Broken Links (404 Errors) FAQ: Questions People Actually Ask

**What is broken links (404 errors), in plain terms?**
A broken internal link doesn't just frustrate one visitor — it's a dead end for crawlers too, cutting off the flow of link equity to whatever page it used to lead to.

**How often should this be checked?**
Regularly, not just once. Fixing the visible symptom (the link) without checking whether the destination page itself has other structural problems. Set a recurring reminder rather than trusting memory.

**What's the most common mistake here?**
Only checking navigation and footer links while ignoring links buried in years of blog content, where most rot actually accumulates.

**Does this actually affect rankings, or is it just best practice?**
It's rarely a single ranking factor on its own, but it affects whether search engines and users can do what you actually need them to do — which shows up in rankings indirectly, often more than any one direct factor would.

**What's the fastest way to check this on an existing site?**
Broken Link Checker — paste your URL in and it does the check directly, no setup.

Related: our guide to keyword cannibalization.

Everything in this guide runs directly in your browser — no signup, no install.