Broken Links Checker

Scan and identify broken links on your website — check a single page (up to 120 links) or crawl your sitemap (up to 500 links)

What is a Broken Links Checker and Why You Need It

A broken links checker is an essential SEO tool that scans your website to identify dead links, 404 errors, and broken URLs. These broken links can severely damage your website's search engine rankings, user experience, and credibility. When visitors click on a link and land on a "404 Not Found" page, they're likely to leave your site immediately, increasing your bounce rate and signaling to Google that your site isn't well-maintained.

Using a free broken links checker tool like ours helps you discover and fix these issues before they hurt your SEO performance. Whether you're a blogger, business owner, or web developer, regularly running a website broken link checker should be part of your maintenance routine.

You'll see this kind of tool called a few different things — broken link checker, dead link checker, 404 link checker — but they're all describing the same idea: finding links that fail to load and telling you which ones actually need attention.

How Broken Links Hurt Your SEO Rankings

Search engines like Google prioritize websites that provide excellent user experiences. When your site has multiple broken links, it sends negative signals to search engine crawlers. Here's how broken links damage your SEO:

Crawl Budget Impact: A single clean 404 for a page that's genuinely gone is actually a normal, efficient signal — it tells Google to stop revisiting that URL. What does cost crawl time is a large number of unintentional broken links (typos, moved pages without a redirect) that your internal links, sitemap, or backlinks keep pointing crawlers back to — especially "soft 404s," where a page returns a 200 status but shows a "not found" message.

Poor User Experience: Nothing frustrates visitors more than clicking a link only to find a dead end. Visitors who hit dead ends are more likely to leave without exploring further — a real cost even where it isn't a confirmed, direct ranking signal.

Lost Link Equity: Internal links help distribute page authority throughout your site. When these links break, the link juice stops flowing, and important pages lose their ranking power.

Damaged Credibility: A website riddled with broken links appears unprofessional and outdated. Users are less likely to trust your content or return to your site.

Common Causes of Broken Links

Understanding why links break helps you prevent future issues:

  • Deleted or moved pages without proper 301 redirects
  • Renamed files or URLs during website redesigns
  • Expired external domains that you linked to
  • Typos in URLs during content creation
  • Changes in website structure without updating internal links
  • Third-party websites removing or relocating their content

How Our Free Broken Links Checker Works

Our broken links checker tool makes it incredibly easy to find and fix 404 errors on your website. Here's the step-by-step process:

  1. Enter Your Website URL: Simply paste your homepage URL or any specific page you want to scan.
  2. Automatic Link Extraction: Our tool fetches the page's HTML and extracts every link it finds in that HTML — both internal links and links to external sites — up to 120 per page, or up to 500 if you crawl your full sitemap. (Links added only by client-side JavaScript after the page loads aren't seen, and the tool doesn't yet label each result as internal or external for you.)
  3. Status Code Verification: Each link is checked and resolved to its final HTTP response (200 OK, 404 Not Found, and more) — redirects are followed automatically so you see where a link actually ends up, rather than the redirect step itself.
  4. Instant Results: Within seconds, you'll see a comprehensive report showing total links, working links, and broken links with their specific error codes.

Unlike complex enterprise tools that require downloads or installations, our online broken links checker delivers instant results directly in your browser.

Step-by-Step Guide to Fix Broken Links

Once you've identified broken links using our tool, follow these best practices to fix them:

For Internal Broken Links:

  1. Check if the page was accidentally deleted or moved
  2. Set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new location
  3. Update all internal links pointing to the old URL
  4. If the page no longer exists, create a custom 404 page or redirect to a relevant alternative

For External Broken Links:

  1. Search for an updated version of the external resource
  2. Replace the broken link with a working alternative source
  3. Use the Wayback Machine to find archived versions of deleted pages
  4. If no replacement exists, remove the link or add a note explaining the resource is no longer available

For Redirect Chains:

  1. Identify redirect loops (A→B→C→A)
  2. Update links to point directly to the final destination
  3. Avoid multiple redirect hops that slow down page load times

Best Practices for Link Management

Preventing broken links is easier than fixing them. Implement these strategies:

Regular Audits: Use our broken links checker tool monthly to catch issues early. Set a recurring reminder to scan your most important pages.

Update Old Content: When publishing new articles, review and update links in older posts that cover similar topics. Use the Internal Linking Assistant to compare those posts with relevant destination pages. This keeps your content fresh and maintains link integrity.

Monitor External Links: While you can't control external websites, regularly check outbound links to ensure they're still active. Consider using rel="nofollow" for less trustworthy external sources.

