Broken Link Checker

Enter the address of a page and this checks the links on it, internal and external, reporting the status code each destination returns. Redirected links are flagged alongside the dead ones, because a link pointing at a redirect is a link worth updating.

Reading the results

Each row carries the status code the destination returned, and the status is the whole verdict. Work down the list in this order.

404 and 410. The page is gone. Fix an internal one by pointing the link at the URL the content moved to; fix an external one by finding the new address or dropping the link.
Failed. The destination could not be reached at all, and the reason sits under the URL. A misspelled domain, an expired certificate, and a server that never answers all land here, and each of them is as dead to a visitor as a 404.
301, 302, and the other redirect codes. The link works, but every visitor and every crawler takes an extra hop to get there. The destination is printed under the URL, so update the link to point at it directly.
403 and 429. The destination refused an automated request. Open the URL yourself before you touch the link, because it is usually a working page behind bot protection rather than a broken one.
500 and other 5xx codes. The destination is broken today and may work tomorrow. Run the check again before you rewrite the link.
200 OK. The link resolves directly. Nothing to do.
Skipped. The address does not use http or https, so there is no status to report.
No result. The check itself never landed, which is what happens when a run meets the request limit or a page is slow to answer. Those links say nothing about the destination yet, and the button above the table asks for them again.

Internal links come first when you decide what to fix. A broken external link costs a reader's trust, while a broken internal one also breaks the path a crawler was following through your site.

Redirected links are worth fixing too

Most link checkers only report the dead ones. The redirected links matter as well, for a quieter reason: an internal link pointing at a URL that redirects sends every visitor and every crawler through an extra hop, and it usually means the link was written against a URL structure the site has since left behind.

Filter the table to the redirected links and look at the destinations. If a pattern appears, such as every link missing a trailing slash or every link still using http, that is a find-and-replace across the site rather than a set of individual edits. The redirect checker will confirm the chains once you have the list.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this find broken links?

It fetches the page you enter, extracts every link on it, then requests each destination and reports the status code that comes back. Internal and external links are both checked. Duplicate destinations are checked once, because a link that appears in the navigation of every page does not need checking twice, and two links into different sections of the same page count as one destination.

Do broken links hurt SEO?

A handful will not move your rankings. What they do is waste crawl budget, break the flow of internal link equity to the pages that need it, and send visitors to dead ends. On a large site, a broken internal link pattern often points at something structural, such as a deleted category or a changed URL format that was never redirected.

Why does a link show a 403 when it works in my browser?

Some sites block automated requests, and answer anything that is not a browser with 403 Forbidden or 429 Too Many Requests. That is a block rather than a broken link. Open the URL yourself before removing it; the pattern is common on large publishers and on sites behind aggressive bot protection.

Does it crawl my whole site?

No, it checks the links on one page at a time, up to 300 unique destinations. That is deliberate: checking a page is instant and needs no account, while crawling a whole site is a long-running job. For a site-wide view, run it on your most linked pages first, since those are the ones passing the most equity.

Why does a page with hundreds of links take a few minutes?

Every destination costs one request, and the tool is free and needs no account, so the number of requests one visitor may send in a minute is capped. Rather than firing everything at once and failing halfway down the table, the checks are paced and run 150 at a time, and a button appears for the next batch when links are left over. Most pages carry fewer than a hundred links and finish in seconds; a page with several hundred takes a few minutes, and the table fills as the results land.

What does a skipped link mean?

A link that does not use http or https has no status code to report, so it is listed without one. News, ftp, and similar addresses land here. Mail and telephone links never appear in the table at all, since they point at an inbox or a phone rather than at a page.

What should I do with a broken external link?

Find where the content moved and update the link, or remove it if the resource is gone. Linking to dead pages does not carry a penalty, but it does tell a reader the page has not been maintained, and on a page that is meant to demonstrate expertise that impression costs more than the link was worth.