Broken links are one of those quiet issues that can undermine an otherwise great website. They’re easy to overlook but their impact on user experience, credibility, and search performance is significant. Keeping a close eye on these links and performing updates is an essential part of routine site maintenance.
What is a broken link and how do they happen?
A broken link leads to a page that no longer exists or can’t be accessed. This usually results in a 404 error, leaving your visitors at a dead-end.
Even if a link was entered correctly initially, there are countless reasons why a third-party URL may stop working. Websites evolve, pages move, tools get updated, and links that once worked quietly stop doing their job.
While one or two broken links might seem harmless, they add up quickly and can send the wrong signals to both users and search engines.
Negative Effects on User Experience
When someone clicks a link, they expect to find helpful, relevant information. If they land on a broken page instead, it calls into question the legitimacy of sources used for content and worse, makes it more difficult for visitors to find the necessary resources your organization provides, leaving them to hunt for potentially incorrect information.
Over time, this can lead to:
- Increased bounce rates
- Decreased time spent on your site
- Decreased trust in your organization
Remember, your website is often your first impression for potential clients, volunteers/interns, and partners/sponsors. Even if your content is excellently maintained, broken links can make it feel outdated or neglected. Instead of questioning your site’s credibility, visitors should feel confident and immediately ask, “How can I get involved?”
Decreased SEO Performance
Search engines like Google use links to crawl and understand your website structure. Broken links disrupt this process.
Here’s how they can hurt your SEO:
- Crawling issues: Search bots may stop indexing pages efficiently
- Lost link equity: Internal links help distribute ranking power while broken links waste this opportunity
- Lower rankings: A site with too many errors can appear poorly maintained lowering its ranking
Lost Conversion Opportunities
Broken links can have a direct impact on important site conversions, which not only negatively affects your analytics data but your bottom line. If one of key links is broken:
- Contact form
- Newsletter Subscription form
- Event registration
- Volunteer/Intern application
- Donation form
Your organization could be losing potential clients, donations, or engagement without even realizing it.
How to fix broken links
The good news is that searching for broken links does not need to be a time consuming task. Rather than manually checking every link on your site you can use third party platforms such as Google Search Console, or Screaming Frog SEO Spider to scan and compile which links are broken and where you can locate them on your site. Once you have this information it is just a matter of replacing outdated URLs with current ones or removing links that are no longer relevant.
A well-maintained website signals reliability to both users and search engines. Broken links do the opposite. Taking the time to audit and update your links regularly ensures your site stays functional, trustworthy, and effective.
If you haven’t checked your site recently, now’s a good time to start. Or to have Redstart Creative complete quarterly broken link audits and updates contact us to learn more about our maintenance services at operations@redstartcreative.com or schedule a consultation through our website www.redstartcreative.com/about/contact-us to learn more.