Implement Proper Redirects: Whenever you delete or move a page, always set up a 301 permanent redirect. Never leave old URLs returning 404 errors if they had backlinks or traffic. Use our Redirect Checker to confirm each redirect resolves cleanly to its final destination.

Use Link Management Tools: Bookmark our HTTP Status Checker to verify individual URLs, and use our XML & HTML Sitemap Generator to ensure search engines can discover all your pages.

Test Before Publishing: Before going live with website changes, test all links in your staging environment. This prevents broken links from ever appearing on your live site.

Broken Links Checker for Large Websites

If you manage a large website with hundreds or thousands of pages, manual link checking becomes impractical. For comprehensive audits, consider these approaches:

  • Crawl Your Sitemap: Use our sitemap crawler to check every URL listed in your XML sitemap
  • Focus on Priority Pages: Start with your most important pages (homepage, top blog posts, product pages, landing pages)
  • Schedule Regular Scans: Set up weekly or monthly scans for different sections of your site
  • Track Historical Data: Keep records of past scans to identify patterns and recurring issues

Internal Linking Best Practices

While fixing broken links, take the opportunity to improve your internal linking structure:

  • Link to related tools like our Binary Translator or Meta Generator when relevant
  • Use descriptive anchor text instead of generic "click here" phrases
  • Ensure important pages receive internal links from multiple sources
  • Create content hubs that link to comprehensive guides like How to Check HTTP Status Codes for SEO
  • Balance the number of internal and external links on each page

Frequently Asked Questions About Broken Links

Can this tool check my entire website?

The sitemap mode discovers URLs from your sitemap.xml (including nested sitemap indexes) and checks up to 500 of them — enough to cover most sites well beyond a single page. It relies on your sitemap actually listing your pages, though, so it isn't an unrestricted crawler that follows every internal link the way a desktop crawler does; pages missing from your sitemap won't be discovered this way.

How often should I check for broken links?

For actively updated websites, check at least once a month. E-commerce sites and blogs that publish frequently should scan weekly. After major website updates or redesigns, run an immediate check.

Do broken links directly hurt my Google rankings?

Not directly, and not automatically. Google has said a normal 404 for a page that's genuinely gone is an expected, fine signal — it isn't a ranking penalty by itself. What actually hurts is the indirect effect: broken links create a poor experience for visitors and can raise bounce rates, and a large, uncorrected volume of them — especially internal ones — can make your site harder to navigate. A handful of broken links on a large site is normal maintenance, not a ranking risk.

Does every non-200 status mean a link is broken?

No. A 404 or 410 is reported as broken. But a 401 or 403 can mean the resource is intentionally protected rather than gone, a 429 means the target is temporarily rate-limiting requests, and a 5xx or network/timeout error can be a temporary blip rather than a permanent failure. This tool shows those cases under "Needs Review" instead of lumping them in with confirmed broken links, so you can judge them individually.

Should I fix all broken links at once?

Prioritize based on importance. Fix broken links on high-traffic pages first, then tackle less critical pages. Internal broken links are usually worth fixing before external ones since you have full control over them.

What's the difference between 404 and 410 errors?

A 404 means "not found" — the page may or may not come back. A 410 means "gone" — you're telling search engines the removal is intentional and permanent. Use 410 when you deliberately delete content and don't want it re-checked.

Can too many redirects hurt my SEO?

Redirect chains (multiple hops from one URL to another) slow down page loads and add unnecessary overhead. Always redirect directly to the final destination rather than creating chains. This tool follows redirects to their final destination but does not display the hop-by-hop chain — for that level of detail, use the Redirect Checker.

How do I create a custom 404 page?

Design a helpful 404 page that includes a search bar, links to popular content, and your main navigation, so visitors stay on your site even after hitting a dead link. The SEO Audit tool covers more on-page optimization tips.

Are broken external links as harmful as broken internal links?

Broken internal links are generally more harmful because they directly affect your site's crawlability and how link equity flows between your own pages. Too many broken external links still hurt user experience and credibility, though.

Can I automate broken link checking?

This tool itself runs on demand rather than on a schedule. Bookmark it and set a recurring reminder, or use the HTTP Status Checker to paste in (or crawl) a batch of URLs and check them all at once.

Learn More About Broken Links

Want the full workflow, or the SEO reasoning behind it? Read how to find and fix broken links for a step-by-step guide, or broken links and SEO for a deeper look at what broken links actually do to your rankings — and when a few of them are nothing to worry about.

Related SEO Tools

Maximize your website's performance by combining our broken links checker with these complementary tools:

For more detailed guides, read our blog post on How to Check HTTP Status Codes for SEO.

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