How to Fix 404 Errors on Your Site [2026]

Enterno.io Editorial Team

How to Find and Fix 404 Errors

By Anatoly Oshmanovsky · Updated Apr 17, 2026

TL;DR:

To fix 404s: (1) find broken URLs via /en/broken-links; (2) set up 301 redirects to relevant content; (3) create a custom 404 page with search and popular links; (4) monitor new 404s in Google Search Console.

Try it now — free →

Step-by-step guide

Find broken links. Open Broken Links Checker. Crawl will reveal every 4xx/5xx URL on the site.
Set up 301 redirects. nginx: rewrite ^/old-url$ /new-url permanent;. Apache .htaccess: Redirect 301 /old-url /new-url.
Custom 404 page. Do not show generic "Page not found". Add: site search, links to main sections, "We removed this page because…"
Check sitemap.xml. Sitemap should not contain 404 URLs. Remove or update if any.
Monitor Google Search Console. Coverage tab → Not Found. Check weekly for new occurrences.

Open tool →

404 ErrorsBroken links return 404 and damage user experience and SEO rankings.

SEO SignalGoogle reduces the authority of pages with many broken outbound links.

Check SpeedThe tool checks dozens of links in parallel — results in seconds, not minutes.

Response CodesDisplays the HTTP code of each link: 200, 301, 302, 404, 500 — for precise diagnosis.

Why teams trust us

Deep

page crawling

4xx

broken links

301/302

redirects tracked

CSV

export results

How it works

Enter site URL

Crawler follows links

Broken links reported

Broken Link Checker: website SEO hygiene

Broken links are a silent killer of SEO and conversion. They signal low content quality to search engines and frustrate users. Regular broken link checking is a mandatory part of technical SEO auditing.

Full page link scan

Checks all links on the page — internal, external, images and resources.

HTTP Status Codes

Each link is verified with a real HTTP request — no false positives.

Redirects

Detects redirect chains and links that technically work but point to the wrong destination.

External Links

External resources can go down at any moment. The tool checks them alongside internal links.

Who uses this

SEO

404 error removal

Developers

pre-release QA

Content managers

internal link audit

DevOps

post-deploy check

Common Mistakes

❌

Checking only the homepageMost broken links are on inner pages: blog, portfolio, archives. Check all key pages.

❌

Ignoring 301 redirectsRedirect chains slow down loading and lose PageRank. Fix links to point directly to the final URL.

❌

Not checking after page deletionEvery page or article deletion potentially creates broken inbound links from other site pages.

❌

Forgetting about imagesBroken images are also broken links. They hurt Core Web Vitals and user experience.

Best Practices

✓

Check after every major updateURL restructuring, domain change, CMS update — each of these events can break links.

✓

Set up 301 redirects for deleted pagesNever delete a page without a redirect to a similar URL or section homepage.

✓

Use automated monitoringManual quarterly checks are not enough. Automate scanning of key pages on a weekly basis.

✓

Prioritize by page trafficStart fixing from high-traffic pages — broken links there cause the most conversion damage.

Get more with a free account

Broken link check history and API for automated crawling.

Learn more

How-to

How to Find and Fix 404 Errors

Frequently Asked Questions

Signup required?

No for quick check. For continuous monitoring — free account.