How Do I Find and Fix Broken Links (404 Errors)? The Step-by-Step Guide for Marketers and Agencies

by Samuel Sylvander·Sep 10, 2025

Broken links, often resulting in 404 errors, do more than frustrate website visitors—they harm your site’s credibility, hinder the user experience, and can negatively impact your SEO rankings. Search engines view a site riddled with broken links as poorly maintained, leading to lower rankings and lost organic traffic.

Useful tools mentioned in this article

Website Audit
Automatically crawl your site for on-page issues, get a health score with a 12-month trend, and turn every finding into a prioritised task.
Learn more Client Reporting Tool
Combine SEO results with paid and social data from every marketing platform into one automated, scheduled, on-brand report for each client.
Learn more

What Is a 404 Error?

A 404 error means that a page could not be found on your website. This typically occurs when a page has been deleted, moved, or its URL has changed without proper redirection. Broken links are both an inconvenience for users and a signal to search engines that your content may be outdated or unreliable.

How to Find Broken Links with the Website Audit Tool

The easiest way to keep your website healthy is to regularly scan for broken links. Website Audit Tool from SEOtoolbox.io offers a straightforward and comprehensive solution for this. Here’s how it works:

• Automated Scanning: The Website Audit Tool crawls your entire website, identifying broken links, 404 errors, and other common SEO issues.
• Comprehensive Reporting: Get detailed reports showing the exact links returning 404 errors, their locations on your site, and recommended fixes.
• Scheduled Monitoring: Set the tool to automatically audit your site on a regular basis, so you never miss a new issue.

To get started, simply enter your website URL into the tool and let it scan. Within minutes, you’ll have a clear list of all broken links, ready for action.

Fixing 404 Errors: A Simple Workflow

Once the Website Audit Tool has found broken links, follow these steps to fix them efficiently:

1. Review the Audit Report

Open your audit report and locate the section listing all broken links. Each entry will show both the source (where the link is on your site) and the target (the destination that returns the 404 error).

2. Analyze the Context

• If the linked page still exists but has a new URL: Update the link to the correct URL.
• If the page has been permanently removed and there is a relevant alternative: Redirect the broken link to an existing, related page.
• If the page or resource is no longer needed: Remove the link from your content altogether.

3. Implement Redirects

For important pages that have moved, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This ensures that both users and search engines are forwarded seamlessly to the correct content without losing any existing link authority.

4. Re-Audit and Monitor

After updating or removing broken links, rerun the Website Audit Tool to confirm that all 404 errors have been resolved. With regular audits scheduled, you’ll be alerted to future issues before they affect your audience or your SEO.

Streamline the Fixing Process with Integrations and Team Management

For agencies and marketing teams, managing broken links can be a collaborative effort. The following integrations and features are invaluable:

• Integrations with popular platforms allow you to pull in external data, monitor multiple sites, and unify your SEO reporting.
• Team Management lets you assign broken link tasks to different team members or clients, track their progress, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

With clear task assignment and collaboration tools, agencies can handle broken links for many clients at scale—improving productivity and ensuring fast resolution.

Reporting and Proving Your Progress

To show stakeholders what’s been fixed or to share results with clients, the Client Reporting Tool automatically compiles audit results into professional, easy-to-understand reports. Share progress on broken links, site health, and more to demonstrate real value and maintain trust.

Key Takeaways

• Broken links and 404 errors harm user experience and damage your SEO.
• The Website Audit Tool automates broken link discovery and makes fixing them simple.
• Use integrations and Team Management to streamline the process across your organization or client list.
• Share results and value with Client Reporting Tool for transparent communication and reporting.

Ready to Eliminate Broken Links?

Keep your site (and your clients’ sites) error-free and visible in search. Sign up for SEOtoolbox.io to automate broken link audits, manage fixes, and provide your team or clients with top-level SEO performance—no extra hassle required.