What is Broken Links?
Definition
Broken links are hyperlinks that point to pages returning errors — typically 404 (not found) or 410 (gone). They degrade user experience, waste crawl budget on dead-end URLs, and bleed link equity. Internal broken links are an SEO own-goal; external broken links pointing to your store waste referral traffic.
Why Broken Links matters for Shopify stores
Shopify stores accumulate broken links through product deletions, URL handle changes, and collection restructuring. When a product is deleted, all internal links to that product return 404s, leaking link equity. Apps that change URL structures without setting up redirects create broken link epidemics.
Shopify example
A seasonal store deletes last year's 'Summer Collection' URL but blog posts and the navigation still link to it. Each 404 wastes a crawl, frustrates users, and kills the link equity that collection had accumulated. A 301 redirect to the current summer collection preserves everything.
How Sauron handles Broken Links
Sauron's crawl-check worker runs weekly, following all internal links and reporting 404/410 errors in the dashboard — so you can set up redirects before broken links affect rankings or user experience.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Deleting products without setting up 301 redirects to replacement or category pages
- ✕ Changing URL handles in Shopify without creating redirects in Shopify's URL redirect tool
- ✕ Not auditing internal links after major site restructures or theme changes
- ✕ Leaving broken external links on the site — they signal to Google that content is unmaintained
Related terms
Automate your Shopify SEO
Understanding Broken Links is step one. Sauron handles the implementation — automatically, for your entire Shopify store.