Inbound Links from Broken Pages
-
Hi all,
We have a client who has a lot of inbound links from external pages that are broken/404. The 404 pages are EXTERNAL and linking to my client's pages, but their domain still has authority and their home page (and other pages) still load.
My question is: what should we do about this? Do we detox those links, or are they still sending some juice given that they have domain authority, despite the fact that the pages linking to my client are broken?
So in other words:
- My client is: yyyy.com
- They have a link from vvvv.com/services, which is a broken page
- So what should we do about this?
Thanks all!
Gavin
-
Hi Gavin,
Agree with Martijn here - links from 404ing pages are very unlikely to either help or hinder a website, just as inbound links to pages on your site that 404 also don't help / hurt.
You probably do not need to do anything about these links. However, if they were very good links in the past and you would like them back, you could consider contacting the webmasters of the sites with the broken pages and asking them if they are aware of their errors and / or would consider updating.
Cheers,
Jane
-
Hi Gavin,
Probably by now the links to your client have lost their value as Google also noticed that these pages are giving a 404 response instead of a 200. That's why I won't bother about them, probably they will disappear one day from Open Site Explorer or any other link profile research tool you're using.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
SEO value of home page links
I was looking at the website peak7.org and there are links on the homepage that rotate at the bottom. Do such links have SEO value even though they are not static text links? Are they still counted as links by Google if they are in that rotating carousel?
Link Building | | RandyHT1 -
Number of other outgoing links on a page
"If the link pointing to your website is among hundreds or thousands of other outgoing links on
Link Building | | ross254sidney
a single page, then chances are that it isn't as valuable." What is the maximum limit to look for outgoing links before placing our link?0 -
Diluted Link Pages
When looking at a competitor's links, is it worth the time to try to get listed on sites they're listed on if all they seem to be are pages with links? Here's an example: http://blacktieaffairlimousines.com/links.html I'm finding a lot of these, along with other low quality links from sites in other countries such as China, that have nothing to do with their business. This is for a self storage company. Most of what I'm finding are what seem to be more "old school" link building (farming).
Link Building | | DougHoltOnline0 -
Google index broken link ?
Hi .
Link Building | | tuananh0688
This is my site http://blog.addme.vn . It published about 3 weeks ago . I have some problem with google index : When my site published about 3 days , submit site map on google by google webmaster tool . Google index all link summited .But i found dublicate content with link and i edited all structure links and sumited again.
Now when google search on you see 2 link old and new . But link of old site map has broken .How to solve this problem .0 -
Header and Footer Links on Home and other catelog pages of site
Hello, in our site www.mycarhelpline.com - we have just reworked on header and footer links. Have removed lost of unncessary footer links. However, the header links on extreme top right side has some links like - login, register, about us, partner with us etc. Is is that google will give importance to these links and i rather should move them to footer links of page and should move the most important anchor links on the top header. Pl suggest
Link Building | | Modi0 -
Do No follow links from social media platforms transfer authority or value when they link to third party websites?
With social media playing a bigger role in SEO (since the Panda, Penguin updates etc) and how search engines rank sites now, does anybody know why Twitter for instance has 'no follow' when I check my client's websites under 'inbound links' on Open Site Explorer?
Link Building | | caroline19770 -
How many links per week is too fast in link building?
For a new website/blog how many links per week looks suspicious or hurt the rankings?
Link Building | | aaran1 -
Value of Inbound Links to Pages With a lot of Outbound Links
Suppose you have a resource page of the Top 50 Awesome Sites in your niche. Since there are about 50 outbound links, then I would think there will be less Page Rank being passed to internal pages from internal links on the resource page. Since you are getting less PR passed to internal pages, are there other ways the inbound links can be beneficial, such as increasing the diversity of links of your domain? Sites like SEO Optimise seem to create a lot of Top 30 Resources lists and I have read that they think it is a strong tactic.
Link Building | | SparkplugDigital0