What are broken backlinks?
Broken backlinks, also known as dead links / broken links, are inbound links that point to a 404 page — that is, a page that no longer exists.
Why broken backlinks are bad for your SEO
Broken backlinks are bad for your SEO because it means you are missing out on the inbound link value these links could otherwise have passed to your domain. This is because Google does not assign link value to links pointing to 404 pages. But what can you do about this if the page you have a backlink to no longer exists — for example, a discontinued product?
How do I fix broken backlinks to my website?
Fortunately, there is something you can do about broken backlinks pointing to your site. First and foremost, you need to identify which URLs on your site any broken backlinks to your domain are pointing to. To find this out, you need access to a third-party tool such as Ahrefs.
Within this tool, it is possible to get a list of all the URLs on your domain that have inbound broken backlinks pointing to them.
To address this and have the value from these backlinks passed to your domain, you can set up 301 redirects from the URLs with broken backlinks to the corresponding new page, or another related page.
For example, if you have a broken backlink pointing to www.eksempel.dk/produkt1, and this product has been discontinued but you have a newer version in stock at www.eksempel.dk/produkt2, you can redirect the product 1 URL to the product 2 URL.
In this way, you will inform the search engines that the product 1 URL has moved to the product 2 URL, and the search engines will then pass the inbound link value on to the product 1 URL.
Have you discovered that your website has broken backlinks affecting your SEO?
Every time an inbound backlink points to a 404 page, you lose valuable link value. We can help you identify and fix your broken backlinks by implementing effective 301 redirects, so you don't miss out on valuable traffic and SEO impact.
Fill in the form below or call us on 30 12 42 72, and we will help you optimise your backlinks and improve your website's visibility!
