--- title: "Broken Link Checker: Find 404s & Dead URLs on a Page" description: "Scan one webpage's internal and external links, test each discovered URL, and report broken 4xx, 5xx, and connection failures with HTTP status details." canonical_url: "https://webaloha.co/tools/broken-link-checker/" markdown_url: "https://webaloha.co/tools/broken-link-checker.md" date_modified: "2026-07-12T00:00:00.000Z" --- # Broken Link Checker Tool Online Last updated: Jul 12, 2026 Scan any webpage for broken links with a free dead link checker and 404 checker in one. Find dead URLs, 404 errors, and server failures on both internal and external links, all in one check. ## How the Broken Link Checker Works This tool scans a single webpage and verifies every link on it. Here's the process: 1. **Enter a URL**, paste the address of any webpage you want to check. The tool fetches its full HTML source. 2. **Extract all links**, it finds every `` tag on the page, resolving relative URLs to absolute ones and separating internal from external links. 3. **Check each link**, every link gets an HTTP request (up to 100 links, with bounded concurrency). The tool records the status code and response time. 4. **Report results**, broken links (4xx, 5xx, connection errors) are flagged and shown first, with a summary of total, broken, internal, and external link counts. ## Why Broken Links Hurt Your Website Broken links are one of the most common, and most easily fixable, issues on websites. Here's why they matter: - **Wasted crawl budget**, search engines allocate a limited crawl budget to your site. Every broken link that Googlebot follows is a wasted crawl. On large sites, this can significantly reduce how many of your real pages get indexed. - **Lost link equity**, if backlinks from other sites point to a page that returns 404, the ranking value those backlinks carry is lost entirely. A simple 301 redirect recovers that equity. - **Poor user experience**, visitors who click a link and land on a 404 page lose trust in your site. Research shows that 88% of online users are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience. - **Broken internal linking**, internal links distribute PageRank throughout your site. Broken internal links create dead ends that prevent both users and crawlers from reaching important content. - **Reputation damage**, for businesses, agencies, and professionals, broken links signal neglect. Clients and partners may question the quality of your work if your own site has dead links. After finding broken links, use the [Redirect Checker](https://webaloha.co/tools/redirect-checker/) to trace redirect chains, the [HTTP Status Code Checker](https://webaloha.co/tools/http-status-code-checker/) to bulk-verify your URL status codes across the site, and the [Internal Link Analyzer](https://webaloha.co/tools/internal-link-analyzer/) to see the full picture of which pages link to each other (and which are orphaned with no inbound links). ## How to Fix Broken Links Once you've found broken links, here's how to handle each type: - **Internal 404s**, set up a 301 redirect from the broken URL to the correct destination. If the page was intentionally removed, redirect to the closest relevant page or the parent category. - **External 404s**, find the current URL of the resource (check the site's navigation or use Google). Update your link to the new address. If the content is gone permanently, remove the link or replace it with an alternative source. - **Server errors (5xx)**, these are typically temporary. Recheck after a few hours. If the error persists, the external site may have a problem, consider linking to an alternative resource. - **Timeout / Connection errors**, the server may be overloaded or blocking automated requests. Verify manually in your browser before removing the link. - **Prevention**, schedule regular broken link checks (monthly for small sites, weekly for large ones). Implement proper redirect rules during any URL change or site migration. For comprehensive [SEO](https://webaloha.co/seo-services/) maintenance, combine broken link checking with the [Sitemap Checker](https://webaloha.co/tools/sitemap-checker-and-validator/) to ensure your sitemap only contains live URLs, and the [Robots.txt Tester](https://webaloha.co/tools/robots-txt-tester-and-validator/) to verify crawler access. Next steps ## Broken Link Checker related tools and articles Continue with the closest follow-up checks and guides based on this tool's topic, crawl intent, and optimization workflow. [![Internal Link