Broken link checker: find dead links before visitors do
The Rankmetr broken link checker crawls your website, finds links that lead to errors and shows the page where each broken link sits, so you can fix it in minutes. The tool is in early access: leave your website and we will let you know when the free check opens.
Check broken links on your website
The free online broken link checker is in early access. Enter your website and work email and we will tell you when it is ready to scan your site.
What the broken link checker finds
A dead link checker that looks at one URL is not enough: links break across the whole site. The tool works as a crawler. It starts from your home page, follows every internal link the way a search engine does, and checks the status of each URL it meets.
- Broken internal links: links between your own pages that lead to a 404 or another error, usually after a page was moved, renamed or deleted.
- Broken external links: links to other websites that no longer work because the page or the whole site is gone.
- Server errors: pages that answer with a 5xx status code instead of content.
- Redirect chains and loops: links that pass through several redirects before reaching the page, or never reach it.
- Broken images and files: images, PDFs and scripts that return an error.
- Source page and anchor: for every broken link, the page where it sits and the link text, so you know exactly what to edit.
How to read the results
Each link in the report has an HTTP status code. The code tells you what happened when the checker followed the link.
- 404 Not Found: the page does not exist. This is the classic dead link.
- 410 Gone: the page was removed on purpose.
- 5xx: the server failed. Check again later; if the error stays, the problem is on the server side.
- 301 and 302: the link works through a redirect. One redirect is fine, a chain of them slows pages down and wastes crawl budget.
- 403 and timeouts: the target site blocks automated checks or answers too slowly. Such links are often unverifiable rather than broken, so open them in a browser before you remove them.
Start with broken internal links on pages that get traffic: they are the easiest to fix and the most visible to visitors and search engines. The report groups links by source page, which helps when one template or menu link breaks on hundreds of pages at once.
Do broken links hurt SEO?
A few broken links will not get a site penalized. The damage is indirect. Visitors hit a dead end and leave. Search engines spend crawl time on error pages instead of the pages you want indexed. Internal links that lead to a 404 stop passing value to the page they were meant to support, and backlinks from other sites to a deleted page lose their effect.
Links break for ordinary reasons: a page is moved without a redirect, a URL structure changes after a redesign, a product is removed, an external site shuts down. That is why a broken link check is not a one-time task but part of regular site maintenance.
How to fix broken links
- 01
Update the link
If the page moved, change the link to the new URL directly, without a redirect in between.
- 02
Set up a 301 redirect
If other sites link to a deleted page, redirect it to the closest live page so the backlinks keep working.
- 03
Remove or replace
For external links to dead sites, link to another source or remove the link.
- 04
Check again
Run the scan again to confirm the errors are closed, and keep an eye on new ones after site updates.
Beyond a free broken link checker
There are many broken link checker tools, and they differ in scope. Quick options such as the W3C Link Checker, a browser extension or a WordPress plugin help with a single page or a small blog. For a whole website you need a tool that can run a full crawl on a schedule and keep the history.
In the platform, broken links are part of the technical site audit: the crawler checks the site every week, closes issues you have fixed and shows new ones. For a wider look at technical and on-page issues, use the SEO checker; to see who links to your site and which of those links point to dead pages, see backlink analysis.
FAQ
What is a broken link checker?
It is a tool that follows the links on a website and reports the ones that lead to errors, such as 404 pages, server errors or endless redirects. A good checker also shows the page where each broken link sits.
What does a dead link mean?
A dead link points to a page that no longer exists or cannot be opened. Visitors who click it see an error page instead of the content they expected.
Does it check both internal and external links?
Yes. Internal links between your own pages and external links to other websites are both checked, and the report keeps them apart, because the fix is different.
Will it show error codes?
Yes. Every link in the report has its HTTP status code, so you can tell a missing page from a server error or a redirect.
How often should I check for broken links?
After every redesign, migration or large content update, and at least once a month for an active site. Scheduled crawls catch new dead links before visitors report them.
How do I find broken links on my website for free?
Google Search Console shows pages that return 404 when Google crawls them, and free online checkers scan a limited number of pages. For a full site on a schedule, use a site audit crawler.
Get early access to the broken link checker
Leave your website and work email. We will tell you when the free check opens.