is forwarded somewhere else. It works, but updating it to the final address is tidier.
  • 500 or 503: the other site has an error, possibly temporary. Check again later.
  • Timeout: the other site did not answer. Check it by hand.

Way 3: click through it yourself, on your phone

Tools miss things a person catches: a link that "works" but goes to the wrong page, a booking button that opens a closed account, a phone number that dials your old line. Once or twice a year, with your phone in hand:

  1. Open your home page and tap every link and button on it.
  2. Open every page in the menu, and do the same.
  3. Tap your phone number. Does it start a call to the right number?
  4. Tap your email link. Does it open a new email to the right address?
  5. Open every PDF and download.
  6. Send yourself a message through the contact form.
  7. Tap any "Book", "Review us", "Pay" or "Directions" link.

How to fix each kind

A link on your own site points to a page you renamed. Edit the link to the new address. In most builders you click the linked text, then edit the link in the small box that appears.

An old address that other sites link to. Set up a redirect, which is a rule that sends anyone visiting the old address to the new page automatically. Most builders have a "URL redirects" setting; WordPress has redirect plugins; hosts often have one in the control panel. Point each old address to the closest matching page, not just the home page. Old page addresses: why forwarding them matters explains why this matters so much after a redesign.

A link to another site that has gone. Find the new address on their site and update your link, or remove the link if the page is gone for good.

A missing file. Upload the current version with the same file name if you can, or update the link to the new file. For menus and price lists, a web page is often easier to keep current than a PDF.

A wrong phone number or email. Correct it everywhere it appears: header, footer, contact page and buttons. Check your Google profile and directories while you are at it.

Old pages you deleted on purpose. If nothing better exists to forward them to, it is fine to let them show "not found". Make sure your 404 page helps people find their way: a short message, your phone number and links to your main pages.

Keep it from happening again

  • When you rename or delete a page, set up a redirect from the old address the same day.
  • When you replace a PDF, keep the same file name, or update every link to it.
  • Before a redesign, save a list of all your current page addresses so each one can be forwarded on the new site.
  • Put a reminder in your calendar to run a link check twice a year.

What to do this week

  • Open Search Console's Pages report and look at the "Not found (404)" list.
  • Run a free link checker on your home page.
  • Tap every button and link on your home page and contact page on your phone.
  • Fix the broken links that matter most first: contact, booking, phone, main services.
  • Set up redirects for any old page addresses that other sites still link to.

If your site has more broken pieces than working ones, it may be quicker to start fresh. You can see your site rebuilt first, with every old page address forwarded to its new home.

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