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  4. How can I find all broken links pointing to my site?

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How can I find all broken links pointing to my site?

Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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  • StevenLevine
    StevenLevine last edited by May 11, 2017, 1:27 PM

    I help manage a large website with over 20M backlinks and I want to find all of the broken ones. What would be the most efficient way to go about this besides exporting and checking each backlink's reponse code?

    Thank you in advance!

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
    • Nidhibng
      Nidhibng last edited by Apr 25, 2024, 12:46 PM

      To find all broken links pointing to your site, you can use various online tools such as Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush. These tools allow you to analyze your website's backlink profile and identify any links that lead to pages returning 404 errors or other status codes indicating broken or inaccessible content. Additionally, you can manually check for broken links by reviewing your website's referral traffic, monitoring social media mentions, and conducting periodic audits of your site's content and backlinks.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Neststayhome
        Neststayhome last edited by Apr 24, 2024, 10:50 AM

        To find all broken links pointing to your site, you can use online tools like Google Search Console's "Links to Your Site" report, which lists external pages linking to your site. Additionally, you can utilize website crawling tools such as Screaming Frog or Ahrefs' Site Explorer to identify broken links from external sources. Regularly monitoring and fixing broken links helps maintain website health, improves user experience, and enhances SEO performance.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • FinacusTech
          FinacusTech last edited by Apr 23, 2024, 12:51 PM

          You can find broken links pointing to your website by using website crawl tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs, checking crawl errors in Google Search Console, and monitoring your backlinks with tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. Regularly checking your referral traffic and using online broken link checkers can also help you identify broken links.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • FinacusTech
            FinacusTech last edited by Apr 23, 2024, 12:51 PM

            You can find broken links pointing to your website by using website crawl tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs, checking crawl errors in Google Search Console, and monitoring your backlinks with tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. Regularly checking your referral traffic and using online broken link checkers can also help you identify broken links.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • sarahwalsh
              sarahwalsh last edited by Apr 22, 2024, 12:45 PM

              We often use Moz Pro, its a fantastic SEO tool, we also use Screaming Frog as well, we use this to find any broken internal links.

              this has helped improve our on-page seo, for our garden office company.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • topic:timeago_earlier,7 years
              • StevenLevine
                StevenLevine @KevinBudzynski last edited by May 16, 2017, 11:26 AM May 16, 2017, 11:26 AM

                Ha, I feel silly. I do use ahrefs, but somehow the broken backlinks tool escaped me. This is perfect, thank you!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Joe_Stoffel
                  Joe_Stoffel last edited by May 12, 2017, 2:57 PM May 12, 2017, 2:55 PM

                  Hi Steven,

                  I assume many of these backlinks will be broken because pages were removed from your site without being properly redirected. If that is the case, Open Site Explorer's Link Opportunities (Link Reclamation) tool should be a big help. This will show all 404 URLs with inbound links that you can recapture be 301 redirecting. Additionally, you can look up the backlinks to each of these 404 pages and reach out to each webmaster requesting they update the URL of their link.

                  I've also had success exporting Top Pages reports (Moz or Majestic are my preferred tools for this), running any URL with a backlink to it through Screaming Frog and pulling 404 pages/broken links (or even 302 redirects) that way. I usually find additional opportunities that do not show up in the Link Reclamation report.

                  Hope this helps!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • benesmartin
                    benesmartin last edited by May 12, 2017, 4:34 AM May 12, 2017, 4:34 AM

                    Use ahrefs and split the crawls for the main folders of the website. Actually, consider the priorities because then you don't have to do all of the 20m. Start with the main ones and go step by step for being able to crawl the majority.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • DonnaDuncan
                      DonnaDuncan last edited by May 16, 2017, 11:26 AM May 11, 2017, 8:59 PM

                      I agree with Kevin. Ahref has that capability assuming you don't run into size constraints. Here's a quick post that explains where to find it. (See https://ahrefs.com/blog/turning-broken-links-site-powerful-links-ahrefs-broken-link-checker/.)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • KevinBudzynski
                        KevinBudzynski last edited by May 16, 2017, 11:26 AM May 11, 2017, 2:52 PM

                        Have you looked into ahrefs? I know a ton of horsepower behind it, but don't know if it can handle checking 20m. Good luck!

                        StevenLevine 1 Reply Last reply May 16, 2017, 11:26 AM Reply Quote 3
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