How to Find Broken Links on Your Website & Fix Them Fast (WordPress Guide for 2026)

Are you searching for a dependable method to identify broken links? Do you want to fix them as part of your broader site audit and ongoing technical SEO strategy? Broken links not only frustrate visitors. They can also drag down your site health score.

Additionally, they waste crawl budget. They might indirectly hurt important Core Web Vitals signals like engagement and time on site. Combine a regular technical SEO audit with a powerful website crawler. This allows you to quickly detect dead URLs. Identify 404 errors and redirect chains before they turn into serious SEO problems.

How To Find Broken Links On Wordpress And How To Fix It

The internet is always evolving. New websites are launched, and old pages are removed or changed. URLs get updated without proper redirects.

Over time, this creates dead links (404 errors) that hurt your site’s SEO performance and annoy your visitors. Broken or dead links create poor navigation and damage your site’s authority. They signal to search engines like Google that your website is not well‑maintained. This can reduce SERP rankings and organic traffic.

The solution is straightforward. Regularly scan your site for broken URLs using specialized tools. Use tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, and broken link checker plugins for WordPress. This helps you efficiently detect, monitor, and repair broken hyperlinks.

Keeping all your internal and external links functional is a vital part of technical SEO audits. Routine website maintenance is essential, especially for WordPress sites. Proactive link health management is crucial for a seamless user journey. It also ensures steady growth in rankings.

According to Google:

A soft 404 means that a URL on your site returns a page. This page tells the user that the page does not exist. It also returns a 200-level (success) code to the browser.

According to Google, a soft 404 occurs when a page tells users the content does not exist. However, the page still returns a 200‑level success code. This can confuse crawlers and waste crawl budget. Properly fixing broken links in WordPress or any other CMS keeps your site clean, ensures it is crawled efficiently by search engines, and positions your content for higher visibility in search results

TL;DR: Broken Links Fix Checklist

  1. Run a site audit with a trusted SEO tool. You can use Semrush, Website Auditor, Ahrefs, Sitechecker, or Google Search Console. This will help you detect broken internal and external links.
  2. Export all URLs returning 4xx/404 errors along with their source pages into a CSV or spreadsheet for easy review.
  3. For each broken link, decide what action to take. Update the URL, remove the link, or replace it with a more relevant resource.
  4. Set up 301 redirects for important moved or renamed pages. You can use Rank Math (404 Monitor + Redirections) or a dedicated Redirection plugin in WordPress.
  5. Re‑crawl your website after changes. Confirm that 404s are fixed. Ensure broken links are cleared. Check that your overall site health score has improved.

Let’s get started on optimizing your site’s user experience and boosting your search rankings by repairing your broken links!

What is a broken link?

broken link is also known as a dead link or 404 error. It is a hyperlink on a web page that leads users to a non-existent destination. This results in a poor user experience because the page or resource cannot be found. Broken links can occur for several reasons. One reason is deleted or moved content. Another reason is an incorrect URL structure. Finally, external websites that are no longer active can cause broken links. Detecting and fixing broken links is crucial for technical SEO. It helps you maintain website integrity. It also optimizes site crawlability. Furthermore, it improves your site’s search engine rankings.

When you discover broken links on your WordPress site, it’s important to fix them promptly. For internal links, use search and replace tools. Update outdated URLs within your website’s database. This will help you avoid unnecessary internal redirects. If a URL has changed permanently, always implement a 301 redirect. Redirect from the old address to the new one. This maintains link equity and ensures seamless site navigation.

What Causes Broken Links on a Website?

The most common reasons for broken links on a WordPress website include:

  • Renaming or relocating web pages without updating internal or external hyperlinks, leading to outdated URLs in your content.
  • Deleting or moving media files—such as PDFs, images, or videos—or other site assets, which breaks the links referencing these resources.
  • Removing or changing content structure, such as categories, tags, or permalinks, without applying proper redirects.
  • References to external websites that have since been removed, resulting in outbound broken links.

Regularly monitoring and repairing broken links is a crucial website maintenance practice. This enhances the user journey. It also supports your technical SEO efforts. This ensures that your site remains authoritative and fully optimized for search engines.

