How to use Broken Link Checker online, free

Broken links (pointing to pages that no longer exist or return errors) hurt both user experience and SEO. This tool scans a page and checks every link on it, showing the HTTP status code for each - so you can quickly find and fix dead links before they frustrate visitors or search engine crawlers.

SEO and webmaster checks are only useful if they match what Googlebot or a browser would see. Guessing from the HTML source alone is how people ship broken tags.

Broken Link Checker is a good fit when auditing blog archives for stale outbound links.

Why this exists

Broken Link Checker is built around a few practical wins, not a long feature list:

• Prevents user drop-off caused by dead links.
• Improves crawl efficiency and on-page SEO quality.
• Supports routine content maintenance for large sites.
• Finds both internal and external link issues fast.

Walkthrough

1. Scan target page URL. Fetch internal and external links from the page content.
2. Check HTTP status responses. Test each link for success, redirect, or error status.
3. Review broken/unstable links. Prioritize 404/5xx failures and problematic redirect chains.
4. Repair and revalidate. Update links or target pages, then rerun checker to confirm fixes.

Jobs it is built for

• Auditing blog archives for stale outbound links.
• Checking internal links after URL structure changes.
• Validating documentation portals before release.
• Maintaining evergreen resource pages and knowledge bases.

Worth knowing before you start

• Fix internal broken links first; they are fully under your control.
• Replace unstable external references with more reliable sources.
• Recheck high-traffic pages on a regular schedule.
• Update anchor text when target destination intent changes.

What not to expect

• Ignoring redirected links that create unnecessary latency.
• Leaving broken links in templates shared across many pages.
• Checking only homepage while deep pages stay stale.
• Removing references entirely instead of updating to valid resources.

Privacy, in one paragraph

Broken Link Checker needs the ToolBox API for work a browser cannot do. What you submit is processed, then discarded. It is not kept as a library of your files.

Related tools worth opening next

If this is one step in a longer job, these usually come after it:

• Redirect Checker - Trace every redirect hop of a URL with status codes
• DNS Lookup - Query A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, PTR, SRV and CAA records for any domain
• Website Speed Test - Real browser-rendered GTmetrix-style report: grade, Core Web Vitals, page weight and fix recommendations

Short answers

What counts as a "broken" link?

Typically links returning error status codes like 404 (not found), 500 (server error), or links that fail to connect at all - status codes in the 200 range (success) or properly handled redirects are generally fine.

Does it check both internal and external links on the page?

Yes - it scans all the links found on the page, whether they point to other pages on the same site or to external websites.

How often should I check for broken links?

Periodically, especially after site restructuring, content removal, or if you link out to external sites that could change/disappear over time - broken links tend to accumulate naturally as the web changes around your content.

Open the Broken Link Checker when you are ready. It is free, and you do not need an account.