Find and fix broken internal links

What it means

An internal link points to a URL that returns a 4xx (not found) or 5xx (server error) status when Googlebot visits it. The link exists in your content, but the destination page is missing or failing to load.

Why it matters

Broken internal links waste crawl budget—Googlebot spends visits on dead ends instead of discovering and indexing your real pages. They also break the link graph: authority doesn't flow through a link to a page that isn't there, which can suppress ranking for the orphaned pages. For AI agents that follow links to build context, dead links create gaps in the content graph.

How to fix it

1. Run a crawl (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or similar) to list every internal link returning 4xx/5xx.
2. For 404s: either create the missing page, or replace the link with the correct URL.
3. For 5xx errors: check server logs for transient failures versus persistent crashes; fix the server-side issue and retest.
4. For links that point to intentionally temporary pages (e.g., campaign landing pages), add rel="nofollow" to prevent crawl waste.

When it's not a problem

If the broken links are on pages that are themselves noindexed or blocked by robots.txt, Googlebot ignores them anyway—so they won't hurt indexing. Also, a few broken links on low-traffic pages are usually fine; only the pattern on important pages matters.

How Crawlinx detects it

We build a graph of every internal link found during the crawl, then resolve each target's status. Links pointing to URLs that return 4xx/5xx are grouped and reported by source page.

How common is it?

2075 audited sites in our corpus currently show this issue. The breakdowns below show which platforms, gatekeepers, verticals and countries are most exposed.

FAQ

Do broken internal links hurt SEO?

They waste crawl budget, dead-end link equity, and frustrate users. Google follows internal links to discover pages, so broken ones can leave content undiscovered.

Related guides

• Internal Linking for SEO: Structure & Anchors