What does the broken external links check look for?
It checks whether the outbound links on your page still lead to live pages. Specifically:
- Dead destinations — external links pointing to pages that now return a 404 or error.
- Link rot — references that have decayed as the linked sites changed or removed content.
- Scale — whether dead outbound links are occasional or widespread on the page.
No broken outbound links passes; a few dead links is a warning; many dead outbound links is a fail.
How is it evaluated, and how is it scored?
GEObubbly follows your outbound links and checks whether each destination still responds. It's an extended Links & Authority check that runs partially, since verifying links requires fetching each external destination.
Why broken external links matter for SEO and GEO
Linking out to credible sources is a good thing — it backs up your claims and shows your content is well-researched. But external links decay over time through link rot: the pages you cited get moved, restructured or deleted, and your once-useful reference becomes a dead 404. Broken outbound links cause real harm. They send users to dead ends, which is frustrating and erodes trust. They weaken the credibility of your references — a citation that leads nowhere is no citation at all, undermining the very authority you were borrowing. And widespread dead links are a signal of stale, unmaintained content, which works against the freshness and quality engines reward. Unlike internal links, you don't control the destinations, so the only remedy is periodic checking: scan your outbound links, then update each dead one to a current source, point it at an archived copy, or remove it. For GEO, live, credible references reinforce that your content is trustworthy and well-sourced — qualities AI engines value when deciding what to cite.