Broken links can frustrate customers, damage your website’s credibility, and negatively impact search rankings. For e-commerce businesses, where every click counts towards a potential sale, ensuring a smooth browsing experience is crucial. At teclan, we take a strategic approach to identifying and fixing broken links, helping online retailers maintain seamless navigation and maximise conversions.
In this blog, we’ll explore why broken links occur, how they affect user experience and SEO, and the step-by-step process teclan follows to detect and resolve these issues effectively. Whether you’re dealing with outdated product pages, incorrect redirects, or missing internal links, our expert strategies will help you maintain a high-performing online store.
1. Identify Broken Links
To maintain a seamless shopping experience and improve SEO, teclan uses a combination of tools to detect broken links:
- Google Search Console – Identifies 404 errors and crawl issues.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider – Conducts a full website crawl to find broken internal and external links.
- Ahrefs / SEMrush Site Audit – Detects broken backlinks and internal linking errors.
- Automated Monitoring – Regularly checks for new broken links.
2. Analyse the Cause
Common reasons for broken internal or external links include:
- Outgoing links pointing to removed third-party pages
- Discontinued or out-of-stock products or products where the URL has changed
- Deleted or renamed category or landing pages
- Incorrect manual internal linking
3. Fix Internal Broken Links
- 301 Redirects – Redirect broken pages to relevant alternatives (e.g., similar products, category pages, or blog content).
- Update Internal Links – Correct links pointing to non-existent pages.
- Restore High-Value Pages – Reinstate pages with valuable backlinks or traffic.
4. Fix External Broken Links
- Replace with New Links – Alter outgoing external links to target active, relevant pages.
- Use Archive.org – If an incoming external link is needed, but your local content has been removed, you can sometimes retrieve old content via the Wayback Machine or a backup, or you can redirect it to a relevant live page.
- Remove or Replace Unavailable Links – If a source is no longer reliable, remove the link or find an alternative
5. Improve User Experience
- Custom 404 Pages – teclan ensures broken pages include useful navigation, search functionality, and alternative product suggestions.
- Related Product Recommendations – Where a product is unavailable, alternative recommendations can help to retain customers.
6. Continuous Monitoring & Prevention
- Scheduled Crawls & Link Audits – Regular site audits to address broken links proactively.
- CMS & Platform-Specific Fixes – Using Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, or custom platforms, teclan optimises link structures.
- Proactive URL Management – Ensuring SEO-friendly URLs remain consistent.
Conclusion
Broken links are more than just a minor inconvenience—they can directly impact your bottom line by disrupting the customer journey and harming your search engine visibility. At teclan, we understand the importance of keeping your e-commerce site running smoothly, which is why our proactive, strategic approach to broken link management is designed to protect and enhance both user experience and online performance. By identifying issues early, applying targeted fixes, and implementing ongoing monitoring, we help ensure your website remains robust, reliable, and ready to convert.
Get in touch with our team today to keep your digital storefront at its best.
