A broken link is a hyperlink that no longer functions correctly, typically leading to a 404 error page because the destination page has been moved, deleted, or the link was mistyped, whether the link is internal or points to an external site.
Broken links create a poor user experience and can waste crawl budget, while broken internal links specifically disrupt the flow of link equity throughout a site’s structure.
Regularly auditing a site for broken links, using a crawling tool, and either fixing, redirecting, or removing them is a routine but important ongoing technical SEO maintenance task.
Broken link audits are a standard part of our Technical SEO service.