How to Fix Broken Links in WordPress (With and Without Plugins)

Broken links are like invisible cracks on your website. You don’t always notice them, but they slowly weaken your site’s structure. Whether it’s a removed page, a changed URL, or an expired external site, broken links can hurt your SEO, user experience, and credibility.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through two solid methods to fix broken links on your WordPress website:

• With plugins (easy and fast)
• Without plugins (manual but more control)

You’ll also learn practical fixes, tools, and tips that apply to any WordPress site—especially if you’re hosting on Cloudways, where the platform’s tools make managing technical issues easier and safer.

What Are Broken Links?

A broken link (also called a dead link) is a hyperlink that leads to a page that doesn’t exist anymore. Instead of showing the content, it returns an error—usually a 404 Page Not Found.

Examples of broken links:

• A deleted blog post: yourdomain.com/old-article
• A changed URL without redirection
• An external site that shut down

These broken links might be inside your posts, menus, footers, or even image and file attachments.

Why Broken Links Affect the Website?

There are a couple of reasons why broken links affects your website. We have list down the main concerns:

SEO Impact

• Lower Rankings: Google sees broken links as a signal of poor maintenance.
• Crawl Errors: They appear in your Search Console under coverage issues.

User Experience Impact

• Frustrated Visitors: Clicking a link that leads nowhere is frustrating.
• Lower Engagement: People are less likely to stay on your site.

Methods to Fix the Broken Links (With & Without Plugins)

There are a couple of ways to fix the broken links against your website, you can either achieve it with Plugins or you can choose without plugin methods. We have list down few fixes as shared below:

Method 1: Fixing Broken Links With Plugins

If you want a quick and beginner-friendly way, plugins are the best choice. They scan your entire site and show broken links in one dashboard. Here we are taking the example of Broken Link Checker (By WPMU DEV) plugin but you can choose any of your choice. Let’s get into the steps:

• Go to your WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > Add New
• Search for Broken Link Checker
• Install and Activate it

• Go to Broken Links Option in the left admin panel.

Here, you’ll see a list of all broken links found across posts, pages, comments, and even custom fields. Now in order to fix those broken links, you can follow these steps:

• Edit URL to replace it with a valid one
• Unlink to remove the link
• Mark as not broken if it’s a false positive

Does it work well on Cloudways?

Yes, with Cloudways optimized stack (NGINX + Apache + Varnish), it handles resource usage more efficiently, even with regular scans. Scheduled backups ensure safe testing.

💡Tip: If you’re managing a large site, run the scan during low-traffic hours as .

Method 2: Fixing Broken Links Without Plugins

This method gives you full control and is suitable for developers, performance-focused users, or minimal plugin setups.

A. Using Online Link Checkers

You can use free tools to find broken links:

• Broken Link Check
• Dead Link Checker

Just enter your domain and scan. The report will show you all dead links with their locations.

B. Google Search Console Reports

If your site is connected to Google Search Console:

• Go to your Console > Index > Coverage.
• Look under “Not Found (404)” errors.
• Click a URL to see which page it came from.

This method is great for SEO-focused maintenance.

C. Manually Fixing via WordPress Editor

Once you have a list of broken links:

• Go to WordPress Dashboard > Pages/Posts
• Use the search box to find content that includes the broken URL
• Open the editor and fix the link (replace or remove)

This is the safest way if you only have a few broken links.

D. Using .htaccess or Server Redirects with Rules

If a page was moved, a 301 redirect tells browsers (and Google) where the new version is.

For Apache (via .htaccess):

Redirect 301 /old-page https://yourdomain.com/new-page

For NGINX:

rewrite ^/old-page$ https://yourdomain.com/new-page permanent;

💡For Cloudways: You can access the .htaccess file to add the rules from the SSH terminal or SFTP in the platform. Cloudways offers direct access under Application Settings > SSH/SFTP credentials for particular applications.

E. Using WP-CLI (Advanced)

If you’re comfortable with the command line and have SSH access:

• Connect via SSH (Cloudways allows this by default)
• Use WP-CLI commands to search and replace URLs:

wp search-replace 'oldurl.com' 'newurl.com'

This is powerful for bulk changes across the entire database.

How to Prevent Broken Links in the Website?

• Use Redirection Plugins: Always set redirects if you change URLs
• Avoid Changing Slugs Frequently
• Regularly Scan Your Site: Use monthly schedules
• Keep External Links to Trusted Sites Only
• Back Up your website before any major changes.

💡Tip for Cloudways users: Cloudways offers daily backups automatically. You can also set up cron jobs to run link checker scripts or tools weekly against your website.

Why is Cloudways Platform Recommended for WordPress Websites?

Here’s why fixing and managing broken links is smoother on Cloudways:

• Staging Environment: You can test your fixes before making them live.
• Automated Backups: Roll back backup instantly if anything breaks.
• SSH & WP-CLI Access: Advanced users can make bulk changes.
• Performance Stack: Efficient handling of plugins and crawlers.
• Monitoring Tools: Add-ons like New Relic help detect errors faster.

Cloudways isn’t just a host, it’s a complete management system for WordPress users.

Conclusion

Broken links might seem small, but they can cause serious issues in performance, SEO, and trust. Whether you use a plugin or do it manually, fixing them regularly is a must for any WordPress site owner.

And if you’re on a platform like Cloudways, you already have the tools and performance edge to manage these tasks more efficiently and safely. Take advantage of features like staging, automated backups, and server access to keep your site clean, professional, and user-friendly.

Salwa Mujtaba

Salwa Mujtaba is a Technical Content Writer at Cloudways. With a strong background in Computer Science and prior experience as a team lead in Cloudways Operations, she brings a deep understanding of the Cloudways Platform to her writing. Salwa creates content that simplifies complex concepts, making them accessible and engaging for readers. When she's not writing, you can find her enjoying good music, reading a book, or spending quality time with her family.

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