Find Broken Links on Any Public Webpage
Get a clear report of the links found on the page and review issues that may affect navigation and user experience.
Why Find Broken Links?
Broken links can frustrate visitors, interrupt navigation, and contribute to users leaving a page. Keeping important links working helps users and search engines discover your content.
What Are Broken Links?
Broken links (also known as dead links or 404 errors) are hyperlinks on your website that no longer lead to a live page. They happen when the target page has been deleted, moved without a redirect, the URL was mistyped, or the external site has gone offline. Every broken link is a dead-end for your visitors and a missed opportunity for your content.
SEO Impact
Search engines crawl your site by following links. On very large or complex sites, broken links can create unnecessary crawling work for search crawlers. Maintaining accurate links ensures your important content gets crawled and mapped successfully.
User Experience
Nothing frustrates users more than clicking a link and landing on a 404 error page. Broken links can frustrate visitors, interrupt navigation, and contribute to users leaving a page. Fixing them is one of the easiest wins for UX.
How This Tool Works
Enter any URL and our server fetches the page, extracts every unique link (up to 1,000), then checks each link's HTTP status code in batches of 5. You get a status report showing which links are healthy, redirected, or broken — with one-click re-check for any suspicious results.
Broken Link Checker
Enter the full URL of any webpage. Our server fetches it and extracts all links, allowing you to load and verify additional batches sequentially.
HTTP Status Codes You'll See
Understanding what each status code means for your links.
| Code | Name | What It Means | Action Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | OK | The server returned a successful 2xx response. | None. This is the ideal status. |
| 301 | Moved Permanently | Link redirects to a new URL permanently. | Optional. Update the link to point directly to the final destination to avoid the redirect hop. |
| 302 | Found (Temporary) | Link temporarily redirects to another URL. | Usually none. Temporary redirects are fine unless they're supposed to be permanent. |
| 307/308 | Temporary/Permanent Redirect | Modern versions of 302/301 that preserve HTTP method. | Same as 301/302. Review if the redirect is appropriate. |
| 400 | Bad Request | The server could not process the request because it considered it invalid. | Review. The target server rejected the request as invalid; the URL or request format may need investigation. |
| 401 | Unauthorized | Link requires authentication to access. | Review. May be intentional (members-only content) or a mistake. |
| 403 | Forbidden | Server understood the request but refuses to authorize it. | Review. Could be a firewall blocking the request, or a genuine access issue. |
| 404 | Not Found | The target page doesn't exist. | Review. If the link should lead to existing content, update or replace it. |
| 410 | Gone | The server indicates that the resource is no longer available and is unlikely to return. | Fix. Replace or remove the link if no relevant equivalent exists. |
| 429 | Too Many Requests | Target server is rate-limiting our requests. | Re-check later. The link may be fine; the server just blocked our check. |
| 500 | Internal Server Error | Something went wrong on the target server. | Re-check. Could be temporary issue. If persistent, update or remove the link. |
| 502 | Bad Gateway | Target server's upstream service is having issues. | Re-check later. Usually temporary infrastructure issues. |
| 503 | Service Unavailable | Target server is overloaded or under maintenance. | Re-check later. Usually temporary. |
| 504 | Gateway Timeout | Target server took too long to respond. | Re-check. Could be temporary slowness or a dead server. |
How to Use This Broken Link Checker
Four steps from URL to checked links.
Enter URL
Paste the full URL of the page you want to scan for broken links.
Start scan
Click Check Links. We fetch the page and extract the links found on the page.
Review report
See status codes for every link. Focus on the BROKEN rows.
Fix or re-check
Re-check suspicious links. Fix or remove confirmed broken ones.
What Each Result Means
How to interpret the status and actions in your report.
OK (2xx status)
Link is healthy. The target page loaded successfully. No action needed — keep this link.
Redirect (3xx status)
Link redirects to another URL. Usually fine, but consider updating to the final destination to avoid unnecessary redirect chains.
Broken (4xx / 5xx status)
Link is broken — most commonly a 404 Not Found. Update, or redirect the target URL if appropriate.
Network / Server Error
Our server could not complete the request. Possible causes include DNS failure, connection timeout, TLS errors, firewall/WAF rules, or the target server refusing automated requests. The link may still work for normal visitors.
Re-check Button
Use this to verify link status, especially for temporary server errors or rate limiting. Always re-check a destination before modifying the link.
Anchor Text Column
Shows the visible text of the link. Helpful for identifying which link on your page needs updating without hunting through the HTML.
