Link Rot

What is Link Rot?

Link rot is the process by which hyperlinks pointing to a webpage become outdated over time with the deletion, moving or renaming of the page, without proper redirects. When a user clicks such a link, it points to an error page showing “404 not found” as the page they expect is nonexistent.

How Link Rot Occurs?

Link rot occurs when websites change without maintaining links. Some of the reasons why link rot occurs are : 

  • Content Removal

Some pages may link to old, non-existent pages. The link remains, but the content is deleted. In such cases, the link directs to an error page.

  • Website redesigns or URL changes 

When a website restructures the pages without maintaining redirects, old links still point to the outdated URLs.

  • Expired external websites

If a site links to another webpage that later shuts down or expires, the link becomes broken.

Types of link rots

  • Internal Link Rot

Internal link rot happens when links within a website become outdated. This is due to the deletion, moving, or renaming of pages, and other pages still pointing to the old URL.

When a blog post is deleted from a website, and the links pointing to that page are still there in other articles of the same website, those links point to an error page when clicked.

  • External Link Rot

When a website links to another website and the linked webpage gets removed or changed over time, the old link gets broken, and external link rot happens.

A blog linked to a statistical report or a news article that later got removed is an example of external link rot.

  • Soft Link Rot

Also known as content decay, this kind of link rot occurs when the content becomes outdated or irrelevant while the link remains active. Here, the page loads but provides no useful information.

  • Redirected Link Rot

This type of link rot happens when a link sends users through multiple redirects. The link works, but multiple redirects cause the page to slow down and may negatively impact user experience, and can increase bounce rates.

  • Domain-Level Link Rot

Domain-level link rot happens when a website shuts down or its domain expires. Links pointing to that website will lead to an error page.

Impact on Users and Search Engines

Impact on Users

  • Leads to error pages, thus creating frustration
  • Interrupts browsing experience
  • Increases bounce rates
  • Lowers engagement

Impact on Search Engines

Wasted crawl budget on dead ends(404 errors)

Negative effect on indexing and search visibility

Can result in a lower quality score, which affects search rankings

Loss of site authority

How to fix Link Rot

  • Redirect outdated pages to the most relevant and active pages
  • Internal links directly affect site structure and quality paths, so prioritize them first
  • Periodically check links by conducting a link audit
  • If the linked page is unavailable and no suitable replacement exists, remove the link entirely