How do I solve broken link issues on the Blogspot platform?

If you are using a Blogspot blog, you must know the broken link details from their dashboard. This is not the case with WordPress. To check the details, you have to depend on other third-party tools like Screaming Frog and other online tools.

After the analysis, use the URL to fix the issue manually by using the below simple step.

  • Open your Blogspot blog platform dashboard with your logins.
  • Now go to Settings > Errors and Redirects, then click on Custom Redirects > Add.
Custom Redirection In Blogger Platform
custom redirect in blogger
  • In the From box, paste one of your broken links.
  • In the To section, paste the destination or new URL to redirect and make it a permanent redirect. You can enter your homepage instead of the destination URL.
  • Finally, check the links and make them permanent redirects; click OK to save the changes.
  • Repeat the same process for all of your broken links. That’s it.

What is the difference between lost links and broken links in SEO?

  • Broken links are links that do not work. A specific website is no longer available. A particular website is moved to another domain without the need to add a redirect. The URL structure of the webpage could have changed. If you click on the broken link, you will see a 404-error message. But you can repair broken links by contacting your webmaster.
  • Lost links no longer exist. That link does not continue to link to your site in search engines. You may have lost the link from a particular location. Either It could have created the link manually or naturally.

How to find Broken Links on your website?

Finding broken links is easy if you are using the WordPress blogging platform. There are few SEO tools available on the online market, both in free and premium versions.

Here I am using the most popular Internet marketing tools to find the broken links in my blogs. They are Semrush, SEO PowerSuite, and Ahrefs Webmaster Tool. These tools show the broken links in digit format: 4XX and 5XX.

Let us know in detail.

Method 1: Find broken links using Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one digital marketing toolkit that includes professional tools for SEO, PPC, keyword research, and more. In simple terms, bloggers and digital marketers use Semrush to grow their website traffic and revenue. It’s one of the leading online visibility management platforms for bloggers and webmasters.

Semrush offers more than 40 tools to help you analyze and solve digital marketing challenges, including SEO and content optimization. It also supports market research, advertising, social media marketing (SMM), and online reputation management (SERM).

Within the SEO section, the On-Page SEO module includes a Site Audit feature. Using this feature, you can quickly identify broken links on your site.

This doubles as a technical SEO audit and broken link audit for your site. Follow the steps below to find broken links on your website.

Site Audit → Issues → Broken internal links and Broken external links.

Step 1: Get Semrush

Semrush-Logo
semrush logo

Semrush

Semrush Site Audit is a powerful tool for making your site more SEO‑friendly. It runs over 130 checks with a high‑speed crawler and provides in‑depth insights into your site’s overall health. Start using this tool today to optimize your website.

Grab the Semrush 14-day trial and register your details, and activate your account.

Semrush Updated Homepage
Semrush special offer – 14 days free trial

Step 2: Create Project

After login into the Semrush dashboard, add your domain URL, then click on Create

Create New Project In Semrush
create new project in Semrush

Step 3: Site Audit Setup

After a few seconds, you will be redirected to the project dashboard. Then choose the site audit setup.

Go To Site Audit In Semrush
go to site audit in Semrush

Step 4: Start Audit

Now configure the Site Audit basic settings, then click on “Start Site Audit.”

Site Audit Settings In Semrush
site audit settings in Semrush

After a few minutes, you will get the complete site health score. Then click on the Errors tab. 

Semrush Site Audit Repot
Semrush site audit repot

Step 5: Export the Links

You will find a list of broken external and internal links. Now you will get the list of broken links in tabular form. You can export the list in CSV format to fix the issue from the primary source page.

Semrush Site Audit Showing Broken Internal And External Links Report

Remember, this tool provides a list of broken URLs for both external and internal links. To fix them, open each source page in a new tab and update the links manually. There is no option to correct these links directly from the Semrush dashboard. With this tool, you can easily find broken links on your own website as well as on other websites.

Wondering about the price of this tool? Don’t worry—we have some exciting news for you. We’ve arranged a special deal exclusively for Blogging Den’s valuable readers. Check out our in‑depth Semrush review for more details.

