Is it harmful to have a Backlink pointing to 404 page

Through this wonderful site, I am quickly getting a (very!) basic idea of SEO.

In this light I have been checking the backlinks that exist to my website and have found some pointing at 404 not found errors, as since they were posted i have edited my site.

My question is, does it hurt the websites raking or Domain ration if the backlink points to a 404 error?

And if it does what is the best way to fix it? I imagine the best is to ask the person who added the backlink to edit it but this might not be possible.

Also, I am using the website smallseotools to analyze my website. Is this the best tool or can people recommend better?

Many Thanks

Better redirect (301) those post to other similar posts or homepage.

So that there is no 404 error.

Disavow them if you feel that rankings are tanking because of it

Its not going to have any negative impact, unless the number is way too high.

Nut-Nights said:

Its not going to have any negative impact, unless the number is way too high.

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Sorry, do you mean the number of 404 errors?

MisterXYZ said:

Better redirect (301) those post to other similar posts or homepage.

So that there is no 404 error.

Click to expand...

OK so just use a redirect tool in Word Press (thats how i do my website)?

LandscapePhotographer said:

Sorry, do you mean the number of 404 errors?

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Yes.

Mr Positive said:

Disavow them if you feel that rankings are tanking because of it

Click to expand...

Annoyingly i dont know how to find out if they are affecting the site. Is that quite an advanced level to be able to work that out?