Broken Links Finder: Free Online Link Checker

A broken links finder scans a web page, tests every internal and external link on it, and shows which ones return errors such as 404 Not Found. Enter a URL, wait for the scan to finish, and review a report you can filter by status and export as a CSV file. It suits site owners, SEOs, editors, and developers.

What Are Broken Links?

A broken link is a hyperlink that points to a page or file that no longer loads, so the visitor sees an error instead of the content they expected. The most common error is HTTP 404 Not Found, which means the server is reachable but the requested URL does not exist. People also call these dead links.

Links break for ordinary reasons: a page was deleted, a URL slug changed, a site moved to a new domain, or a typo slipped into the address. External links break more often than internal ones because you do not control the other site.

Broken links matter for two reasons. Visitors who hit an error page often leave, and crawlers that follow dead links waste time on URLs that lead nowhere. Google's Search Central documentation encourages working, crawlable links so that people and bots can move through a site. A 404 page itself is normal on any site. The problem is a live link on your page that sends someone to it.

Internal vs. external links

Internal links point to other pages on the same domain. External links point to a different domain. This tool sorts both into separate tabs, because the fix is different: you edit or redirect internal targets yourself, but for external targets you replace the link or remove it.

How to Use the Broken Links Finder

You only need a page address, and the scan runs from a single form. Follow these steps:

1. Type or paste the page address into the Website URL field (the placeholder shows https://example.com). If you leave off http:// or https://, the tool adds http:// for you.
2. Submit the form with the main button. A loading message appears and says the scan may take a moment depending on the number of links.
3. Read the summary at the top: an overall status badge, the total links found, how many are working, how many are broken, and how many are redirects or other responses.
4. Switch between the Internal and External tabs. Each tab shows its link count and a table with the URL, the HTTP code, and the status.
5. Use the filter buttons (All, working, broken) to narrow the table to the links you need to fix.
6. Click Export CSV to download the list for your editor, developer, or spreadsheet.

Each URL in the table is clickable and opens in a new tab, so you can confirm a result by hand before you change anything.

Worked Example: Checking a Blog Post

Suppose you run a blog and want to audit one article before refreshing it. You enter https://example.com/blog/seo-tips and submit. The scan returns the following (an illustrative result):

With 3 broken links, the badge reads Needs Attention. You click the broken filter on the Internal tab and find two old category URLs returning 404 after a site restructure. You update both to the new category paths. On the External tab, one outdated study link returns 404, so you swap it for a current source. The five other responses are mostly redirect codes such as 301. Those links still work for visitors, but you can update them to the final address when you have time.

How Do You Read the Scan Results?

The summary tells you how big the problem is, and the tables tell you exactly where it is. Start with the badge, then work through the tables.

The overall status badge

• Healthy: links were found and none returned 404.
• Needs Attention: 1 to 3 links returned 404.
• Issues Found: 4 or more links returned 404.
• Unverified (no links found): the page had no links the tool could read, so there was nothing to test.

HTTP codes in the table

A code of 200 means the link loaded normally. A code of 404 means the target was not found and counts as broken. Any other code is shown as its number and is grouped under Redirects in the summary. A 301 or 302 means the link forwards to another address. Codes such as 403 or 500 mean the server refused the request or hit an error, which is worth a manual check. If a server gives no usable response, the status appears as an unknown value instead of a code.

What to do with each result

• Broken internal link: correct the URL, restore the page, or add a 301 redirect from the old address to the closest replacement.
• Broken external link: find an updated source and replace it, or remove the link and adjust the sentence.
• Redirecting link: change the href to the final destination so visitors and crawlers skip the extra hop.
• 403 or 500 code: open the link in your browser. If it loads, the other site is probably blocking automated checks and you can leave it.

Who Should Use a Broken Link Checker?

Anyone who publishes links benefits from checking them, because links decay even when you change nothing. These are the situations where a quick scan pays off:

• Content updates: check an older article before you republish it, since references and tools it cites may have disappeared.
• Site migrations and redesigns: scan your key templates, such as the homepage, a category page, and a top post, to catch URLs that changed.
• SEO audits: add a link check to your audit for each important landing page, alongside a count with the website links counter.
• Link building: dead pages on other sites are outreach opportunities. Once you find a 404 on a relevant site, a broken link outreach template helps you propose your page as the replacement.
• QA and development: testers who would otherwise write scripts in Selenium or Playwright can get a fast list of failing URLs on a page without any code, then export it as a CSV that opens in Excel.

Best Practices and Troubleshooting Tips

A scan is only useful if you act on it in a sensible order. These habits keep the work short and the results reliable.

1. Fix internal 404s first. You control them, and they affect how visitors and crawlers move around your site. Review how your pages connect with the internal link silo planner if many links point to removed pages.
2. Scan your most important pages. Because the tool checks the links on the page you enter, run it on the homepage, top landing pages, and your highest-traffic articles.
3. Recheck after you fix. Run the same URL again to confirm the badge improved.
4. Verify surprising results by hand. Click the URL in the table. If it loads for you, the error was likely a temporary server problem or a block on automated requests.
5. Use redirects carefully. A 301 redirect from a deleted page to a closely related page keeps visitors on track. Redirecting everything to the homepage tends to confuse users.
6. Check your anchor text too. When you replace a link, make sure the visible words still describe the new target. The anchor text analyzer helps with that.

Common input mistakes

If the form returns an error, check the address for typos, spaces, or a missing domain extension. A bare word such as mysite will not work, but mysite.com will. Paste the exact page you want checked, because a different page on the same site has a different set of links. If the scan seems slow, the page probably has many links. Wait for the results instead of resubmitting.

Limitations to Keep in Mind

This tool checks the links found on the single page you enter, not every page of your website. For a full-site review, repeat the scan on each important URL. Only a 404 response is labeled broken in the summary, so other failures, such as a server error, appear under the redirect and other count with their code, and you should read the table rather than the headline number alone.

Results are a snapshot. A site that was down for a moment can show a wrong code, and some sites reject automated checks even though the link works in a browser. Treat any unexpected result as a prompt to verify, not as a final verdict. Links added by scripts after the page loads may not appear in the list.

Run the broken links finder above on your most important page now, fix the 404s it reports, and download the CSV for the rest. If you also want to see who links to you, the backlink checker is a good next step, and the Backlink Tools category has more link-focused utilities.