Link rot refers to the gradual decay of hyperlinks over time as linked pages are moved, deleted, or otherwise become inaccessible. When a link no longer resolves to its intended destination, it typically returns an error or redirects to irrelevant content. This breaks the original connection between pages and reduces the usefulness of the link.
Link rot affects both inbound and outbound links. Outbound links that break reduce content credibility and user trust, while inbound links that decay result in lost authority and referral value. The issue grows over time as websites change structure, domains expire, or content is removed without proper redirects.
Managing link rot is an ongoing maintenance responsibility. Regular audits, redirect management, and link updates help preserve content integrity, user experience, and SEO value across long lived websites.
Advanced
Link rot occurs due to URL restructuring, content pruning, platform migrations, and external site changes beyond direct control. Search engines interpret broken links as quality and maintenance signals, especially when they appear frequently across a site.
Mitigation strategies focus on monitoring link health, implementing clean redirects, updating outdated references, and prioritising high value links. For inbound links, reclaiming authority through redirects or outreach prevents long term erosion of trust and ranking potential.
Relevance
- Preserves authority from existing links.
- Maintains content credibility and accuracy.
- Supports positive user experience.
- Protects long term SEO performance.
- Signals ongoing site maintenance quality.
Applications
- Content audits and maintenance cycles.
- Website migrations and restructures.
- Resource page management.
- Long form editorial content upkeep.
- Technical SEO quality assurance.
Metrics
- Number of broken inbound links.
- Number of broken outbound links.
- Crawl errors related to link decay.
- Authority loss from unresolved URLs.
- User engagement changes on affected pages.
Issues
- Lost link equity over time.
- Reduced user trust and satisfaction.
- Negative quality signals to search engines.
- Increased crawl inefficiency.
- Compounding SEO degradation if ignored.
Example
A knowledge base published years earlier contained dozens of outbound links to external resources. Many links no longer worked, frustrating users and weakening credibility. After auditing and updating links, engagement improved and crawl errors declined.