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Broken Link Checker

Short answer

Scan your page to find broken internal and external links.

What it does not do: It checks up to 100 links on one page, page links only (not images, scripts or stylesheets), and status codes only, so a soft 404 that answers 200 is not caught.

Example:

Full URL including https://.

Example: https://example.com

What It Does

Checks the links on one page — internal and outbound, up to 100 unique URLs — and requests each one to confirm it still works. Flags links that return an error status such as 404 or 500, or that time out, and follows redirects to the final destination. Returns each broken link with its anchor text and status code.

Why It Matters

Broken links frustrate visitors and lead crawlers to dead ends. Google says 404s on their own do not hurt a site's ranking, but a link to a dead page still loses the visitor you meant to send and hides the page you meant to link. A quick check after content changes keeps them from piling up.

How It Works

  1. Enter your page URL and click Check Links

  2. We extract every `<a href>` on the page (internal and outbound)

  3. Request each unique link, following redirects, with a 5-second timeout

  4. Return every broken link with its status code and anchor text

Sample input + output

INPUT
url: https://rankproof.eu/guides
OUTPUT
links checked: 32 (unique, of 56 on the page)
broken: 0                                   OK
redirected: 0                               OK

Every checked link works

How to read the result

Links checked (32 of 56 in the sample)
Every <a href> on the page is collected, internal and outbound, and duplicates are merged: 56 links that point to 32 different addresses mean 32 requests. Up to 100 unique addresses are checked in one run.
Broken (0)
A link counts as broken when its final answer is an error status — 404 Not Found, 410 Gone, 500 and so on — or when nothing answers within 5 seconds. The report lists each one with its anchor text, so you can find it on the page.
Redirected (0)
Links that work but reach their target through a redirect, for example an old http:// address or a missing trailing slash. They are not errors, but linking straight to the final address saves visitors and crawlers an extra request.
What is not checked
mailto:, tel:, in-page #anchors and javascript: links are skipped, and so are images, scripts and stylesheets. Only the HTML your server sends is read, so links that a script adds later are not seen.
Every checked link works
No broken link among the addresses checked. If the page has more than 100 unique links, the rest were not requested, and a page that returns 200 with a "not found" message (a soft 404) cannot be told apart from a working one.

Who Uses This

  • Content Manager

    Run it after an editorial cleanup to catch links broken by deleted pages or expired outbound resources.

  • SEO Auditor

    Include a link check in client onboarding — broken links are a quick, visible fix.

  • Migration Lead

    After a domain or URL-structure change, confirm every internal link on key pages still resolves.

Common problems and how to fix them

  1. An internal link returns 404

    Point the link at the page's current address. If the page moved, also redirect the old address with a 301 so bookmarks and links from other sites still arrive; if the page is gone for good, remove the link or point it to the closest replacement.

    # nginx
location = /old-page { return 301 /new-page; }

# Apache (.htaccess)
Redirect 301 /old-page /new-page

  2. An outbound link is dead

    Look for where the content moved — the site's own search or its new URL structure usually has it — and update the link. If it no longer exists anywhere, link an archived copy or another source, or remove the reference.

  3. A link works in your browser but is reported broken

    Some sites refuse automated requests (403 or 429) or answer slowly. The tool asks again with a normal GET when a server refuses the lighter HEAD request, but a site that blocks bots will still look broken; open the link yourself before you remove it.

  4. Many links go through redirects

    Update internal links to the final address, usually the https:// version with the right trailing slash. Redirects work, but each one adds a request before the page starts loading.

  5. Links break after every redesign

    Keep URLs stable when you change design or CMS, and when one has to change, add the 301 redirect in the same release. Run this check on your most-visited pages after each release.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it follow redirects?
Yes — we follow redirects and report the status of the final destination. To trace each hop, use the Redirect Checker.
Can I check the whole site?
This tool checks the links on one page at a time. Run it again for each page you want to check.
Do broken links hurt rankings?
Not directly — Google says 404s by themselves do not harm a site's ranking. Broken internal links still hide pages from crawlers and visitors, and broken outbound links make a page less useful, so fix them.
What is a "soft 404"?
A page that returns HTTP 200 but shows a "not found" message. This tool checks status codes only, so it does not catch them.
Does it check images and other resources?
No — only `<a href>` links. Images, scripts and stylesheets are not requested.

Sources

The documentation this tool and the explanations on this page are based on.

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