Broken Internal Images

What This Means

One or more <img> elements on the page reference an internal image URL that returns an HTTP 4xx error — typically 404 Not Found. The image file does not exist at the referenced path.

Why It Matters for SEO

Broken images degrade user experience — users see broken image icons or empty boxes where images should appear. For pages whose images are important to the content (product photos, instructional images, infographics), broken images make the page substantially less useful.

For crawlers, broken image references are noted and contribute to the overall quality assessment of the page's technical health. In CMS systems, broken images often accumulate after content migrations, media library reorganizations, or bulk image deletions.

What the Platform Checks

The platform makes HTTP requests to each internal image URL referenced by <img src>, srcset, and CSS background image references. Fires for each image that returns a 4xx response.

How to Fix It

• If the image was moved: Update the image src to the new URL, or add a redirect from the old path to the new one.
• If the image was deleted accidentally: Re-upload the image to the correct path.
• If the image is no longer needed: Remove the <img> element and the surrounding markup.
• CMS media migrations: After any media library migration, run a broken image check immediately — file path changes are the most common source of broken images.