Broken Link Checker

Broken links (404 errors) silently damage your SEO, waste crawl budget, and frustrate users. Our free Broken Link Checker scans any webpage and reports all dead links, redirect chains, and server errors with status codes — helping you fix issues before Google penalises your site.

What is a Broken Link?

A broken link (also called a dead link or 404 link) is a hyperlink that points to a webpage, resource, or file that no longer exists or has moved without a redirect. When users or search engine bots follow a broken link, they receive a 404 Not Found error response instead of the expected content.

Broken links can be internal (pointing to other pages on the same website) or external (pointing to pages on other websites). Both types negatively impact SEO and user experience, but internal broken links are more directly within your control and have a greater impact on your site's crawlability.

How Broken Links Hurt Your SEO

• Lost Link Equity: Internal links that lead to 404 pages waste the PageRank that would otherwise flow to valid pages.
• Wasted Crawl Budget: Googlebot wastes crawl budget on 404 pages instead of indexing your valuable content.
• Poor User Experience: Visitors who encounter broken links leave your site immediately, increasing bounce rate — a negative engagement signal.
• Broken External Links: Linking to low-quality or dead external pages signals poor content curation to search engines.
• Google Search Console Errors: Crawl errors from broken links appear in GSC and can indicate website health issues.

Common Causes of Broken Links

• Deleting or moving pages without setting up 301 redirects
• Changing URL structure during website redesign or CMS migration
• External websites going offline or changing their URL structure
• Typos in manually entered URLs
• Expired domain names or removed content by third-party sites
• Case sensitivity issues in server configuration (Linux servers are case-sensitive)

HTTP Status Codes Explained

• 200 OK — Page loaded successfully. Link is working correctly.
• 301 Moved Permanently — Page has permanently moved. Update your link to point to the new URL.
• 302 Found — Temporary redirect. Check if this should be a permanent redirect.
• 404 Not Found — Page doesn't exist. Fix or remove the link immediately.
• 403 Forbidden — Access denied. Crawler blocked by server configuration.
• 500 Server Error — Internal server error on the target site.

How to Fix Broken Links

• Internal broken links: Update the link to point to the correct URL, or create a 301 redirect from the dead URL to the relevant live page.
• External broken links: Update to link to an alternative authoritative source, or remove the link entirely.
• Mass URL changes: Use plugins like Redirection (WordPress) or server-level .htaccess rules for 301 redirects.
• Prevention: Always set up 301 redirects before deleting or moving pages.

Frequently Asked Questions