Broken Link Checker: Find Broken Links and Redirects
Kamran Liaquat Ali- posted on
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Broken Link Checker
Scan up to 500 website pages and find broken, redirected, internal, and external links.
Enter your website homepage above and click Start Link Audit. The checker discovers your XML sitemap, scans up to 500 pages and tests the links on them. Results are grouped as Broken, Redirects, Working, Internal, External and Errors, and you can export everything to CSV.
Why Broken Links Matter
A broken link sends visitors to an error page, which is frustrating and makes a site look neglected. Internal broken links also waste the link equity that should flow to your important pages and can stop crawlers from discovering content. Redirect chains add delay and should be cleaned up too.
How to Use the Broken Link Checker
- Enter your homepage URL, for example
https://example.com. - Click Start Link Audit. Larger sites take longer.
- Open the Broken filter first, then Redirects.
- For each link, note the page it appears on and fix it there.
- Export the CSV to track progress and run the audit again after fixing.
Understanding the Status Codes
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | Working | Nothing |
| 301 / 308 | Permanent redirect | Update internal links to point straight to the final URL |
| 302 / 307 | Temporary redirect | Check it is intentional; use 301 for permanent moves |
| 404 / 410 | Not found or gone | Link to the correct page, a replacement, or remove the link |
| 5xx | Server error on the target | Recheck later; if it persists on your site, check hosting logs |
| Blocked / timeout | The target refused or did not respond | Open it in a browser; some sites block automated checks |
How to Fix Broken Links in WordPress
- Internal links: edit the post and replace the URL with the correct live page.
- Deleted pages that still get traffic or backlinks: add a 301 redirect to the closest relevant page with Rank Math or the Redirection plugin.
- External links: find an updated source, link to an archived copy only if it adds value, or remove the link.
- Menus and widgets: check navigation, footer and sidebar links as well as post content.
Limitations
- The audit covers up to 500 URLs listed in your sitemap.
- Some external sites block automated requests, so a link marked “blocked” may work in a browser. Check those manually.
- Links added by JavaScript after the page loads may not be detected.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I check for broken links?
Monthly is enough for most blogs, and after any big change such as a migration, slug changes or deleting posts.
Do broken outbound links hurt SEO?
A few will not cause a penalty, but they hurt user experience. Fixing them is quick and keeps your content trustworthy.
Is a redirect a broken link?
No, but internal links should point directly to the final URL so visitors and crawlers do not take an extra hop.
More free tools: Keyword Density Checker, Word Counter, Meta Description Length Checker, URL Slug Generator, XML Sitemap Checker, Meta SEO Audit Tool, Bulk Image Size and WebP Checker, Bulk H1 Tag Checker, Bulk Image Alt Text Checker, SEO Title Length Checker. See all of them on our free SEO tools page.