Want a Complete Guide to Fixing Broken Links?
We published a step-by-step guide explaining how broken links affect SEO and user experience, how to detect 404 pages, analyze dead internal and external links, fix redirect issues, and maintain link health long-term.
📘 Read Full Broken Links Guide →Honest by Design — What This Tool Does and Doesn't Do
This tool crawls a single page and checks its links. Here is exactly what it does and does not do:
- ✓ Fetches the target page from our server rather than directly from your browser.
- ✓ Extracts up to 1,000 unique links per page.
- ✓ Requests each link using HEAD where supported, with a GET fallback, and reports the HTTP response received by our server.
- ✓ Provides sequential pagination in batches of 100 links.
- ✓ Identifies and categorizes internal (same-domain) and external links.
- ✓ Exports checked results to CSV and TXT for your records.
- ✓ Does not crawl your entire site — only the single page you specify.
- ✓ Does not bypass login walls or paywalls.
- ✓ Does not execute JavaScript to find dynamically generated links.
- ✓ Does not automatically modify your website's HTML.
This tool does
- Crawl any single public webpage
- Extract up to 1,000 unique links
- Verify HTTP status codes safely via server requests
- Separate internal and external URLs
- Re-check individual status codes on demand
- Export checked results as CSV or TXT
- Operate anonymously without registration
This tool does not
- Crawl your entire site (single page only)
- Check JavaScript-rendered links
- Bypass login walls or paywalls
- Auto-fix broken links on your website
- Store your URLs or scan results in a database
- Require an account or API key
When to Use This Broken Link Checker
Use the tool for these common scenarios.
Link Maintenance Mistakes to Avoid
Avoid these common pitfalls when managing your links.
Ignoring 404s on High-Traffic Pages
Broken links on popular landing pages directly impact UX and interrupt navigation for your visitors.
Fix: Prioritize reviewing link reports on your top 10 most visited pages regularly.
Leaving Redirect Chains
Long chains (A → B → C → D) can slow down load times and increase server resource consumption.
Fix: Avoid unnecessary redirect chains and, when practical, link directly to the final destination.
Linking to HTTP Instead of HTTPS
If a target site redirects HTTP to HTTPS, linking to HTTP introduces an unnecessary redirect step.
Fix: Verify destinations support HTTPS and update old URLs directly to their secure versions.
Deleting Links Without Context
Deleting a broken link may remove useful context if you don't provide a relevant replacement.
Fix: Attempt to update the link to a relevant, active resource or archived equivalent before removing it entirely.
Neglecting External Links
External links naturally decay over time as target domains shut down, change structural paths, or expire.
Fix: Perform structured scans of old evergreen articles at least once per quarter.
Editing Links Without Double Checking
Target servers experiencing temporary server outages or transient rate limits can report false error codes.
Fix: Always re-check a destination before modifying the link, especially when the first request returns a temporary server error or rate limit.
Broken Link Checker FAQs
Answers based strictly on how our server-to-server checking tool handles links.
What is a 404 error?
A 404 "Not Found" error means the target server could not locate the requested page. While 404s are a normal part of the web, finding and replacing them on your active pages improves user experience.
Why use the Re-check button?
Outbound target servers can experience momentary congestion, connection timeouts, or rate limits. Re-checking allows you to run an isolated request to verify the error wasn't temporary.
What should I do with broken links?
You can Update the link to point to a working alternative page, Remove the link markup while keeping the anchor text intact, or implement a 301 redirect if the broken link belongs to your own site's domain.
Does this tool check internal links?
Yes — this version extracts and checks both internal (same-domain) and external links, displaying their respective labels directly in the results table.
Why do some links show "Network / Server Error"?
Our server was blocked or timed out during the request. This occurs if target hosts utilize firewalls/WAFs to reject automated requests, have expired SSL certificates, or suffer from misconfigured DNS.
How often should I check for broken links?
We recommend performing structured reviews monthly for active publications or blogs, quarterly for static sites, and checking any newly drafted posts before they are published.
Are the scanned URLs stored?
No. We don't intentionally store scanned URLs or scan results inside the tool database. Only transient rate-limiting records are kept to prevent automated abuse of our server resources. Scan results are displayed and retained in your current browser session; the tool does not save them to its database.
How is the checking performed?
The checker requests each URL directly from our server and reports the HTTP response it receives. A result can differ from what your browser sees if the target website blocks automated crawlers or requires authentication.