How to Easily Find and Fix 404 Errors in WordPress

Do you have a lot of 404 errors on your WordPress site and are not sure how to fix them?

Here's the thing: broken links and missing pages cost you traffic, rankings, and sales every day they go unresolved. But the good news is that WordPress (and using AIOSEO) makes them easy to find and fix.

In this guide, we'll show you exactly how to find and fix 404 errors in WordPress using two of AIOSEO's most powerful tools: Broken Link Checker and Redirection Manager.

Let's start with a definition.

What you'll need: Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO and Redirection Manager by AIOSEO

What's a 404 Error?

A 404 error is a standard HTTP response code that means the page or file a visitor is trying to reach can't be found on the server.

It displays in the browser as a 404 Page Not Found error and appears when someone clicks a hyperlink or types a URL that no longer leads anywhere.

What Causes 404 Errors?

404 errors most commonly happen when a page or file has been deleted or moved without a redirect in place. Because the original URL no longer points to anything, anyone who tries to visit it sees a 404 error. We call these broken links or dead links.

Typos in URLs are another common cause. A single wrong character in a link is enough to trigger a 404.

URLs and Addresses

Every web page and online file has a unique address called a URL. It tells the browser and web server exactly where to find the page so it can be displayed.

For example, this URL tells the server to go to aioseo.com and load the blog page:

https://aioseo.com/blog/

When you move a page to a new URL, the old address stops working, just like moving to a new home without setting up mail forwarding. Anyone who tries to visit the old URL sees a 404 error.

The solution is a redirect. A redirect automatically forwards visitors to the old URL to the new one, so no one ever sees a 404 error. Redirects also preserve the SEO value of the original page, passing its authority on to the new URL. We'll cover exactly how to set these up below.

3 Types of Broken Links

There are 3 types of broken links you may encounter and need to manage on your site.

Broken Internal Links

Internal links connect pages within your own website. They're important for SEO and for guiding visitors through your content and toward your products or services.

Broken internal links frustrate users and can prevent them from reaching checkout pages, sign-up forms, or key resources. A high volume of broken internal links can also negatively impact your search engine rankings.

Broken External Links

External links point to pages on other websites from your site. If the site you linked to moves or deletes that page, your external link breaks. Visitors who click it will see a 404 error on the other site.

Broken Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to yours. They're a valuable traffic source, and links from high-authority sites can drive a steady stream of new visitors to your site.

If another site links to your content but includes a typo in the URL, those visitors will hit a 404 error when they land on your site. The good news is you can fix these with a redirect on your end, even without touching the other site's code.

Now let's look at how to find and fix broken links in WordPress.

How to Find and Fix Broken Links on Your Website

Step 1: Install the Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO

The first step is to install the Broken Link Checker plugin by AIOSEO.

You can install it directly from the WordPress plugin repository.

Go to Plugins » Add New, search for “Broken Link Checker AIOSEO,” and click Install Now, then Activate.

If you've downloaded the plugin as a zip file, go to Plugins » Add New and click Upload Plugin instead.

Select your ZIP file, then click Install Now.

If you don't already have an account, you'll be prompted to create one. A setup wizard will then walk you through the remaining steps.

Step 2: Review Broken Links

Once the plugin is installed and the initial scan is complete, click the Broken Links tab to view your results.

Your links are organized into 4 categories:

All (all links) | Broken | Redirects | Dismissed

Click Broken to filter your list to only the links that need attention.

Step 3: Fix Broken Links

Hover your cursor over any broken link to reveal your fix options. Select Edit URL to update the link directly.

A field will appear showing the anchor text on the left and the broken URL on the right. Type the correct URL and click the blue Update button to save the change.

The Unlink Option

If the page a broken link pointed to no longer exists and there's no suitable replacement, choose Unlink instead. This removes the hyperlink from the post while leaving the anchor text in place.

