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Link Checker

Test the links on any page. Broken links, redirected links and links with no anchor text are listed first, with the status code of each.

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Link Checker - results and guide

What the Link Checker checks

  • Every link in the HTML, split into internal and external
  • The HTTP status of each link: working, redirected or broken
  • Links that go through one or more redirects
  • Links with no anchor text or image alt
  • Links marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc
  • Links from an https page to http addresses
  • Pages with no internal links at all

Why broken links matter

A broken link sends a visitor to an error page. It is a small failure, but people notice, and a page full of dead links looks abandoned. For search engines, internal links are how pages are discovered and how importance flows through a site. A link to a 404 leads nowhere and passes nothing on.

Links break quietly. A page is renamed, a product is removed, another site reorganises its content. Nothing alerts you unless you check.

How this checker works

The tool downloads the page, collects every <a href>, and requests each target to read its status code. Internal links are tested first, since those are the ones you can fix yourself. A link is reported as broken when the target answers with a 4xx or 5xx status or cannot be reached, and as redirected when it passes through a 301 or 302 on the way.

Some sites, social networks in particular, refuse automated requests with a 403 or 429. Those are shown as unverified, not broken. Links added by JavaScript after the page loads are not in the HTML and are not tested. To check the pages listed in your sitemap, use the Sitemap Checker.

How to use the Link Checker

  1. Enter the address of the page you want to check. You can leave out https://.
  2. Press Check links. The page is fetched from our servers, the way a search engine crawler would fetch it.
  3. Read the findings from top to bottom: problems first, then warnings. Each one says what to change.

Common problems and how to fix them

Internal links return 404

Update the link to the page's new address. If the page was removed, link to the closest alternative and add a 301 redirect from the old URL.

Links go through redirects

Edit them to point at the final URL. This is common after moving to https or changing the URL structure.

Image links have no text

Add alt text to the image inside the link, or an aria-label on the link, so it has an accessible name.

Frequently asked questions

Do broken links hurt SEO?
A few will not cause a penalty. They waste crawl effort, break the flow of link value inside your site and frustrate visitors, so they are worth fixing.
How many links does the checker test?
Up to 40 links per run without an account and 150 when signed in, internal links first. Any that are not tested are listed as not checked.
Why is a working link shown as unverified?
The target site blocks automated requests and returned 403 or 429. It probably works in a browser. Open it to confirm.
How often should I check for broken links?
After any restructuring, and every month or two for important pages. External links break without warning as other sites change.

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