We also have a strong partnership with Semrush. They’re offering a 14‑day free trial of their premium tools for our readers. You can grab this deal right after completing this step.


Method 2: Find and fix broken links by using Website Auditor

I purchased Website Auditor (enterprise edition) a few years back. It was part of the SEO PowerSuite bundle. This bundle has become the all-around best SEO software suite. It covers almost all of my SEO needs.

Website Auditor is a powerful website crawler. It also acts as a desktop SEO spider. It helps you audit your website. It optimizes your website for better search engine rankings.

It remains my all‑time favorite tool for auditing blogs and websites. The combination of technical SEO checks and on‑page content optimization features is impressive.

To start a full site audit, first download and install the desktop version. It is available separately for both Windows and Mac users. Next, grab the special 14‑day trial. Afterwards, continue using the free version.

This version has a few export and project‑saving limitations, but offers lifetime functionality. You can also pair it with the other three SEO PowerSuite tools—Rank Tracker, LinkAssistant, and SEO SpyGlass. Explore our blog for more details.

Check the SEO PowerSuite review. Read the Website Auditor review. Don’t miss the list of best content optimization tools.

Step 1: Download Website Auditor

Website-Auditor
website auditor 1

Website Auditor

Website Auditor is one of the best SEO tools to make your site audit process easy. You can quickly find broken links and other site errors in one place and fix them immediately. 

Download Website Auditor’s free trial now and install the software on your computer. You get 14 days of full access to all premium features. After this period, the software continues to work with some limitations. These limitations include locked data export and project‑saving options.

Step 2: Begin the audit

After activating your trial, open the Website Auditor desktop SEO spider to start a new audit. 

Enter Url In The New Project In Website Auditor

Enter your website’s URL. Tick the “Enable expert options” box. Click the Next button. This will let the website crawler configure the project.

Step 3: Choose the source for auditing.

In this step, choose how the crawler should follow your robots.txt rules, and configure options like crawl speed, JavaScript rendering, URL parameters, and other advanced settings. 

Specify Crawler Settings
specify crawler settings

Place the tick marks as shown in the screenshot, follow the robots.txt instructions, and enable the option to look for orphan pages.

For more accurate crawling and auditing, select your Sitemap as the primary source. Keep the remaining settings at their defaults. Then click Finish.

In many cases, a full audit can take 45 minutes or more, depending on your site’s size and content depth.

Website Auditor Desktop Seo Spider Crawling Configuration Screen
collecting site audit data

During this time, Website Auditor will crawl your site and collect all the necessary audit data.

Step 4: Final Audit Report

Once the crawl is complete, open your results under Site Structure > Site Audit. First, go to the Indexability and Crawlability report. Then, navigate to the Resources with 4X and 5X status codes section. This will help you see pages with broken links and server errors.

Website Auditing To Download Broken Links
website auditing to download broken links

TIP: If you want extra insights such as post pageviews or social shares, connect your Google Search Console. Also, connect your Google Analytics accounts. You can also check domain authority insights. Go to Edit > Profile Settings > Accounts and authenticate them. After a few minutes, those metrics will start appearing in the corresponding columns of your reports

Step 5: Export the broken links

On the right‑hand side, you will see a list of broken links. These links are reported as 4xx resources. You will also see their source pages. Open each source page listed in the Found on Pages column. It will load in your default browser. This allows you to manually update or remove the broken link in your content editor.

You can export this report for further processing. Use it as a checklist to systematically fix URL errors across your site. For more detailed guidance, refer to your in‑depth Website Auditor Review and SEO PowerSuite Review


Method 3: By using Ahrefs Broken link Checker

Ahrefs is another popular all‑in‑one SEO tool. Bloggers, marketers, and SEO professionals use it to analyse backlinks. They also use it to diagnose site‑wide SEO issues. It provides detailed SEO insights for both your own site and your competitors’ sites. This is especially useful when you want to find broken backlinks. You can also check competitors’ broken backlinks for link-building opportunities.

Ahrefs Trial
ahrefs trial

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another popular all-in-one SEO tool that bloggers, marketers, and SEO professionals use for internet marketing. It helps you analyse the backlinks and site SEO issues. This is a free tool from ahrefs or you can try Ahrefs webmaster tool.

