Broken link audit

Broken Link Audit for Small Business Websites

Broken links are one of the simplest website issues to fix, but they can quietly block enquiries, bookings, purchases, and trust.

What is a broken link audit?

A broken link audit checks whether the links on your website still lead somewhere useful. For a small business website, this includes menu links, booking buttons, service-page links, contact buttons, downloadable PDFs, image files, and external resources.

Why broken links matter

A broken link is not only an SEO issue. It is often a lead leak. If a visitor clicks a booking button, contact link, case study, pricing page, or product link and lands on an error page, that visitor may not try again.

Common broken link issues

• Contact page links that lead to a 404 page
• Booking buttons pointing to old scheduling URLs
• Service pages linking to removed PDF files
• Old blog posts linking to deleted pages
• External resources that no longer exist
• Image paths that load as missing files

How to check your own site quickly

1. Open your homepage, services page, pricing page, about page, and contact page.
2. Click every main button and menu item.
3. Check whether each link opens the right page.
4. Look for 404 pages, redirects, missing files, or confusing destinations.
5. Write down the page, link text, broken URL, and the correct replacement.

What a useful fix looks like

Current: <a href="/contact-us-now">Book consultation</a>
Fixed:   <a href="/booking">Book consultation</a>

When to run a broken link audit

Run a broken link audit after a website redesign, domain migration, new service launch, plugin update, CMS change, or large content cleanup. Active websites should be checked monthly or weekly.