404 Checker & Broken Link Scanner
Free 404 checker and broken link scanner. Find dead links, 404 errors, and redirect chains on any page in seconds. Fix broken internal and external links fast.
Broken links cause real damage to your site's SEO and user experience. They waste crawl budget, frustrate visitors, and can even prevent your important content from being discovered. You need to identify these issues fast, before Googlebot hits them again. A 404 checker is your first line of defense against these problems. It scans your pages to find links that lead nowhere. You'll use it to check a single, critical page after a migration, or to scan a bulk list of URLs to catch site-wide issues. Every time Googlebot encounters a 404, it's wasted time and resources that could have been spent crawling valuable pages. What Is a Broken Link Checker? A Broken Link Checker is a free browser-based tool that scans a specific URL or a list of URLs to identify any outbound or internal links that return a 404 Not Found error. It acts as your personal 404 checker, simulating how a search engine or a real user would encounter links on your page. You give it a starting point, and it tells you exactly where the broken connections are. There's no login needed to use the Broken Link Checker. Why It Matters for SEO Broken links impact your SEO in several direct ways. First, they waste crawl budget. Googlebot only gets a finite crawl budget for your site; for larger sites, this might be hundreds of thousands of URLs, for smaller ones, it could be just a few thousand per day. Every time Googlebot hits a 404, it's a wasted request. This means fewer legitimate, indexable pages get crawled, and new content might take longer to appear in search results. Second, broken links severely damage user experience. Imagine clicking a menu item or an internal link within an article only to land on a "Page Not Found"…
Read the full guideA 404 checker scans any page and tests every link for broken URLs, dead outbound links, and redirect chains. Paste a URL below to find 404 errors before they hurt crawl budget and user experience.
Scale from single-page 404 checks to bulk URL audits
This 404 checker scans links on one page. When you have a URL list from Search Console or a sitemap, use the bulk URL status checker to test every address at once, then validate redirect rules on any URLs that moved.
What does a broken link checker do?
The Broken Link Checker crawls a URL you specify and tests every outbound and internal link on the page, returning the HTTP status code for each one. Links returning 404, 410, or a server error are flagged as broken. Links that redirect are shown with their final destination and hop count.
When should you run it?
Run this on your most-linked-to pages regularly — pillar content, link hubs, and pages you actively build backlinks to. Broken outbound links harm user experience and signal to search engines that content is not being maintained. Broken internal links waste crawl budget and stop PageRank flowing to pages you intended to support. High-traffic pages with multiple broken links often see higher bounce rates and lower engagement in analytics.
How we check this (worked example)
Paste a blog post that links to /guides/old-title and https://partner.example/report-2022. A typical report shows: internal /guides/old-title → 404 (fix first — restore the page or 301 to the new slug), external partner URL → 301 to a homepage (replace with the current report URL or remove), and five healthy 200 links. We always sort by internal 404s first, then soft 3xx externals, then leave low-priority social share links for last.
How to fix what you find
The tool separates internal links (same domain) from external links (other domains). Internal 404s are your most urgent fixes. External 404s should be replaced with working alternatives or removed. Anchor text is shown for every link so you can find the right spot in your content without digging through HTML. Export results, fix internal 404s first, then batch-check remaining URLs with the Bulk Status Checker after a migration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes broken links on a website?
Broken links are most commonly caused by pages being deleted or moved without a redirect, external sites removing content, typos in href attributes during editing, and CMS migrations that alter URL structures. Regular audits with the Broken Link Checker catch these before they compound into crawl budget waste.
How does a broken link affect SEO?
Internal broken links waste crawl budget on dead ends, prevent PageRank flowing to the intended pages, and create a poor user experience that increases bounce rate. External broken links signal to search engines that content is unmaintained. Both should be fixed promptly on your most important pages.
What is the difference between a 404 and a 410 error?
A 404 tells search engines the page is temporarily unavailable, so Google may continue recrawling it. A 410 explicitly signals permanent removal, prompting faster de-indexing. Use 410 when you intentionally delete a page with no replacement; use 404 when the absence may be temporary.
How often should I check for broken links?
Run the Broken Link Checker on important pages monthly and on recently edited content immediately after publishing. After any migration or template change, run it on all affected pages within 24 hours to catch regressions before users or Googlebot encounter them.
How do I fix a broken external link?
First, search for the target page's title — it may have moved to a new URL. If the content still exists elsewhere, update your link to the new destination. If the page is gone permanently, either remove the link or replace it with a comparable source. The Wayback Machine can locate archived versions of deleted pages.
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