What we measured ·
What Google shows for "how to fix broken link" right now
Method: Live Google results (United States, desktop, English) for "how to fix broken link" retrieved through DataForSEO's SERP API on 2026-10-22. Page types are our own classification of each ranking URL.
The top 8 organic results for "how to fix broken link" were 5 guides or explainers, 2 forum or community threads, 1 video. The first three were www.hostpapa.com, www.icdsoft.com, www.reddit.com. Community threads (www.reddit.com, www.quora.com) ranked on page one, a sign searchers want first-hand answers, not only vendor pages.
Google showed an AI Overview for this query, citing 10 source domains including www.youtube.com, www.acquia.com, www.seoclarity.net, www.uwyo.edu. Pages that state the answer directly and early are the ones an Overview can quote.
People Also Ask listed: "How to fix links not working?"; "How to identify a broken link?"; "How to fix a broken link to a Facebook page?"; "Do broken links hurt SEO?". The sections below answer the ones within this page's scope.
| Position | Domain | Page type |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | www.hostpapa.com | Guide or explainer |
| 2 | www.icdsoft.com | Guide or explainer |
| 3 | www.reddit.com | Forum or community thread |
| 4 | www.quora.com | Forum or community thread |
| 5 | searchatlas.com | Guide or explainer |
| 6 | en.ryte.com | Guide or explainer |
Types of broken link
Each type has a different fix.
| Type | Example | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Internal link to a missing page | Your guide links to /old-pricing | Update the link to the live page |
| Internal link to a moved page | Link to a URL that now redirects | Update to the final URL |
| Your missing page with external links | Others link to your deleted page | 301 or 308 redirect to the closest page |
| External link that died | You cite a source that is gone | Replace with a working source or remove |
| Broken image or file | Missing image path | Restore the file or update the path |
How to find them
Crawl the site with Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or a suite site audit and filter for 4xx responses; each result shows which pages contain the broken link. In Search Console, the Page indexing report lists URLs returning Not found (404), which reveals missing pages Google tried to reach, often from old internal or external links. A backlink tool's broken backlinks report shows external links to your 404 pages. For a single page, a link checker lists every link and its status.
Choosing the right fix
If the target page moved, update links to the new URL and add a redirect from the old one. If the page was deleted and has a close replacement, redirect to it; if it has no replacement and no valuable backlinks, let it return 404 or 410 and remove internal links to it. Do not redirect every missing page to the homepage; Google may treat that as a soft 404. For external sources, look for an archived or updated version, or cite a different authoritative source.
Do broken links hurt SEO?
A few broken links will not cause a ranking penalty, and Google says 404s are a normal part of the web. They do waste the value of backlinks pointing to missing pages, send visitors to dead ends, and suggest poor maintenance on pages where they accumulate. Fixing internal broken links and redirecting valuable missing pages are worthwhile; chasing every old 404 in Search Console usually is not.
Preventing new broken links
Most broken links come from redesigns, migrations, and slug changes. Before changing URLs, export a list of old URLs, map each to a new one, and add redirects in the same release. Generate internal links from data where possible, so a removed page cannot stay linked. On serionflow.com, the build fails if any related link on a growth page points to a page that does not exist, and every retired URL has a permanent redirect in the host configuration. Our free broken link checker reports every link on a page with its status code. SerionFlow is the wrong tool for fixing broken links inside your existing pages; it validates links on its own pages, and the rest are yours to update.
Clear answers
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a broken link?
+
Use a crawler or link checker that requests each link and reports 4xx or 5xx status codes, or check Search Console's Not found (404) list for missing pages on your site.
Should I redirect all 404 pages?
+
No. Redirect pages that moved or have valuable backlinks to a relevant equivalent. Let pages with no replacement and no links return 404 or 410.
About the author
Shadrack Kumi · Founder, SerionFlow
Shadrack builds SerionFlow's site research, page generation, and Search Console tooling, and runs the free tools these guides pair with. Search Console figures cited on these pages come from serionflow.com's own property.
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