Websites Broken Link Checker

How to Find Broken Links on Your Website

Scanning your website for broken links with our tool is straightforward and fast. Enter your website URL in the input field — either your homepage URL for a full site scan or a specific page URL for a targeted check — and click "Check Links."

Our crawler follows every link on the page (or site, depending on your selection), sending requests to each linked URL and recording the HTTP response. Links that return error codes — such as 404 (Not Found), 410 (Gone), 500 (Internal Server Error), or connection timeouts — are flagged as broken and displayed in the results.

The results include the broken link URL, the page where the broken link was found, the anchor text used for the link, the HTTP status code received, and the type of link (internal or external). You can filter results by status code, sort by page, and export the full report as a CSV file for easy tracking and fixing.

For small websites (under 100 pages), a full scan typically completes within a few minutes. Larger sites may take longer depending on the number of pages and links.

What Are Broken Links and Why Do They Matter?

A broken link (also called a dead link) is a hyperlink that points to a web page or resource that no longer exists or cannot be reached. When a user clicks a broken link, they encounter an error page — most commonly a 404 Not Found error — instead of the expected content.

Broken links occur naturally over time as the web evolves. Pages get deleted, URLs change during website redesigns, domain names expire, third-party websites shut down, and content gets reorganized. Even well-maintained websites accumulate broken links — one study by Ahrefs found that 66.5 percent of links to websites in their database were dead.

Broken links matter for three interconnected reasons.

User experience suffers directly. When a visitor clicks a link expecting helpful content and instead encounters a 404 error, their trust in your website decreases. They may leave immediately (increasing bounce rate) and are less likely to return. Each broken link is a dead end that disrupts the visitor's journey through your content.

SEO performance degrades through multiple mechanisms. Broken internal links waste crawl budget — the limited number of pages that search engine bots crawl on your site in a given period. Every broken link is a wasted crawl that could have been used to discover and index a valuable page. Broken internal links also sever link equity flow — the ranking power that flows from one page to another through internal links. If a high-authority page links to a broken URL, that authority is lost rather than passed to a live page. External broken links (links to other websites that are dead) do not directly impact your crawl budget but signal to Google that your content is not well-maintained.

Professional credibility is undermined by broken links, particularly for businesses, publishers, and educational institutions. A website with multiple dead links appears abandoned, outdated, or carelessly managed — perceptions that damage brand reputation and user confidence.

Types of Link Errors and What They Mean

Not all broken links are the same. Understanding the different HTTP status codes helps you prioritize fixes and understand the underlying cause of each broken link.

404 Not Found is the most common broken link error. It means the server is reachable but the specific page or resource no longer exists at that URL. Causes include deleted pages, changed URLs (without redirects), typos in the URL, and content moved to a new location without proper redirects.

410 Gone is similar to 404 but explicitly communicates that the content has been deliberately removed and will not return. From Google's perspective, 410 is processed faster than 404 — Google will remove 410 URLs from its index more quickly. Use 410 when you intentionally and permanently remove a page.

500 Internal Server Error indicates a problem on the destination server, not necessarily a permanently broken link. The page might work again once the server issue is resolved. If you see 500 errors on external links, they may be temporary. If they persist for weeks, the link is effectively broken.

503 Service Unavailable means the server is temporarily unable to handle the request, often due to maintenance or overload. Like 500 errors, these are often temporary. Google treats persistent 503s as a sign to check back later rather than removing the page from the index.

301 Moved Permanently is not technically an error — it is a redirect. However, chains of multiple 301 redirects (redirect A points to redirect B which points to redirect C) degrade performance and can eventually break if any link in the chain fails. Our tool flags redirect chains of three or more hops.

302 Found (Temporary Redirect) indicates a temporary redirect. While not broken, excessive 302 redirects can indicate misconfiguration, especially when they should be 301s (permanent). Temporary redirects do not pass full link equity, which can impact SEO.

Connection Timeout means the server did not respond within the expected time. This could indicate a down server, DNS issues, firewall blocking, or extremely slow response times. Persistent timeouts indicate broken or unreachable links.

SSL Certificate Error occurs when a link points to an HTTPS URL with an expired, misconfigured, or untrusted SSL certificate. While the page may still be accessible by bypassing the warning, many users and bots will treat it as broken.

How to Fix Broken Links: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you have identified broken links using our tool, follow this systematic approach to fix them efficiently.

Step 1: Prioritize by impact. Not all broken links have equal impact. Prioritize fixes based on the page where the broken link appears (high-traffic pages first), whether the link is internal or external (internal links are within your control), the number of pages that contain the same broken link, and whether the broken link is followed by search engine bots (links with rel="nofollow" are lower priority).