How to Fix Broken Links With Redirection Manager

For broken links caused by pages that have moved to a new URL, the best fix is a redirect. Click Add Redirect on any broken link to open AIOSEO's Redirection Manager directly.

The Redirection Manager will pre-fill the broken URL as the source. You just need to enter the destination URL and choose your redirect type. Here's what each option means:

• 301 (Permanent Redirect): Use this when a page has moved permanently to a new URL. A 301 passes the original page's SEO authority to the new URL, making it the right choice for the vast majority of redirects.
• 302 (Temporary Redirect): Use this when a page is temporarily unavailable and will return to its original URL. A 302 does not transfer SEO authority, so only use it when the move is genuinely short-term.
• 307 (Temporary Redirect): Similar to a 302, but explicitly preserves the HTTP request method. Most users won't need this unless they're working with POST requests or specific server configurations.

In almost all broken-link situations, a 301 redirect is the correct choice.

Once you've saved a redirect, you can track it in the Redirection Manager's dashboard view, which shows how many times each redirect has been triggered and its type. This makes it easy to confirm your redirects are working and catch any that aren't.

You can also access the Redirection Manager directly at any time by going to All in One SEO » Redirects in your WordPress dashboard, without going through Broken Link Checker first. This is useful for setting up redirects proactively, managing existing ones in bulk, or importing redirects via CSV when migrating from another plugin or platform.

How to Use Broken Link Checker's Advanced Settings

Broken Link Checker rescans your site every 3 days. You can customize which content types are included in those scans by adjusting the Advanced Settings.

Go to Broken Link Checker » Settings and scroll down to click the Advanced Settings toggle.

The default setting is Include All Post Types. Untick any post type you'd like to exclude from scanning. The available options are:

• Published
• Draft
• Private
• Scheduled (future)
• Pending

How AIOSEO Prevents 404 Errors Automatically

So far, we've covered how to find and fix broken links after they happen. But AIOSEO's Redirection Manager also helps you prevent 404 errors before they occur.

When you delete or move a page in WordPress, AIOSEO detects the change and automatically prompts you to create a redirect before the old URL goes dead. You don't have to remember to set up a redirect manually. AIOSEO catches it in real time and gives you the option to handle it right there, without leaving your WordPress dashboard.

This is especially valuable for sites that publish frequently or regularly restructure content. Every time a URL changes without a redirect, you risk losing the traffic and link equity that page had built up. Automatic content protection preserves SEO value.

For larger-scale changes, such as a full site migration or a domain move, the Redirection Manager also supports bulk redirect imports via CSV and full-site redirect rules, so you can handle thousands of URL changes at once without setting up each redirect individually.

How to Fix Broken Backlinks (Inbound Links From Other Websites)

Broken backlinks are a slightly different problem. They're links from other websites pointing to a URL on your site that no longer works, usually because of a typo in the other site's link or a URL that changed on your end.

You can spot these by checking your traffic reports in Google Analytics or the MonsterInsights plugin. If you notice traffic arriving at a URL that doesn't exist on your site, that's almost always a broken backlink.

There are 2 ways to fix it:

• Contact the referring site and ask them to correct the URL in their link. This is the cleaner long-term fix, but it requires action from someone else.
• Create a redirect on your own site from the broken URL to the correct page. This is faster and fully within your control. Use AIOSEO's Redirection Manager to set it up in seconds without waiting on a third party.

In most cases, setting up the redirect yourself is the faster and more reliable fix. It also ensures you capture that traffic immediately rather than waiting for another site owner to make changes on their end.

What Next?

I hope this guide has made it clear how to find and fix 404 errors in WordPress. Between Broken Link Checker's automated scanning and AIOSEO's Redirection Manager, you have everything you need to keep your site clean, protect your SEO, and make sure no visitor ever hits a dead end.

For more on keeping your site's link structure healthy, check out our complete guide to internal linking for SEO.

Ready to stop losing traffic to broken links? Get AIOSEO today and let the Redirection Manager feature handle it for you, automatically.

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