Ahrefs includes powerful modules. These include Keyword Explorer for keyword research. There’s also Site Explorer for competition and backlink analysis.

Additionally, Site Audit is used for site health analysis, and Content Explorer helps find trending content in your niche. It provides an excellent keyword research tool. This makes it a complete solution for organic growth.

Ahrefs is a premium SEO suite, but it provides a few tools for free. The recently released Ahrefs Webmaster Tools lets you run a basic Site Explorer. It also allows a Site Audit on your own verified domains at no cost. However, some advanced features remain locked. To use it, first verify website ownership and grant access to Google Search Console. Alternatively, you can upload a verification file. After a short processing period, you receive a comprehensive domain overview. This includes health score, domain rating, and referring domains. You also get information on backlinks, organic traffic, and organic keywords. From there, you can jump into the Health Score section or navigate through Site Explorer to find broken backlinks on your site and check competitors’ broken backlinks that you can target for outreach and link reclamation

To use this feature, you have to verify your website’s ownership. Give them permission to use Google services like Search Console and Analytics.

After a few minutes, you will get the complete details of the domain. These details include the health score, domain rating, referring domains, backlinks, organic traffic, and organic keywords. Just click on the Health Score section.

Ahrefs Webmaster Tool Dashboard
ahrefs webmaster tool dashboard

Then navigate to All issues > Links to see a list of broken links. 

Ahrefs Site Explorer Filtering For 404 Errors And Broken Backlinks
all issues to Links

AHREFS’s broken link checker is a free online tool to scan any website for broken links and dead URLs. Open the tool. Enter the URL you want to analyse. Click “Check broken links.” Solve the captcha. You will then see a list of outbound and internal broken links that need fixing.

For deeper SEO insights, Ahrefs Premium is one of the best tools for comprehensive site audits. It excels at backlink analysis. It is also excellent for competitive research.

It provides accurate data on search volume, backlinks, keyword rankings, and even social signals. This makes it ideal for building the best backlink creation strategy.

It is also great for planning broken link building campaigns. You can easily find broken backlinks pointing to your site and discover competitors’ broken backlinks that you can reclaim with your own content

To access full competitor site details, you need a paid Ahrefs subscription. First, sign up for an account. Plans start at $99 per month. There is also an occasional short trial for new users. Next, log in to the Ahrefs dashboard. Enter your domain in Site Explorer. Finally, press Enter.

Within a few seconds, Ahrefs will crawl and process your site. Larger sites with many pages may take longer. Then it will show a complete overview across six key areas. These include the backlink profile, organic search, and pages. Outgoing links, paid search, and export options are also covered.

To generate a dedicated broken link report, go to Pages > Best by links in Site Explorer. Apply the HTTP code filter. Choose “404 not found” to isolate pages that have link equity. These pages currently return 404 errors and are prime candidates for fixing and broken link reclamation.

Ahrefs Premium - Broken Links
ahrefs premium – broken links

You can then export this report in CSV format. Use it as a checklist to fix broken links on your WordPress site. You can also set up 301 redirects. Additionally, prioritize broken link-building opportunities. If you are already using Ahrefs, you can explore these options as well. Consider Ahrefs alternatives for additional backlink and broken link analysis.


Method 4. By using Google Search Console

Another good place to look for 404 pages (404 broken link) is Google’s search console. Most webmasters’ first choice is Google Search Console to get the best insights into their website stats and performance.

To use this search console, you have to prove that you own your site and send in an XML sitemap. After your site has been verified, the audit will take some time. The reports need to be put in their intended format.

You will see the 404 error reports in the search console interface.

To know these details, you need to login to your Google Webmaster account. Then go to the Coverage tab > Details > Error section.

You will get the details of the 404 error pages list.

Broken Link In Google Search Console
broken link in google search console

Method 5. By using the Broken Link Checker Plugin

If you are running your blog on the WordPress CMS platform, you have a fantastic option. There is a plugin to check for broken links. It is one of the free Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin.

First, you have to search for the plugin in the Plugins section of the WordPress dashboard and then install it. Install and activate the plugin. That’s it.

