About Broken Link Checker
Find broken links (404 errors) on any webpage or across your entire site. Check internal and external links, identify redirect chains, and export results.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do broken links affect SEO?
Broken links waste crawl budget, create poor user experience (increasing bounce rate), and leak link equity that could be flowing to your ranked pages. Google has confirmed that many 404 errors can signal a low-quality site.
What is the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?
A 404 returns a proper HTTP status code. A soft 404 returns a 200 status but shows error content - Google treats these negatively because they waste crawl budget and confuse indexing.
How often should I check for broken links?
Run a full scan monthly and after any major site changes. For large sites, set up automated weekly monitoring. Third-party sites you link to can change or go offline at any time.
How many broken links are too many?
Any broken link to an important page is too many. For a typical site, keeping broken links under 1% of total links is acceptable. Focus on fixing broken links on high-traffic pages first, then internal links, then external links.
Should I fix external broken links too?
Yes. Linking to broken external pages hurts user experience and signals poor content maintenance to Google. Replace with working URLs, find alternative sources, or remove the link. A 'link rot' audit quarterly is good practice.
What's a redirect chain?
A redirect chain occurs when URL A redirects to B, which redirects to C, and so on. Each hop loses PageRank (about 15%) and increases load time. Keep chains to a maximum of one hop: A → C directly.
How to Use Broken Link Checker
- 1
Enter your website URL to start scanning
- 2
Set the crawl depth and page limit for the scan
- 3
Click 'Find Broken Links' to begin analysis
- 4
Review the results: 404s, 500s, timeouts, and redirect chains
- 5
See which pages contain each broken link for quick fixing
- 6
Export the full broken link report for your development team
Why Use Broken Link Checker?
Broken links waste crawl budget, damage user experience, and leak PageRank into dead ends. Google's John Mueller has confirmed that excessive 404s can impact crawl quality. Our Broken Link Checker scans your entire site, finding every dead link, redirect chain, and server error — with source page reference for fast fixing.
Key Features
- Full-site broken link scanning
- HTTP status code identification (404, 500, 301, 302, etc.)
- Redirect chain and loop detection
- Source page identification for each broken link
- Internal and external link separation
- CSV export for development teams
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