Broken Links and 404 Errors: A Practical Guide for Small-Business Websites
Learn what broken links and 404 errors mean, how to check important website links, when to use redirects, and how to keep visitors moving.
WebWise Management
9/18/20267 min read
Which website areas should you check first?
You do not need to click every link on a large website every week. Start with the routes that matter most to customers and the business.
Check the homepage first, especially prominent buttons leading to services, quotations, bookings or contact options. Then check main service or product pages, contact destinations, important footer links, downloadable files, and pages used in advertising or social-media campaigns.
Older blog posts also deserve attention because they may contain links added months or years earlier.
Menu links should work too, but checking whether those destinations work is different from redesigning the menu itself. If your issue is how a menu is labelled, grouped or prioritised, see the separate guide on website navigation for small businesses.
A practical priority order is:
1. Homepage buttons and key customer actions.
2. Main service or product pages.
3. Contact and enquiry destinations.
4. Downloads such as brochures, menus, forms or price lists.
5. Footer, policy and other frequently used links.
6. Older blog posts and resource pages.
7. Important external resources.
How to check important links manually
For a small website, a manual check can find many of the most visible problems.
Open the public site as a normal visitor rather than from inside the website editor. Work through the priority pages one by one.
For each important link, ask:
1. Does it open?
2. Does it reach the destination you expected?
3. Is that destination still current and relevant?
4. If it fails, is there a clear next step for the visitor?
Keep a simple note of problems. Record the source page, the link or button you clicked, what happened, the expected destination, and the action required.
For example, if the "Our services" button on the homepage opens a 404 page but the current services page still exists, the likely action is to update the link and then decide whether the old URL also needs a redirect.
Test a few important links from a phone too, especially those central to enquiries. This is not a full mobile-usability audit; it is simply a check that your important links still lead where intended.
If your website has hundreds or thousands of pages, automated crawling tools can help find broken URLs at scale. At that point, it is reasonable to involve your website provider rather than turning link checking into a technical project for the owner.
A website does not have to be completely "down" to frustrate a customer. One button can point to an old page, one PDF can disappear, or one blog link can send a visitor to a page that no longer exists.
For a small-business owner, the useful question is not "How do I become a web developer?" It is "How do I recognise a broken link, check the important parts of my site, and know when technical help is needed?"
What is a broken link?
A broken link is a link that does not take the visitor to the destination it is supposed to reach.
If a visitor clicks "View our services" and lands on an error page, the problem may be that the page moved, the address was typed incorrectly, or the destination was deleted.
Broken links can be internal or external. An internal broken link points to another destination on your own website that no longer works. An external broken link points to another website or online resource that has moved or disappeared.
A link can also be practically wrong even if a page opens. If a "Book now" button goes to the wrong service, the visitor still has a problem. So do not check only whether something opens. Check whether it opens the right destination.
What does a 404 or "Not Found" page mean?
When a browser requests a web address, the website's server sends back a response. The HTTP standard defines 404 as "Not Found": in plain language, the requested resource is not available at that address.
A 404 does not mean the whole website is broken. Other pages may still work normally.
The broken link is the route a visitor clicks. The 404 is one possible response at the destination.
Visitors can also reach a 404 by typing an address incorrectly, using an old bookmark, or following an outdated link from another website. You cannot prevent every 404, but you can prevent many avoidable ones and make the remaining experience more useful.
Why do website links break?
Links often fail for ordinary reasons. A page may be renamed and given a new URL. A service may be removed. A downloadable file may be replaced. Someone may copy a URL incorrectly. An external website may change its own page address.
Redesigns and website migrations create extra risk because many addresses can change at once. Even a small edit can cause trouble if the destination changes but older links pointing to it are not updated.
That is why broken-link checking belongs inside ongoing website care. It is one focused maintenance task, alongside the broader work explained in WebWise Management's guide to what website maintenance includes.
Should you fix the link, redirect the old URL, or leave a 404?
The right response depends on what happened to the destination.
Correct the link when the destination still exists
If the page is live but the link contains a typo or an outdated path, update the link so it points directly to the correct address.
This is usually the cleanest fix for links you control.
Use a permanent redirect when content genuinely moved
If an old page has been replaced by a clear new version, a permanent redirect is usually appropriate. HTTP 301 and 308 responses are permanent redirects, and Google treats them as strong signals that the new destination should be processed instead of the old one.
For a business owner, the important decision is simply: "This old page now lives here." Your website provider or platform can handle the technical setup.
The redirect should lead to the closest genuine replacement. Do not send every missing URL to the homepage just because it still exists. Google warns against irrelevant redirects, and they can confuse visitors who expected something specific.
Leave a genuine 404 when there is no suitable replacement
Sometimes content is intentionally gone and there is no honest equivalent. A real 404 can then be the correct response.
Remove or update internal links that still point to the deleted page, but do not invent an unrelated destination just to avoid an error page.
Replace or remove broken external links
You cannot create a redirect on somebody else's website. If an external resource has disappeared, find its new official location, replace it with another genuinely useful source, or remove the link if it is no longer needed.
What should a useful 404 page do?
A good 404 page cannot restore missing content, but it can stop the visitor from reaching a dead end.
It should clearly say that the requested page could not be found, look like part of the same website, and offer sensible routes forward. These may include the home page, important service areas, contact options or site search where appropriate.
What it should not do is pretend that the missing page loaded successfully. Google uses the term "soft 404" for situations where a page appears to be an error but returns a successful 200 response instead of an appropriate error response.
The visible design and the server response are separate. A business owner does not need to configure HTTP status codes personally, but it is worth asking the website provider to confirm that a custom not-found page returns a real 404 response.
Are broken links and 404 errors bad for SEO?
They can matter, but the effect should be kept in proportion.
Google has said that 404s do not damage the rankings of the rest of a website and that 404 responses are a normal part of the web. One old URL returning 404 is therefore not a reason to panic.
The practical search concern is whether important content moved without a suitable redirect, whether your own pages still point to missing destinations, or whether visitors and crawlers are being sent along routes that no longer lead to useful content.
Google also recommends making links crawlable so its systems can discover pages through links. Correcting important broken internal paths is sensible for both people and crawlers.
If a valid page exists but you cannot find it in Google Search, that is a different troubleshooting question. WebWise Management's guide to why a small-business website may not be showing on Google Search covers indexing and visibility rather than broken destinations.
So fix broken links because they interrupt useful journeys and because accurate website paths are part of sound technical housekeeping. Do not treat every 404 as an SEO emergency.
Make link checking part of routine website care
There is no universal checking schedule for every small-business website. A site that changes frequently may need more regular checks than a small brochure site that rarely changes.
Useful times to check important links include:
· after moving or renaming a page;
· after a redesign or migration;
· after replacing downloads or service content;
· when an external resource is important to a customer journey;
· when a visitor reports a missing page; and
· as part of your normal website-care routine.
You are not trying to eliminate every possible 404 from the internet. You are making sure the links your business controls continue to lead customers where intended.
For the broader business case for ongoing website care, see WebWise Management's guide on why regular website maintenance matters.
A small check that protects the customer journey
A link is the route. A 404 is one possible response when the destination cannot be found. If the destination still exists, correct the link. If content moved to a clear replacement, use an appropriate permanent redirect. If the content is genuinely gone, a real 404 with a helpful visitor experience may be right.
Most small-business owners do not need to configure redirects or HTTP responses themselves. They do need to know what to check, what to record, and when to ask for technical help.
WebWise Management offers ongoing website management and website care. If you would prefer link checking and broken-destination fixes to form part of a managed website-care process, you can contact WebWise Management to discuss the
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