The broken link checker monitors and tests all the links on your site. It checks both internal and external links.

Broken Link Checker Plugin
Broken link checker plugin wordpress

If any link is damaged or lost, it will be notified from the plugin page’s widget area. It helps you to fix the wrong links and improve site SEO and user experience.

Broken Link Checker Results Page
Broken Link Checker results page

Note: Before choosing the Broken link checker plugin, you need to confirm the hosting provider is compatible with your hosting. Because of their heavy use of server resources, few hosting companies accept their use. If this plugin works with your hosting, turn it off as soon as you’re done using it. 


Method 6: By using SitecheckerPro

SiteChecker.pro is a comprehensive tool for website SEO audits. It can help you monitor and improve a site’s search engine optimization (SEO) in a simple and fast manner. It helps businesses and website owners monitor the performance of their websites. It provides users with powerful information about the health of their sites. Users can act quickly if they need to.

Sitecheckerpro Technical Seo Audit Tool
sitecheckerpro

SitecheckerPro

Sitechecker Pro’s audit tool is a great way to check for broken links on your website. The tool can be used to quickly and easily scan your entire website or specific pages for any broken links.

This tool has the following features.

  • Site Audit
  • Site Monitoring
  • Rank tracker
  • Backlink tracker
  • Insights
  • On Page checker
  • WordPress checker
  • Traffic checker
  • Rank checker
  • Link strategy
  • Website safety
  • Website down
  • Page Speed
  • Backlink generator

How do I check for broken links with the SiteChecker Pro audit tool?

Sitechecker is one of the best free broken link checkers online. It will then generate a report that will list all the broken links found and their locations.

First you need to go to Broken link checker tool.

To use the tool, enter the website URL you would like to audit. Then click “Start Audit.”

The tool will then quickly scan your website and display any broken links in an easy-to-read report.

The Sitechecker Pro audit tool is a great way to ensure that all of your website’s links are working properly. This helps visitors easily navigate your site. They won’t get stuck in dead ends.

Pricing of Sitechecker Pro

The SiteChecker Pro has the following prices:

  1. Basic: This plan is good for people who want to follow a startup. It is also suitable for those who run a small business, blog, or work as a freelancer. The pricing starts at $29 per month.
  • 5 websites
  • 10,000 pages
  • 1000 keywords to track
  • Unlimited users
  • 3,000 backlinks

2. Standard:

This plan is suitable for in-house professionals and small agencies. Pricing begins at $49 per month.

  • All Basic features
  • 20 websites
  • 50,000 pages
  • 4,000 keywords to track
  • 5,000 backlinks
  • Alerts to Slack
  • Pages segmentation
  • Broken external links
  • Structured data markup
  • Google Data Studio integration
  • Custom logo in PDF reports

3. Premium:

This is a suitable plan for dedicated SEO teams and mid-size agencies. The plan starts at $99 per month.

  • All Standard features
  • 50 websites
  • 2000,000 pages
  • 8,000 keywords to track
  • 10,000 backlinks
  • Launch site monitoring via webhook
  • Alerts to Microsoft Teams

4. Enterprise

This plan is for big agencies and enterprises, and it starts at $399 per month.

  • All Premium features
  • Unlimited websites.
  • 100,000 pages
  • Unlimited keywords
  • 20,000 backlinks

SiteChecker Pro special discount: Choose the one-year plan and receive a special discount. You can get up to 20% off any of the plans listed above. Grab the tool now


Method 7: By using BrokenlinkCheck service

Your site might not be very large. You could use a free online broken link checker tool. It will help you find broken links. Here brokenlinkcheck is my favourite web app tool and works great. It becomes easy to find the broken links on any website.

Open the site, enter your domain URL, and hit “Find broken links” to use this service. Then you need to add the security code to confirm.

Free Online Broken Link Checker
free online broken link checker

It starts working and checks the site for broken links. It took a few minutes to complete, and finally, you will get the complete list of dead hyperlinks. You can use this BrokenLinkCheck service.

Method 8: Some other Tools to check Broken Links

Of course, there are hundreds of SEO tools on the web. But few tools are gaining popularity. I listed a few of the services below.