Step 2: Fix internal broken links first. For internal links pointing to pages that have moved, update the link to point to the new URL or set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. For internal links pointing to pages that have been deleted, either restore the page if it was deleted by mistake, redirect the old URL to the most relevant existing page, or remove the link entirely if no suitable replacement exists.

Step 3: Address external broken links. For external links pointing to dead pages, search for an updated URL for the same content (the publisher may have moved it), replace the link with an alternative source that provides similar information, link to an archived version of the page using the Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) if the content is valuable, or remove the link if no suitable alternative exists.

Step 4: Implement redirects strategically. When you change your own URL structure (during a site redesign, migration, or content reorganization), create 301 redirects from every old URL to its new equivalent. Maintain these redirects indefinitely — removing them later will break external links from other websites that point to your old URLs.

Step 5: Set up ongoing monitoring. Broken links accumulate over time, so a one-time fix is not sufficient. Schedule regular scans — monthly for active websites, quarterly for less frequently updated sites. Our tool makes periodic scanning easy and free.

Step 6: Create a custom 404 page. Despite your best efforts, some visitors will inevitably land on broken URLs (from bookmarks, external links you cannot control, or typos). A helpful custom 404 page that includes a search bar, links to popular pages, and a friendly message can recover these visitors instead of losing them entirely.

Broken Links and SEO: What Google Says

Google has addressed broken links multiple times through official documentation and statements from search advocates. Understanding their perspective helps you prioritize broken link fixes appropriately.

John Mueller has stated that a few broken links are normal and will not significantly impact your site's SEO. Google's crawlers encounter millions of 404 pages daily across the web — it is a normal part of how the internet works. However, excessive broken links, particularly internal ones, signal poor site maintenance and can impair crawl efficiency.

Google's official documentation recommends fixing broken internal links because they waste crawl budget and create poor user experiences. The impact of crawl budget waste is proportional to site size — for a small blog with 50 pages, a few broken links barely matter; for an e-commerce site with 500,000 product pages, thousands of broken internal links can significantly reduce the number of pages Google discovers and indexes.

Broken external links (your links to other sites) do not directly penalize your site, but they do affect content quality assessments. Google's quality evaluator guidelines consider "outdated or broken links" as a negative quality signal. If your page is filled with dead external links, it appears unmaintained and less trustworthy to both Google's algorithms and human evaluators.

Soft 404 errors are a specific concern Google watches for. A soft 404 occurs when a missing page returns a 200 OK status code instead of a proper 404 status code — typically because the server displays a generic "Page not found" message within the normal page template. Google can detect soft 404s and may negatively evaluate sites that produce many of them, as they waste crawl resources and confuse the index.

Link reclamation is a proactive SEO strategy related to broken links. When other websites link to pages on your site that no longer exist, those are missed opportunities for link equity. Using tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console, you can identify incoming links that hit 404 pages and redirect those URLs to relevant live pages, recovering the link equity that would otherwise be lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I check for broken links?

For actively updated websites, a monthly scan is recommended. For static sites that rarely change, quarterly checks are sufficient. Additionally, always run a full broken link scan after any major site changes such as redesigns, migrations, or URL structure changes.

Do broken links affect my Google ranking?

A few broken links will not significantly impact rankings. However, a large number of broken internal links can waste crawl budget, disrupt link equity flow, and signal poor site maintenance — all of which can indirectly affect SEO performance over time.

Should I fix broken external links (links to other websites)?

Yes, for user experience and content quality reasons. Replace dead external links with working alternatives that provide similar value to your readers. This maintains the usefulness of your content and prevents visitors from encountering dead ends.

What is the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?

A 404 is a proper server response indicating a page does not exist. A soft 404 is when a missing page returns a 200 OK status while displaying a "not found" message. Google recommends using proper 404 or 410 status codes rather than soft 404s, as soft 404s waste crawl budget and confuse search engine indexing.

Should I redirect all broken links to the homepage?

No. Redirecting many unrelated URLs to the homepage creates a poor user experience and can be interpreted by Google as soft 404s. Instead, redirect each broken URL to the most relevant existing page on your site. Only use homepage redirects as a last resort when no relevant page exists.

Can broken links cause my site to be deindexed?

Broken links alone will not cause deindexation. However, a site with massive numbers of broken links, thin content, and other quality issues could face broader ranking impacts. Regular maintenance prevents broken links from contributing to a cumulative quality problem.

How do I prevent broken links from occurring?

Use consistent URL structures and avoid changing URLs unnecessarily. When you must change URLs, implement 301 redirects. Use relative URLs for internal links where appropriate. Regularly audit external links and replace dead ones. Consider using a link management tool or plugin that alerts you to new broken links.