Monkey D. Luffy
Registered Member
- Jun 29, 2026
- 52
- 35
Fixing broken backlinks is probably one of the easiest SEO wins, but a lot of people skip it.
If another site is linking to a page that now returns a 404, you are basically leaving link equity and traffic on the table.
Here is what I usually do.
First, I check for broken backlinks.
Ahrefs is my go-to, but Semrush or even Google Search Console works too.
Then I figure out why the page is gone.
Maybe it got deleted by accident. Maybe the URL changed after a redesign. Happens all the time.
If the content is still useful, I just bring the page back.
If not, I set up a 301 redirect to the closest relevant page.
And yeah, don't redirect everything to the homepage. That is rarely the right move.
After that, I test the redirect just to make sure it's working properly.
No redirect chains. No loops. Nice and clean.
If the backlink is broken because the other site linked to the wrong URL, I'll sometimes send them a quick message.
Something simple like, "Hey, I noticed the link is broken. Here's the correct one if you would like to update it."
A surprising number of people actually fix it.
I also try to check my backlinks every month or so.
It's one of those boring SEO tasks that nobody talks about, but it can save you from losing links you've already earned.
Everyone's chasing new backlinks
Meanwhile, some of the best ones are already there, just pointing to dead pages.
Takes 15-20 minutes to check, and it's 100% worth doing.
How often do you guys audit your backlinks?
If another site is linking to a page that now returns a 404, you are basically leaving link equity and traffic on the table.
Here is what I usually do.
First, I check for broken backlinks.
Ahrefs is my go-to, but Semrush or even Google Search Console works too.
Then I figure out why the page is gone.
Maybe it got deleted by accident. Maybe the URL changed after a redesign. Happens all the time.
If the content is still useful, I just bring the page back.
If not, I set up a 301 redirect to the closest relevant page.
And yeah, don't redirect everything to the homepage. That is rarely the right move.
After that, I test the redirect just to make sure it's working properly.
No redirect chains. No loops. Nice and clean.
If the backlink is broken because the other site linked to the wrong URL, I'll sometimes send them a quick message.
Something simple like, "Hey, I noticed the link is broken. Here's the correct one if you would like to update it."
A surprising number of people actually fix it.
I also try to check my backlinks every month or so.
It's one of those boring SEO tasks that nobody talks about, but it can save you from losing links you've already earned.
Everyone's chasing new backlinks
Meanwhile, some of the best ones are already there, just pointing to dead pages.
Takes 15-20 minutes to check, and it's 100% worth doing.
How often do you guys audit your backlinks?