1. Screaming Frog

Screamingfrog Spider Tool
ScreamingFrog Spider tool

After Website Auditor, the Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool is also a great desktop tool for checking a website. It helps you find broken links and provides fixation guidance without losing the site’s SEO. It helps you crawl your website.

Obviously, you’ll want to know the source of the broken links discovered. You need to find out which URLs on the website link to these broken links so they can be fixed. If you are new to this tool, you can follow this guide to get started.

2. Xenu Link Sleuth

Xenu’s Link Sleuth
Xenu’s Link Sleuth

It is an old tool. It is web scraping software used to check for broken links in images, frames, and CSS scripts on websites. It has a straightforward interface. To work with this tool, you have to download it from their official site and install it on your computer. It is an ancient tool. It has no recent update, but sometimes it works well. It helps you find broken links within pages on your website.

3. Other tools to check broken links

Other Online Services to find Broken Links

  1. W3 Link checker: It is a free service to contain all links and anchors in web pages.
  2. Dr Link Check: It helps you find out malicious links, broken links, blacklist check and parked domain check.
  3. Power Mapper: It assists you in finding error links and missing images. It also helps identify server configuration issues and script errors or warnings.
  4. Small SEO Tools: provides short and free service, and you can check with a single click.
  5. Link Tiger: Most trusted service and recommended by big companies like HP, envisia, and many more. It is a premium tool and comes with a 14 days free trial. 
  6. iWeb tool: This is not only a dead link checker. It comes with a complete SEO audit tool .
    It helps you give the audit result in six different columns, including links. You can try it once.  
  7. SEO Review tools: It comes with 52 real-time free SEO tools, including a lost link recovery tool.
  8. Google broken link checker: This is another simple service to scan your site with the help of their chrome extension.

How to Fix Broken Links on Your Site?

To fix broken links in WordPress, first run a site audit. You can also use a broken link checker plugin. This will help identify all 404 pages and dead URLs. Then, systematically repair dead links by updating or removing outdated references.

For important pages that have moved, redirect 404 to 301 to send users and search engines to the correct URL. This action preserves link equity. It also prevents soft 404 issues.

Cleaning up broken internal and external links in this way helps reduce crawl waste, strengthen internal linking, and improve site crawlability for better overall SEO performance

It is a manual method. After checking the broken links:

  • Download the list.
  • Open the source page where the 404-error link is present as an internal link. Find the linked anchor text. Unlink it or remove the link.
  • Save the page by hitting on the update button. 

If you have fewer dead links, you can follow the manual method to remove the broken internal dead links. After this, you need to fix the redirection path for better SEO.

Now you have to use the redirection method to finally fix this issue. I am personally using the Rank math SEO plugin. It helps make my site more SEO-friendly to my readers and search engines.

If you are using this plugin on your site, you will find most 404 error pages. They can be found in the Rank math > 404 Monitor section.

Suppose you found that link important or your article moved to another location or deleted. In that case, you can redirect those links to similar page URLs or closely related content of the past article.

404 Monitor From Rank Math Seo
404 monitor from Rank math seo

You can use the Redirection feature from the Rank math SEO plugin section. It helps redirect the links collected from the site audit tools. You need to set up 301 redirects for this solution.

Redirections From Rank Math Seo
redirections from rank math seo

If you are not using Rank math SEO, you have to install a Redirection plugin to make the above process. After activation of the redirection plugin, go for the Tools > Redirection page.

You have to add the broken link URL in the source URL section. Next, add the new URL in the Target URL section. Then hit the Add Redirect button to save your changes.

Add New Redirection With Redirection Plugin
add new redirection with the Redirection plugin

After saving the changes, you can test the old broken link. Check if it is redirecting to a new connection. If it is redirecting, then repeat the above process for all broken links on your website.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Broken links on your website

What are broken links and dead links?

Broken links are hyperlinks that lead to pages that no longer exist. These links are also called dead links or 404 errors. They create a poor user experience. They waste crawl budget. Your search engine rankings can suffer. This can happen if you do not regularly find and fix broken links on your site.

How do I find broken links on my WordPress site?