Analyzer Tool Online](https://webaloha.co/_astro/tool-internal-links.BrEU1_Ks_ZuOwFa.webp?dpl=dpl_HZitqG7jvXgL8SacqjgzoxTZJ4uA) Internal Link Analyzer ](https://webaloha.co/tools/internal-link-analyzer/)[![Local SEO Landing Page Audit Tool](https://webaloha.co/_astro/tool-local-seo-audit.Lal5adgd_ZHC2G4.webp?dpl=dpl_HZitqG7jvXgL8SacqjgzoxTZJ4uA) Local SEO Landing Page Audit ](https://webaloha.co/tools/local-seo-landing-page-audit/)[![Broken Image Checker Tool Online](https://webaloha.co/_astro/tool-broken-images.p_a4yqXX_Z1y4sjS.webp?dpl=dpl_HZitqG7jvXgL8SacqjgzoxTZJ4uA) Broken Image Checker ](https://webaloha.co/tools/broken-image-checker/)[![Internal Linking Strategy: How to Build Topic Authority](https://webaloha.co/_astro/blog-internal-linking-strategy.Xh_J897b_Z1sydAb.webp?dpl=dpl_HZitqG7jvXgL8SacqjgzoxTZJ4uA) Internal Linking Strategy: How to Build Topic Authority ](https://webaloha.co/internal-linking-strategy-topic-authority/)[![Duplicate Content SEO: What It Is and How to Fix It](https://webaloha.co/_astro/blog-duplicate-content-seo-guide.DxFM7DJm_Z1gjMmj.webp?dpl=dpl_HZitqG7jvXgL8SacqjgzoxTZJ4uA) Duplicate Content SEO: What It Is and How to Fix It ](https://webaloha.co/duplicate-content-seo-guide/)[![Google Search Console Guide for Business Owners](https://webaloha.co/_astro/blog-google-search-console-guide.m54ACdZc_Z2nnvvA.webp?dpl=dpl_HZitqG7jvXgL8SacqjgzoxTZJ4uA) Google Search Console Guide for Business Owners ](https://webaloha.co/google-search-console-guide/) ## Broken Link Checker: FAQ What links does this checker inspect? It fetches one public page, extracts unique HTTP and HTTPS URLs from anchor elements, resolves relative links, and reports the anchor text, internal or external classification, final response status, and response time. Mail, telephone, data, JavaScript, fragment, and same-page links are skipped. What counts as broken in the results? A final HTTP status of 400 or higher is marked broken. Connection failures, DNS errors, refusals, resets, invalid URLs, and eight-second timeouts are recorded with status code 0 and are also marked broken. Verify access-controlled or rate-limited links before removing them. Does the report show redirects as broken? No. Link requests follow redirects and the report uses the final response status. A link that redirects successfully to a response below 400 is treated as working. This tool does not display the intermediate redirect chain, so use the Redirect Checker when you need to inspect each hop. Does this checker crawl the entire website? No. It checks links found in the returned HTML of one submitted page and does not follow internal links to discover additional pages. Repeat the scan for important templates or use a site crawler for full-site coverage. How many links are checked and why can the totals differ? The endpoint checks up to the first 100 unique links and stops after about 45 seconds to keep each scan lightweight. Total links found can be higher because duplicate destinations are consolidated, the checking list is capped, or the time limit is reached. The result separately shows found, checked, internal, external, and broken counts. Why can a working link be reported as 403, 429, or timeout? Some sites block automated HEAD requests, rate-limit scanners, require cookies, or respond differently by region or user agent. The checker retries a 405 response with GET, but other access controls can still produce a false failure. Open the URL normally and check it from another network before changing content. How do I fix broken links? Update an internal link to the current destination or add an appropriate server redirect when the old URL should remain supported. For an external link, find a current authoritative replacement or remove the reference. Retest the source page after publishing the change. What data is sent during a broken link scan? The submitted public page URL is sent to the Web Aloha API. The server fetches its returned HTML and requests up to 100 extracted public links. The form asks for no account credentials or personal data, and the endpoint contains no application-storage step for the page, HTML, or results. Free 48-Hour Website Audit Not sure what to fix first on your own website? We'll review it and tell you, in plain English. Free & non-obligatory. [Get My Free Audit 💪](https://webaloha.co/free-website-audit/) ## Need Help Fixing Broken Links? We help businesses audit their sites, fix dead links, and set up proper redirect structures. [Explore SEO Services 🚀](https://webaloha.co/seo-services/)