A lovely client (thanks, CB – you know who you are!) asked me recently why I was “still fixing 404s” on their website. Fair question – especially when they’d seen me sort out a bunch of broken links just a few months earlier. The short answer? Because 404 errors are a bit like housework – you’re never really finished.

But that got me thinking that other business owners probably have the same question, so here’s the longer answer about why these bastard broken links keep appearing and what you actually need to do about them.

🟣 404 errors will keep appearing on your website – it’s normal and part of ongoing maintenance, not a one-time fix.
🟣 Crawling tools find internal broken links, while Google Search Console shows 404s from external sources and old pages.
🟣 Prioritise high-traffic 404s and internal broken links first – ignore spam attempts and genuinely irrelevant old content completely.
🟣 Set up 301 redirects to relevant pages when removing content, don’t just redirect everything lazily to your homepage.
🟣 Check 404 reports monthly not daily, focus on patterns over individual errors, and accept some are unavoidable.

The never-ending cycle of broken links

You’ve just run a website audit, found a bunch of 404 errors, spent an afternoon fixing them all, and felt proper chuffed with yourself. Job done, right?

Wrong. A month later, you’re staring at a fresh batch of 404s wondering if your website’s playing some sort of cruel joke on you. Welcome to the wonderful world of ongoing website maintenance – it’s not a one-and-done situation, and that’s actually normal.

To understand why this keeps happening, it helps to know how different tools actually discover these broken links in the first place. Each method finds different types of 404s, which explains why you’ll see new ones appearing even after you’ve supposedly fixed everything.

How SEO tools like SE Ranking actually find your 404s

When crawling tools like SE Ranking, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Screaming Frog check your website, they’re basically following every link they can find, just like a very methodical person clicking through your entire site. They start at your homepage and follow internal links, checking each page to see if it loads properly.

When these tools find a page that won’t load, they flag it as a 404 error. The key thing to understand is that these crawling tools only find broken links that are actually connected to your site structure – if there’s a broken page with no links pointing to it, the crawler will most likely never stumble across it.

What makes these tools particularly useful is that they show you exactly where each broken link is coming from. This helps you work out whether the 404 is actually annoying your visitors or just sitting there causing no harm.

What crawling tools can’t tell you

Your audit tools have limitations. They won’t find 404s that people reach through:

Old external websites linking to outdated pages
Expired social media links
Historical search engine results

This is where Google Search Console becomes your best friend.

How Google Search Console finds 404s

Google Search Console takes a completely different approach. Instead of just crawling your current site structure, it shows you 404 errors that real people and search engines have actually encountered when trying to reach your pages.

In the “Page indexing” report, you’ll see a section called “Not found (404)”. These are pages that Google has tried to access but couldn’t find. Some might be from your own internal links, but many will be from external sources – other websites linking to pages that no longer exist, or Google trying to recrawl pages it indexed months ago.

This explains why you keep seeing new 404s even after fixing everything your audit tool found. Google remembers pages that used to exist and occasionally checks if they’re back. External websites might still be linking to your old content.

The two types of 404s you’ll encounter

Internal 404s are broken links within your own site structure. These are the ones your audit tools catch, and yes, you should fix these. They frustrate visitors and waste Google’s crawling time.

External 404s come from outside your site – old links or outdated references. These are trickier because you can’t control the source, but you can manage how you handle them.

Which 404s actually need fixing

Not all 404s are created equal, and trying to fix every single one is like trying to count every grain of sand on a beach – technically possible but completely bonkers.

Priority one: fix these immediately

High-traffic 404s are pages that used to get decent traffic and still have people (or search engines) trying to reach them. If Google Search Console shows a 404 with significant impressions or clicks, sort it out.

Internal linking 404s are broken links within your own site. These definitely need fixing because they’re directly harming user experience. When your crawling tools show you these, they’ll tell you exactly which pages contain the broken links so you can update them.

Important missing pages might be key service pages, popular blog posts, or landing pages that still have external links pointing to them. If removing these pages was intentional, set up proper redirects to relevant alternatives.

Priority two: handle these when you have time

Low-impact external 404s are pages that get the occasional hit from old external links but weren’t particularly important. You might redirect these to your homepage or a relevant category page, but they’re not urgent.

Genuinely deleted content that you removed deliberately and that nobody’s actually looking for can often be left as 404s. If you deleted a blog post about Christmas 2019 and Google occasionally checks if it’s back, that’s fine.

