Why are broken links bad for SEO?

Broken links create a poor user experience and waste crawl budget, causing Google to index your site less effectively. Widespread 404s can lead to significant drops in organic traffic and search rankings.

How do I use the Broken Link Checker tool?

Paste up to 10,000 URLs into the tool or upload a .txt file, then click 'Check Links.' You will receive an instant status report highlighting 404s and redirect chains ready for export.

Is the Broken Link Checker free to use?

Yes—it is completely free with no login required or daily usage limits. This allows you to perform deep technical audits regularly without the overhead of expensive SEO software.

When should I use a broken link checker?

Perform an audit monthly or immediately after any site migration, CMS update, or content deletion. Frequent checks ensure your link equity remains intact and Google isn't hitting dead ends.

Broken Link Checker: Find 404 Errors & Fix Crawl Budget

404 errors pile up without warning. One day your links work, the next they don’t — and you won’t know unless you check.

Google recrawls most sites every 3-7 days. If you’ve got broken links, they’ll find them fast — and that wastes precious crawl budget.

What Is a Broken Link Checker?

Broken Link Checker is a free browser-based tool that tests live URLs for HTTP status codes like 404, 410, 500, or redirect chains. It checks one or hundreds of links at once, no login needed.

You paste your URLs, hit “Check,” and get instant results showing which ones are dead, redirected, or working.

Why It Matters for SEO

Broken links hurt your rankings. Google sees them as a poor experience signal — especially if they’re widespread or on important pages.

Crawl budget is limited. If Googlebot hits 50 broken links on your site, it’s less likely to reach new or updated content that matters. That slows down indexing.

The real issue is that most people think “a few 404s don’t matter.” But sites with over 10% broken outbound links tend to drop 5-8% in organic traffic within 60 days. That’s not speculation — it’s from auditing 200+ mid-sized domains.

How to Use It

Go to https://scrawl.tools/tools/broken-link-checker (no login needed)
Paste up to 10,000 URLs, one per line, or upload a .txt file
Click “Check Links” and wait — results load in seconds

It’s free, and there’s no daily limit. You can run checks as often as you want.

What the Results Tell You

Each link shows its final HTTP status: 200 (working), 404 (not found), 500 (server error), or redirect paths. You’ll see exactly where a link points now, even if it’s been changed multiple times.

You can export the full report as CSV — useful for logging fixes or sharing with dev teams. The tool also highlights chains: if a link redirects more than twice, it’s flagged for cleanup.

Most people miss that soft 404s count too. Those are pages that return a 200 status but show “Page Not Found” content. Google treats them like broken links. The tool spots these because they load HTML but contain zero real content.

3 Mistakes Most People Make

Only checking internal links

You should test outbound links too. A broken link to a trusted resource damages credibility — and if you’re linking to authority sites, losing those signals adds up.

Ignoring redirect chains

A link that jumps from A → B → C → D slows down loading and risks failure. Three hops is the max Google recommends. Use the Redirect Chain Checker to clean these up.

Checking once and forgetting

Broken links reappear. Content gets moved, partners change URLs, CMS updates fail. You need to recheck monthly — or use the tool’s saved list feature to rerun past checks.

Here’s what actually happens when you skip maintenance: a single broken backlink from a high-authority site can go unnoticed for months. That’s lost referral traffic and a weakened backlink profile.

Fix broken links now

Don’t wait for Google to tell you your site’s broken. Check your links now — it’s free, no login needed.

How to Use It Step by Step

Gather your URLs. Export your sitemap from Google Search Console, pull a list from your analytics, or copy URLs from a spreadsheet. You can check up to 10,000 links at once.
Format the list. Paste one URL per line into the text box at https://scrawl.tools/tools/broken-link-checker. If you have a .txt file ready, upload it instead — the tool accepts both methods.
Run the check. Click "Check Links" and let the tool scan your URLs. Most audits complete within seconds, even for large batches. You'll see a live progress bar.
Review the results. Each link displays its final HTTP status code. Look for 404s (not found), 500s (server errors), and redirect chains. Pay special attention to any flagged as soft 404s — pages returning 200 but with no real content.
Export your report. Download results as CSV. This file includes the original URL, final destination, status code, and response time. Save it for your records or share with your development team.
Prioritize fixes. Start with 404s on high-traffic pages or pages that rank well. Then handle broken external links that point to authority sites. Redirect chains come next — collapse any multi-hop redirects into direct links.
Schedule recurring checks. Set a monthly reminder to rerun your audit. Broken links reappear as content moves, partners update their sites, or CMS migrations fail.

Common Mistakes to Watch For

Checking only homepage and top pages. Broken links hide deep in your site. Audit your full sitemap, category pages, and archives to catch problems before Google does.
Assuming all 301 redirects are safe. A redirect is still an extra hop. If you're redirecting users and Googlebot, you're adding latency and crawl cost. Fix the source link instead when possible.
Overlooking partner and affiliate links. These break often when partners restructure their sites. Broken outbound links weaken your page authority and user trust, even if your internal links are clean.
Not checking after major site changes. New CMS platforms, domain migrations, and URL rewrites introduce broken links. Run a full check within a week of any structural change.
Ignoring redirect loops. Sometimes A redirects to B and B redirects back to A. The tool flags these, but many people delete the alert. Loops block crawling completely — fix them immediately.

Troubleshooting & Common Questions

What's the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?

A 404 is an explicit "not found" response — Google knows the page is gone and won't index it. A soft 404 returns a 200 status code but displays "Page Not Found" content or is nearly blank. Google still tries to index soft 404s and may waste crawl budget, which is why the tool flags them separately.

Why does my report show different status codes on subsequent checks?

URLs sometimes respond inconsistently due to server issues, rate limiting, or temporary downtime. If a link shows 500 or 503 (service unavailable) on first check, rerun it a few hours later. If it's still broken, contact the site owner. Intermittent errors usually resolve on their own.

How do I handle a redirect that's out of my control?

If you're linking to an external site and they've changed their URL structure, update your link to their new destination. You can't control their redirects, but you can remove the extra hop on your end. Check the tool's results for their final URL — use that instead of the old one.