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Technical SEO

Broken Internal Links vs Broken External Links: Which Matter More?

Published 2 min read

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Fix broken internal links first. They are fully under your control, they break navigation on your own site and they can send crawlers and visitors to dead ends. Broken external links matter too, mainly for user experience and trust, but they are usually lower priority and simpler to resolve.

These point from one page of your site to another page that no longer works. They interrupt journeys, waste crawler time and weaken the paths that spread value across your site. Learn how internal links work in what internal linking is.

These point to other websites that have moved or disappeared. They frustrate readers and suggest content is neglected, but they do not usually cause direct ranking problems on their own.

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  1. Update the link to the correct new address.
  2. If the page was removed, link to the closest equivalent.
  3. Redirect the old address if it still has outside links, as in whether 301 redirects pass link equity.
  1. Find the new address of the resource.
  2. Replace it with an equivalent source if it is gone.
  3. Remove the link if nothing suitable exists.

Find both types

Run pages through the broken link checker and read the status codes explained in HTTP status codes for SEO. Also check for pages nobody links to using how to find and fix orphan pages.

Frequently asked questions

Should I nofollow broken links?

No. Fix or remove them instead.

Do broken links affect crawl efficiency?

Large numbers of internal dead ends can waste crawling.

Next steps

See the wider repair guide in how to fix broken links for SEO, or contact me here.

More in this series (broken link questions): start with Free Broken Link Checker, then explore:

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