Don’t bother with these

Spam or attack 404s show up when bots try to access pages that never existed on your site. You’ll see weird URLs in your 404 reports that look like someone’s trying to hack into WordPress admin areas or looking for common vulnerabilities. Ignore these completely.

Really old, irrelevant content that hasn’t had any traffic in years and isn’t linked to from anywhere important can stay as 404s without causing problems.

How to fix 404s properly

The fix depends on why the page is missing and whether people still need to reach the content.

For pages that should still exist

If the page was moved or renamed, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This tells both browsers and search engines that the content has permanently moved, and passes along any SEO value the old page had.

If the page was accidentally deleted, restore it from your backups (you do have backups, right?). Check your content management system’s trash or recycle bin first – many platforms keep deleted content for a while.

For pages that no longer exist but were important

Create a 301 redirect to the most relevant existing page on your site. If you removed a specific service page, redirect to your main services page. If you deleted a blog post, redirect to your blog homepage or a related article.

Don’t just redirect everything to your homepage – that’s lazy and doesn’t help your visitors. Think about where someone looking for that specific content would want to end up instead.

For internal broken links

Update the links within your site to point to the correct pages. Your crawling tools will show you exactly which pages contain broken links, making this straightforward to fix. Sometimes it’s as simple as updating a navigation menu or correcting a typo in a blog post link.

Why 404s keep appearing (and how to stay sane about it)

Honestly, 404 errors are like weeds in a garden. You can spend a weekend pulling them all out, but new ones will keep sprouting. This happens because:

Websites evolve constantly. You’ll rename pages, restructure your site, delete outdated content, and move things around. Each change has the potential to create new 404s if not handled carefully.~
External factors are beyond your control. Other websites might update their links to point to pages you’ve moved. Social media posts become outdated. You can’t fix what you don’t control.
Google has a long memory. Search engines remember pages that used to exist and occasionally check if they’re back. This can create 404 reports for pages you removed years ago.
Content management systems sometimes create phantom URLs. Publishing and unpublishing content, changing URL structures, or migrating between platforms can create temporary URLs that get crawled before being removed.

Setting up a sensible 404 management system

Instead of playing whack-a-mole with individual 404s, create a system that handles them systematically.

Regular monitoring without obsessing

Check your 404 reports monthly, not daily. Your crawling tools and Google Search Console will accumulate enough data over a month to show you patterns and priorities. Weekly and daily checks just create unnecessary stress over temporary blips.

If you’re using WordPress, consider installing a 404 monitoring plugin that tracks broken links in real-time and emails you when new ones appear. This can catch problems faster than waiting for your monthly audit tool reports, especially for high-traffic sites where broken links cause immediate user frustration.

Focus on 404s that show consistent traffic or come from important sources. One-off 404s from random external links aren’t worth losing sleep over.

Create a sensible redirect strategy

When you remove or move content, plan the redirects at the same time. Don’t publish changes and then wonder why you’re getting 404 reports later.

Keep a simple spreadsheet of important redirects so you remember why you set them up. This helps when you’re reviewing them later and wondering if they’re still needed.

Set up a decent 404 page

Your 404 page should help visitors find what they’re looking for rather than just telling them something’s broken. Include links to your main sections, a search box, and maybe your most popular content.

This won’t reduce the technical 404 errors, but it will reduce the frustration when people do hit broken links.

The long game: prevention vs. reaction

Smart website owners spend more time preventing 404s than fixing them. When restructuring your site, plan redirects before making changes. When deleting content, consider whether anything important links to it first.

Use rel=”canonical” tags to prevent duplicate content from creating unnecessary URLs that might later become 404s. Be consistent with your URL structures so you don’t accidentally create variations that become broken links later.

Most importantly, accept that some 404s are just part of running a website. The goal isn’t zero 404 errors – it’s minimising the ones that actually impact your business and visitors.

What this means for your website

Don’t expect 404 management to be a one-time task. Build it into your regular website maintenance routine, prioritise the errors that actually matter, and stop trying to achieve perfection.

Your audit tools and Google Search Console are showing you real issues that affect real visitors. Fix the important ones, redirect the valuable ones, and don’t lose sleep over the rest. Your website will be better for it, and you’ll stay considerably more sane.

Remember: a website with zero 404s probably isn’t being updated enough to stay relevant. A few broken links are normal – it’s how you handle them that matters.

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