What Are Broken Links in SEO? Complete Guide to Finding, Checking & Fixing Them

Broken links are one of those issues that quietly accumulate in the background until they start harming both your users and your rankings. Pages get deleted, URLs change, or someone mistypes a slug, and suddenly visitors are landing on 404 pages instead of the content they expected.

Understanding what broken links are, why they matter for SEO, and how to check and fix them is essential for maintaining a healthy, scalable website. This is especially true if you work with large content libraries or dynamic platforms such as Webflow.

What are broken links in SEO?

Definition of a broken link

In SEO, when people ask “what are broken links in SEO,” they are usually talking about links that no longer lead to a valid, accessible page.

A broken link (also called a dead link) is a hyperlink that returns an error instead of a normal page. Common cases include:

• A page returning a 404 “Not found”
• A page returning 410 “Gone”
• A server error (5xx) that makes the page unreachable

For users, this simply looks like a link that “doesn’t work.” For search engines, it is a signal that your site is not being maintained consistently.

Types of broken links

There are several types of broken links that can exist on a website:

• Internal links: pointing to another page on the same domain
• External links: pointing from your site to a different domain
• Asset links: images, scripts, CSS, or files that no longer exist

Internal broken links are especially important for SEO because they affect how search engines understand and navigate your site structure. External broken links mainly impact user trust and perceived quality.

Common causes of broken links

Broken links usually appear over time as your website evolves. Typical causes include:

• URLs changed during a redesign or migration without proper redirects
• Old blog posts or product pages deleted from the site
• Typos when manually adding URLs to buttons or text links
• Webflow or CMS structure changes that modify paths or collections
• External resources removed, changed, or moved by other site owners

Because these changes happen gradually, you often do not notice broken links until they start to accumulate or a user reports them.

Why broken links are a problem for SEO

Broken links are not just a minor technical inconvenience. They affect the three pillars that matter most for a website: user experience, crawlability, and authority.

Impact on user experience

Users expect links to work. When they click and hit a 404, it creates friction and frustration. On key pages such as product, pricing, or sign-up, this can directly translate into lost leads or revenue.

Too many broken links can lead to:

• Higher bounce rates
• Lower time on site
• Less trust in your content or brand

Even if your content is strong, dead links make the site feel neglected.

Impact on crawlability and indexing

Search engines use crawlers to discover and index your content. Broken links inside your internal linking structure create dead ends for these crawlers.

Over time, this can lead to:

• Wasted crawl budget on URLs that no longer exist
• Important pages being harder to discover because link equity stops early
• Incomplete indexing of your content, especially on large sites

If your internal links are broken, your own architecture is working against you.

Impact on rankings and authority

Broken links send negative quality signals at scale. While a few dead links on a big site are normal, large numbers of them can:

• Dilute the flow of internal PageRank across your site
• Reduce the SEO value of backlinks pointing to URLs that now return 404
• Make your site look less reliable in the eyes of search engines

When people ask “what are broken links in SEO,” the full answer is that they are not just a technical issue, but also a structural and strategic one. They limit the impact of your content and your link-building efforts.

How to check broken links on your website

Knowing how to check broken links is the first step to fixing them. There are several approaches, depending on the size and complexity of your site.

Manual checks for small sites

If you operate a small site with a limited number of key pages, manual checks can go a long way:

• Regularly click through your main navigation and footer links
• Check important landing pages, conversion flows, and top blog posts
• When editing content, verify that new links work before publishing

This approach is simple, but it does not scale well. As soon as your site grows beyond a few dozen pages, you need tooling.

Using SEO and link checking tools

For larger properties, the most effective way to find broken links is to use crawlers and dedicated link checkers. These tools simulate a search engine crawling your website and report any URLs returning errors.

Typical options include:

• Technical SEO crawlers that scan all internal links
• SEO platforms that periodically audit your site health
• Browser extensions or CMS add-ons that highlight broken links

On Webflow projects specifically, it is common to rely on the Designer and manual testing. However, this leaves many internal links hidden inside rich text blocks, collection lists, and old pages that are not frequently opened.

Automating broken link detection with link management

As your site grows, broken links become a continuous problem rather than a one-time task. This is where link management and automation are useful.

Automated link management:

• Monitors your internal links on a recurring basis
• Alerts you when new broken links appear
• Centralizes all links so you can see where each URL is used

For Webflow websites, this kind of automation is difficult to achieve natively. Tools such as LinkerFlow’s new Link Management feature are designed to detect broken internal links across your Webflow projects and surface where they live, so you can act on them quickly.

How to fix or remove broken links the right way

Once you know how to find broken links, the next step is deciding how to fix each one. There are three main options: redirect, update, or remove.

When to redirect a broken link

Redirects are appropriate when the content has moved, been merged, or replaced with something equivalent.

Use a 301 redirect when:

• A blog post has been updated and moved to a new URL
• A product page has a new slug but similar intent
• You have consolidated several URLs into a single, stronger page

This preserves most of the SEO value from existing backlinks and internal links, while sending users to the most relevant current content.

When to update the link target

Sometimes, the link itself is the problem, not the target page. In these cases, editing the link is the best solution.

Typical scenarios:

• The page exists, but the URL in the link is misspelled
• You changed a slug but never updated the internal links
• A navigation or button component points to an outdated URL

In Webflow, this often means updating links inside components, symbols, or collection templates. It is crucial to correct these at the template level so the fix propagates.

When to remove a broken link

Removing a link is appropriate when there is no relevant replacement target and the linked content is not needed anymore.

Examples:

• Old promotional pages that are no longer available
• Outdated external resources that were removed
• Content that is no longer accurate or aligned with your brand

In these cases, forcing a redirect to a loosely related page can confuse users. Removing the link cleans up your content and avoids sending visitors to dead ends.

Using link management tools at scale

On large sites, manually editing or removing each instance of a broken link is time consuming. Link management tools help by:

• Showing all occurrences of a broken URL across your site
• Allowing you to update or remove multiple links from one place
• Reducing the risk of missing hidden links in old content

For Webflow teams, using a centralized link management layer ensures that broken links are fixed consistently across all projects and pages, instead of relying purely on manual hunting.

Best practices to prevent broken links in the future

Fixing existing issues is important, but preventing new broken links will save you time and protect your SEO gains in the long run.

Use a consistent URL structure

Plan your URL patterns so they are as stable as possible:

• Avoid frequent changes to slugs and folder paths
• Use clear, descriptive URLs from the start
• Before removing or renaming a page, plan the redirect

Consistency in URL design reduces the number of links that need to be updated later.

Build a robust internal linking strategy

A deliberate internal linking strategy makes your site easier to navigate and more resilient. When links are planned instead of scattered randomly, it is easier to update them when something changes.

With Webflow in particular, use collection templates and components wisely so that important internal links are centrally managed, not duplicated manually across dozens of pages.

Make link management part of your SEO workflow

Broken links should be treated as an ongoing maintenance task, not a one-off cleanup.

Integrate link management into your routine:

• Run periodic link checks after big content pushes
• Audit links after migrations, redesigns, or CMS restructuring
• Review internal links for key pages during regular SEO audits

The goal is not to reach zero broken links forever, but to detect and resolve them quickly enough that they never become a serious UX or SEO problem.

Conclusion

Broken links are a natural side effect of a growing website, but if they are ignored they quietly erode user experience, crawlability, and rankings. Understanding what broken links are in SEO, how to check for them, and how to fix or remove them is a core skill for anyone responsible for site performance.

If you manage Webflow projects and want an easier way to detect and fix broken internal links, you can use LinkerFlow’s new Link Management feature to monitor your links and keep your Webflow sites healthy.