- Free, no sign-up
- Whole site or one page
- Fix sheet with the page and anchor
Free Broken Link Checker
Crawl your site or check one page. Every dead link with the page it sits on and the words it is under, the internal links that redirect, the broken images, and a fix sheet that says edit, redirect or remove. Up to 500 pages a run, no sign-up.
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How to use it
Find and fix broken links in three steps
Enter the site, or one page
Pick how many pages to crawl (100, 250 or 500), whether to check external links and images, and optionally one folder. We crawl as a polite bot, honouring robots.txt, and check every link once.
Read the broken list
Each dead target with the pages it sits on, the anchor text and where on the page (content, nav, footer), so you find it in your editor in seconds. Site-wide links are one fix, not 142 rows. Bot-blocked and slow targets are "not verified", not broken.
Fix from the sheet, re-run
Edit the link to the live page, redirect a dead page other pages link to (we suggest the closest live URL), or remove it. Internal links that redirect get the final URL to paste. Run it again to confirm.
Built forAfter a redesign or URL changeContent refreshesThe audit's links stepWriters checking one postAgencies
Quick answer
What is a broken link checker?
A broken link checker crawls your pages, follows every link on them, and lists the ones that no longer work: 404 and 410 pages, server errors, dead domains, and links that only reach their page through a redirect. This one checks up to 500 pages a run or a single page at once, keeps the page and the anchor text for every broken link so you can find it in your editor, marks links it could not verify (bot-blocked or slow) instead of calling them broken, and writes a fix sheet: edit the link, redirect the dead page, or remove it.
How to fix each kind
Edit, redirect or remove
| What the tool found | Do this |
|---|---|
| Dead internal page that other pages or sites link to | 301 it to the closest live page (the tool suggests one), then edit the internal links to point straight at the new page |
| Dead internal page nobody links to from outside | Fix or remove the link; let the page return 404 or 410 |
| Dead external link | Replace it with a live source, or remove it |
| Internal link that redirects (one hop) | Edit the link to the final URL; redirects are hops, not fixes |
| Chain or loop | Fix the redirect itself so it goes straight to the end; check it in the HTTP Status Checker |
| Not verified (403, 429, timeout) | Open it in a browser; bot-blocked sites are usually fine |
| Broken image | Point the image at the live file, or remove it; keep the alt text |
Do not redirect every 404 to the home page: Google treats that as a soft 404. Redirect pages that had links or traffic, to a genuinely close page; let the rest go.
Why links break
Where dead links come from
A redesign that changed the slugs. A product or offer deleted without a redirect. A PDF moved to a new folder. An external site that shut down or restructured. The switch from http to https without updating the links in old posts. A year in the slug. Each one leaves links behind, in content, menus and footers, and the footer ones repeat on every page.
Common mistakes
The link mistakes the checker helps you avoid
Redirecting every 404 to the home page
A soft 404 for Google and a dead end for the visitor. Redirect pages that had links or traffic to a close page; let the rest go.
Leaving links that redirect
After a redesign every old link is a hop. The tool lists them with the final URL to paste in.
Trusting a false alarm
LinkedIn, Amazon and slow servers refuse checkers. Those rows are "not verified", never counted as broken; re-check or open them yourself.
Fixing from the browser, one by one
The fix sheet has every row with its page, anchor text and place, so the whole job is one pass through the editor.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How do I check for broken links on my website?
Crawl it. Enter the site here and the tool follows the links from page to page, up to 500 pages a run, and checks every link once. Search Console's Pages report shows what Google found, which is a different, slower view.
How do I find broken links on one page?
Switch to "One page", paste the page address, and every link on it is checked, external ones included.
What is a broken link?
A link whose target answers an error (404, 410, 500), does not answer at all, or sits on a domain that no longer exists. A link that redirects still works, but it costs a hop. A "soft 404" (a page that says not found but answers 200) looks fine to any checker.
Do broken links hurt SEO?
There is no penalty. They waste crawl budget, lose visitors at the click, and a dead internal link can hide a page from Google. Fixing them is housekeeping with a real payoff after a redesign.
How do I fix a broken link?
Edit the link to the live page. If the dead page itself had links or traffic, redirect it (301) to the closest page; the tool suggests one. Otherwise remove the link and let the page return 404 or 410.
Should I redirect every 404?
No. Redirect pages that had links or traffic, to a genuinely close page. Redirecting everything to the home page is a soft 404 for Google and a dead end for the visitor.
What is the difference between a 404 and a 410?
Both say the page is gone. 410 says it is gone on purpose, and Google drops it from the index a little faster.
Why does a link show as broken when it opens in my browser?
Some sites block bots (403, 429, a "999"), some are slow. The tool marks those "not verified" and never counts them as broken; re-check them or open them yourself.
How often should I check?
After a redesign or URL change, after a big content refresh, and monthly on a site that publishes a lot. External links rot on their own.
Does the tool check external links?
Yes, with HEAD requests first and GET when a site refuses HEAD, capped at 300 a run so a big site does not take all day. Untick "External links" to check only your own pages.
Does it check images and PDFs?
Images when you tick the option (broken images are listed with the page and alt text). PDFs and other files are checked as links.
Is it free, and how many pages?
Free, no sign-up, up to 500 pages a run. For a bigger site, run it per folder, or use a desktop crawler such as Screaming Frog's free version.
Keep going
More free SEO tools and guides
- HTTP Status Checker: every hop of a redirect chain for up to 10 URLs.
- XML Sitemap Generator: the same crawl, written as a sitemap.
- URL Slug Generator: the slug change that causes most of this.
- Refreshing content (Intermediate, chapter 6) and the full SEO audit (Advanced, chapter 11).
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Every dead link, with the page it is on
Crawl up to 500 pages, read the fix sheet, edit or redirect, re-run to confirm. Free.