Boost Your Google Rankings by Fixing Broken Links (Free Tool Inside)
If you’ve been working on your website for a while, you’ve probably added loads of pages, posts, affiliate links, maybe even external sources that made sense at the time.
But over time, things break — pages go offline, products get removed, and links that once worked… just don’t anymore.
And here’s the thing: Google notices.
In this post, I’m going to show you how to find and fix broken links on your site using a free tool that takes just a few minutes.
It’s one of those quick-win SEO tasks that can boost your rankings and help clean up your site for both visitors and search engines.
Why Broken Links Hurt Your Rankings
Let’s keep it simple.
Broken links = bad user experience.
If someone clicks a link on your page and ends up on a 404 error, they’re probably bouncing off your site straight away.
Google picks up on that.
And if Google’s crawler runs into dead ends on your site, that can hurt how your pages are indexed, ranked, and trusted.
Plus, broken links can dilute your SEO power — especially if the page they’re on is supposed to be important (like a blog post targeting a big keyword).
So fixing them isn’t just about being tidy. It’s about improving your site health, bounce rate, crawlability, and even conversion rate.
The Free Tool I Use: BrokenLinkCheck.com
It’s completely free and very simple to use.
Here’s how it works:
Go to the site
Enter your URL
Choose to either check one page or your entire site
Hit “Find broken links”
Wait a few minutes while it scans
It shows you every broken link — the source page and what’s broken
It even highlights whether the link is internal (on your site) or external (pointing somewhere else).
That’s super helpful when deciding what to fix and how.
What to Do With Broken Links
Once you find broken links, you’ve got a few options:
- Fix the Link
If the destination still exists but the link is wrong (maybe a typo or outdated format), just update the URL.
Simple win.
- Remove the Link
If the link is completely dead or irrelevant, it’s often best to just remove it.
This is especially true for affiliate links going to expired products or old blog posts that no longer serve a purpose.
- Replace It
If the link pointed to a helpful resource or product, find a working alternative and replace it.
Keeps the value on your page while staying up-to-date.
Don’t Forget: Old Posts Can Weigh You Down
During this process, you might also discover old blog posts that don’t get traffic, have no backlinks, and are full of broken links.
If they’re not helping your site, they could be hurting it.
This is why I recommend cleaning out old content regularly.
I actually made a full video on this exact topic — how and why you should delete old blog posts that are no longer helping your SEO.
You can check that out here:
The goal isn’t just to “have more content.”
It’s to have better content — content that performs well, helps your audience, and keeps your site lean and clean in Google’s eyes.
How Often Should You Check for Broken Links?
If you’re constantly updating your site, adding reviews, or working with affiliate links, I’d say:
Run a check once a month
Or at the very least, quarterly
It’s a good habit to build — especially if you’re trying to improve your site’s authority and rank higher in competitive niches.
Final Thoughts
Fixing broken links isn’t glamorous.
It won’t feel like it’s going to 10x your income overnight.
But trust me — these little tweaks add up.
They improve user experience.
I have been using a set and forget software for about 8 years, it has increased my Domain Authority through the interaction and free traffic that you get from it.
They keep Google happy.
And they make sure your site is working as it should.
So if you haven’t done a link audit recently, now’s the time.
Use BrokenLinkCheck.com — it’s quick, free, and takes no tech skills.
And if you’re serious about your rankings, don’t forget to check out my full video on this exact topic:
“Boost Your Google Rankings by Fixing Broken Links (Free Tool Inside)”
Let me know if you give it a try and feel free to drop me a message if you find anything surprising during your scan.
Until next time,
Marc at TWOOM!
Thank you Sir. Glad it helped!
Very nice information.
Your welcome brother…glad to help!
Thanks for the great knowledge mentor
Too many variables as too how you got in their sandbox and why…Ive never been hit like that so never had to deal with it.
Hi Marc, How Do I break out of the WordPress sandbox?!
Well thank you!
Commended
Hello my friend thanks for the comment, yeah all is well i’m just halfway through the launch that I’m doing just now.
Listen the thing about Google search console is that you’re always going to get errors and don’t go too deep into them, google search console is still being updated and I would say that over 80% of the errors I get if not more are actually false positives that you do not need to worry about.
So really don’t stress about it my friend, that’s probably about the best advice I can give you unless you tell me a specific error….
Hi Marc,
Hope all is well.
As always thanks for sharing your insights and reminders.
I had to start again with the GSC, and I’m glad I did, a lot of things have been sorted out since doing so.
I have a pet annoyance, with some of the highlighted errors, Google throws up.
There should be a way for those errors which are CMS based, to be sent to both WordPress and the Theme creators.
What’s your take on that?
Thank you very much.
Appealing