To check for broken links in WordPress, you can use several tools. These tools include Semrush Site Audit and Ahrefs. They also include Google Search Console, Website Auditor, or a dedicated broken link checker plugin. These tools crawl your site. They list 404 error pages and dead URLs. They help you quickly identify where broken internal and external links need attention.

How can I fix broken links in WordPress quickly?

The simplest way to fix broken links in WordPress is to export a list of 404 URLs. Then, update or remove the outdated links in your posts and pages. For important content that moved, redirect 404 to 301. Use Rank Math or a Redirection plugin. This will repair dead links. It will also preserve link equity and improve site crawlability.

How often should I run a broken link audit?

Run a broken link audit at least once a month, and always after major content updates, URL changes, or migrations. Conduct frequent audits with a 404 error finder or website crawler. This practice ensures you catch new dead links early. It also helps keep your site health score high.

Do broken links hurt SEO and user experience?

Yes, broken links hurt SEO. They disrupt navigation. They increase bounce rates. They also signal to Google that your website is not well-maintained. Too many 404 errors and dead internal links can reduce crawl efficiency. This issue can lead to lower organic traffic and weaker search visibility.

What is the difference between 404 errors and soft 404s?

A standard 404 error is returned when a page truly does not exist at a given URL. A soft 404 occurs when a page informs users that content is missing. However, it still returns a 200 (success) status code. This can confuse search engine crawlers. Additionally, it wastes crawl budget until the configuration is fixed.

What is broken link building?

Broken link building is an SEO strategy. You find broken backlinks on other websites. You then suggest your own relevant content as a replacement. This helps webmasters fix internal broken links on their pages while you gain high‑quality backlinks and strengthen your site’s authority.

How do I find competitors’ broken backlinks for link building?

Use Ahrefs, Semrush, or similar tools. Check competitors’ broken backlinks by running a Site Explorer or backlink audit on their domains. Filter pages by “404 not found” or broken outbound links. Next, reach out with your own content as a replacement. This strategy helps you earn contextual backlinks.

Can broken external links also affect my website?

Yes, too many broken external links can make your content look outdated and untrustworthy to both users and search engines. Regularly scanning and updating outbound links helps maintain content quality. These practices improve user experience. They support your overall technical SEO audit efforts.

How does fixing broken links help site crawlability and Core Web Vitals?

When you repair dead links, search engine bots can crawl your site more efficiently. Cleaning up 404 errors allows them to focus on important pages. This improved site crawlability supports better indexing. It reduces user frustration. It can indirectly help key engagement‑related signals that influence Core Web Vitals and rankings.

Final Thoughts on Fixing Broken Links

Addressing broken links is essential for effective technical SEO. This task is important for providing a smooth user experience and ensuring strong site crawlability for search engines. Unchecked dead links and recurring 404 errors can gradually harm your rankings, waste your crawl budget, and frustrate your audience.​

It is crucial to use a trusted broken link checker and 404 error finder tool. Regularly scan your WordPress blog. Find and fix broken links before they become serious issues. For best results, use web‑based SEO audit platforms like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Search Console. Combine these with desktop software and WordPress plugins. This way, you can detect non‑working URLs, set up proper 301 redirects, and maintain a healthy site architecture.​

By following the seven actionable methods shared in this guide, you can systematically check for broken or outdated hyperlinks. You can also repair dead links. This keeps your content more user-friendly and SEO-optimized. If you have questions about how to check dead links, share your doubts in the comments. Alternatively, reach out via the contact form for tailored support.​

If you know of other reliable broken link finder services, feel free to mention them. This will help fellow readers discover more options. Conducting regular broken link audits helps maintain your WordPress site’s authority. It keeps the site user-focused and search-engine-friendly for the long term.

About Author

satish ithamsetty, Founder of BloggingDen.com

Hello! I'm Satish Ithamsetty, a full-time blogger since 2009 and a passionate tech enthusiast. My primary goal with this blog is to guide newcomers in launching their own blogging journey as a profitable business. I share insights on blogging, SEO, making money online, YouTube, and affiliate marketing. If you need support or want to stay updated with the latest in the industry, join our Facebook Community and stay connected.

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