Last Updated on 03/11/2025
Link rot, also known as link decay or link degradation. It affects every website at some time; how you monitor and respond to it is what makes all the difference.
While you may not currently have any broken links on your website, the older your content, the more likely it is that you will encounter them.
In this post, we will explore what link rot is, its impact on your website and SEO, and how you can prevent your site from suffering as a result.
What is Link Rot?
Link rot is a metaphorical term for the process by which a website’s external (and internal) links stop functioning.
You’ve likely experienced link rot (as a website user or content reader) when you clicked on a link expecting to be directed to a new page, only to find this:
That’s because the hyperlinked page is no longer available. Perhaps the website that hosts the page has been inactive for a long time, and a serious issue is preventing the page from loading correctly.
There are a variety of reasons why pages disappear or cease operating, including:
- Pages are renamed, destroyed, or removed when maintaining a website.
- Sites stop working because the business no longer exists, the owner leaves, or stops updating the site.
- Institutions and governments delete content.
- Hackers manipulate the content and reroute URLs to other destinations.
Whatever the reason, link rot and broken links are frustrating for both consumers and content creators. It’s also a fact of life online.
Ahrefs conducted a study and discovered that 66.5 percent of connections “rot” within 9 years. Think about it. Two out of every three external links you include in your article will stop operating within a decade.
The link rot problem does not only affect external links. Sometimes your own links break. Even reliable, well-maintained websites (such as yours) sometimes encounter broken links.
The problem may be caused by a plugin or custom HTML/CSS code that you’ve applied. The good news is that identifying and resolving link rot is rather simple, whether it is on external or internal websites.
How To Find & Fix Link Rot On Your Website?
Link rot may harm your website in two ways: external material that you link to and internal content that you (and others) link to. Conducting regular content audits can help you maintain the reliability of your content.
Here’s how you go about it!
a. Identify Broken Links On Your Website
The first step is to see whether there are any dead links on your website. To do it manually, you would need to click every link on your website to determine if it leads to the right address.
Nobody has time for that. You need a tool to help you find bad connections.
The Broken Link Checker plugin for WordPress is a popular tool for checking your site for broken external and internal links.
This application will automatically scan your website once a week to detect link rot. It is then up to you to take action based on the results of the list. This takes us to step two.
b. Fix Internal Link Rot
Finding the broken connections is only half of the task; you must also intervene to repair the link rot. Do not worry, this is the easiest part!
Once you’ve compiled a list of broken links, review each one and determine the appropriate action to take. If the broken link is due to a typo, just fix the spelling in the URL.
However, the majority of broken links are the result of missing or relocated information. Generally, you should use 301 redirects to resolve these broken links. This will redirect everyone who attempts to access each URL to similar material on your website.
c. Fix External Link Rot
Fixing dead links on your website is far easier than attempting to repair any broken external links.
This is because, of course, you do not influence what others do with their websites. They may not be as aware of their broken links as you are, and may not care.
If you’ve gone through your list of broken external links and confirmed that none are the result of typos, there’s just one thing left to do: replace the page with a new one.
You may, if you were so motivated (perhaps the piece of material you were linked to was so wonderful that you believe it is worthwhile), alert the site owner about the broken link. They may appreciate it, and you may gain a guest post opportunity or, at the very least, a new contact as a result.
Minimizing Link Rot On Your Website
While several tools are available to assist you in monitoring your links and detecting and resolving link rot as it develops, the most effective method is to prevent link rot by taking a few important steps. They are:
- Try to only link to reliable websites and primary sources.
- Be cautious when connecting to personal websites (such as blogs).
- Be cautious with third-party link shorteners.
Summing Up
To summarize, link rot is a regular aspect of maintaining a website and should not be something you continually worry about.
However, it is something to take seriously and audit regularly. It takes little time to run one of the link-checking programs, and it will take even less time to repair what is faulty.
Keeping track of broken internal links is extremely important, as failing to do so can jeopardize your link development and SEO efforts. If you spend time and money generating backlinks, you don’t want to lose them because you didn’t notice and resolve a page problem or set up a suitable 301 redirect.
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FAQs
Link rot occurs when hyperlinks on a website become inactive or cease to function. It has a detrimental impact on your website’s SEO, as it reduces user experience, causes search engines to encounter broken links, and lowers your site’s authority, which can result in lower rankings and reduced organic traffic.
To detect link rot, perform frequent site audits with tools such as Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, or Broken Link Checker. These programs can detect broken links. To address link rot, update or delete broken links, redirect them to the appropriate pages, or contact webmasters about replacing external links.
To prevent link rot, regularly check your website for broken links and outdated content. For deleted pages, use 301 redirects, connect to authoritative and reliable sources, and regularly check external links. Keep your material up to date, use link monitoring tools, and urge site owners to update or replace old connections.
