Broken links are one of the easiest SEO problems to overlook, because they don't announce themselves — a link just quietly stops working, and unless someone clicks it and hits a dead end, you might not notice for months.
Key Takeaways
- ●This kind of technical check is usually simple to run, even without deep technical expertise.
- ●A handful of fixes typically account for most of the improvement — perfection isn't the goal.
- ●Building this into a recurring habit matters more than any single one-time fix.
- ●Free tools make it possible to check and re-check progress without ongoing cost.
Why Broken Links Matter
Every broken link is a small dent in trust and user experience — a visitor who hits a dead page is more likely to leave your site entirely. At scale, broken links can also waste your site's crawl budget and dilute the SEO value that would otherwise flow through working internal links.
Common Causes of Broken Links
- ●Pages deleted or moved without setting up a redirect.
- ●Typos in manually-typed URLs.
- ●Linking to external sites that have since taken down or moved the page you referenced.
- ●Site migrations or redesigns that change URL structures without updating internal links.
How to Find Broken Links
- 1Run FluxNPro's free Broken Links tool on your site to get a full list of 404s and other link errors.
- 2Sort by whether the broken link is internal (on your own site) or external (pointing elsewhere) — internal ones are usually the priority.
- 3Note which pages have the most broken links, since that often points to a specific outdated section of your site.
How to Fix Them
- ●For internal broken links: update the link to point to the correct current page, or set up a 301 redirect if the old page was moved.
- ●For external broken links: replace with a working, relevant alternative source, or remove the link if no good replacement exists.
- ●For deleted pages with existing backlinks pointing to them: set up a redirect to a relevant live page rather than losing that link equity entirely.
Building This Into a Regular Habit
A one-time fix helps, but the businesses that see the most benefit treat this as a recurring check rather than something done once and forgotten.
- ●Set a recurring calendar reminder (monthly or quarterly) to re-run this check.
- ●Track your score or results over time in a simple spreadsheet so you can see whether things are actually improving.
- ●Fix the highest-impact issue first rather than trying to address everything flagged at once.
- ●Re-check after any major site change — a new theme, plugin, or migration can quietly reintroduce issues you already fixed.
What Good Actually Looks Like
It helps to have a concrete target rather than just "better." For most small-to-midsize sites, aim for scores and metrics in the top 20-25% of your specific industry and content type, rather than chasing an abstract perfect score — perfection is rarely necessary, and the effort curve gets steep well before you'd need it for most business goals.
Why This Gets Overlooked So Often
It's rarely a lack of awareness that causes this to slip — most site owners have at least heard of the issue. More often, it falls through the cracks because it doesn't have an obvious owner: it's not quite a design task, not quite a content task, and not quite a developer task, so it sits in a gap between roles.
The most reliable fix isn't a bigger team — it's assigning clear, if informal, ownership. Even a simple "this is checked monthly by [person]" prevents it from being everyone's job and therefore no one's.
Final Thought
None of this requires becoming a technical expert. The goal is simply building a repeatable habit of checking, understanding, and fixing the highest-impact issues — the specific tool you use to do that matters far less than actually doing it consistently.
Scan for Broken Links Free
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Frequently asked questions
How often should I check for broken links?
Quarterly is a reasonable baseline for most sites, and immediately after any major site redesign or migration.
Do broken links directly hurt my Google rankings?
A small number of broken links won't meaningfully hurt rankings on their own, but a large volume signals poor site maintenance and can affect both crawl efficiency and user experience — both of which do matter to SEO.
Can I automate this check instead of doing it manually?
Yes — most of FluxNPro's free tools can be re-run in a couple of clicks, making it easy to build a quick recurring check into a monthly routine.
Can I fix this myself, or do I need outside help?
Most of the steps covered here don't require specialized technical skills — a generator or checker tool plus your site's standard editing interface is usually enough for the majority of fixes.
What if I don't have time to check this regularly?
Even an infrequent check (quarterly) is far better than none — the goal is building some recurring habit, not achieving perfect, constant monitoring.
Where should I start if this feels overwhelming?
Pick the single highest-impact item discussed above, implement just that one change, and measure the result before moving to the next — small, consistent steps compound faster than an all-at-once overhaul.
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