What are dead links?
Dead links (in English broken links) are links to pages on your website that do not exist. They pose a problem because a large part of the links' SEO value is lost, your potential customers are directed to pages that don't exist, and they signal to Google that your website is not being maintained.
You can identify dead links to your website by entering the website in Ahrefs and click 'Broken' in the menu to the left. Export the list of dead links via the 'Export' button in the top right corner, open the file and sort the list by the 'Link URL' column, i.e. by the non-existent pages on your website.
You can revive the links to each of the non-existing pages in two ways:
- Set up 301 redirects to existing pages.
- Contact those who link to you and ask them to correct the links.
The latter method is time-consuming and our recommendation is to set up 301 redirects. This is typically done via htaccess or via your CMS system, but the procedure can vary and requires you to consult with your technical managers. Read more about redirects.
If a page is only temporarily non-existent, you can either set up a 307 redirect or do nothing about the dead link. A 307 redirect tells Google that the page has moved temporarily and will be available at the original URL at a later date.
When you revive dead links, you regain their SEO value. It is thus a very simple and effective link building strategy - Assuming you have some dead links. The process of reviving dead links should be repeated periodically as new dead links appear.
Tips for redirecting dead links
- Handle each side. Set up a 301 redirect for each non-existent page. Multiple dead links can point to the same page and you only need to set up one redirect.
- Think in terms of relevance. Redirect users to a relevant subpage that corresponds to the non-existing page or is topically related to it. Avoid redirecting users to the front page unless it is most natural.
- Use correct syntax. Enter the correct version of your URLs (with HTTPS or HTTP and with or without 'www'). This way you avoid chains of redirects where you first send users to one version of the website and then to another version using another redirect.
- Test the links. Test that all 301 redirects work as they should.
