Broken Link Finder
Identify broken links, dead URLs, and 404 errors on your website instantly. Improve your SEO and user experience with our free link validator.
Scan Configuration
Automatically crawl all linked pages in the domain
Link Health Audit
Real-time status analysis of all discovered links
Why you should have a broken link checker on your website?
Did you ever click a link on a website and think that you were going to view XY but instead were just confronted with a "404 Error: Page Not Found" message? It's frustrating, right? Now, consider how this can touch your visitors. They are interested in your content but instead receive a dead link. This isn't just bad for your user experience (UX) it can also damage your SEO.
Broken links, or dead links, can be very bad for your website's search engine ranking. And that's where a broken link checker can be useful.
In this post I'm going to tell you what broken links are, how they impact your website's performance, and how you can use a broken link checker to identify and fix them in no time! I'll also add some comment for regular evaluation of your provisioned links on your websites, especially if you're using WordPress.
What Are Broken Links?
Broadly speaking, broken links are web addresses that no longer point to anything. They may be links to 404 errors, or they could be links to a page or resource that no longer exists. They may have been removed or moved, or the web address may not exist.
You should be looking for broken links in two places: internal links (links that point to your other pages) and external links (links to other people's websites). Both of these sorts of links can be a bad experience for your users if they are redirected to content that isn't available any longer. If a reader comes across a broken link, they might leave your site, which could affect your SEO ranking.
Why Are Broken Links Bad for My Website’s SEO?
The thing is, broken links can hurt your SEO in more than one way. Let's break it down:
Crawlers HATE Broken Links
Google and other search engines use crawlers to browse your site and check out the various content. Should the crawler experience a dead link or 404 error, it will be unable to crawl your page effectively, potentially causing damage to your SEO strategy.
User Experience Suffers
It makes you think? Or you're searching for something on a site, only to land on a dead-end page. This sort of broken link management leads straight into the land of user experience (UX). A bad user experience frequently includes high bounce rates.
Ranking Undermined
If Google finds a site with lots of non-working links, it simply thinks your site is not being properly maintained. This may cause your rank to go down in the search engine result pages, especially after core updates such as the 2023 March Update.
Lost Link Equity
Broken backlinks can diminish your site's authority. No other website will link to dead pages, and any SEO benefit the old page once had will not be retained by search engines.
How Do You Use a Broken Link Checker for Your SEO?
Link checker scans your site and displays broken links in no time. It goes through every internal and external link on your site, then tells you which ones don't work anymore. This might be missing images, 404 pages, or links that point in the wrong direction.
After the tool scans your site, it shows you what broken links it found: You can then go in and fix the links update them, redirect them, or delete them altogether. In fact, some checkers even let you export the list of all broken links in a CSV file so that you can monitor all the fixes.
What Causes Broken Links?
Deleting pages without updating the links pointing to them is the most common reason for broken internal links.
Referencing external sources that change, disappear, or go offline results in outbound broken links.
Incorrectly set up 301 redirects or redirect loops create situations where users never reach the destination.
Lost image links alter the look of your site and negatively affect SEO. A dead link checker helps resolve these.
How to Use the Link Checker?
Pick Tool
Select a tool like Broken Link Finder, Ahrefs, or Screaming Frog.
Begin Scan
Input your website URL into the tool and press the scan button.
Fix Links
Review the report and fix or remove all detected broken links.
Schedule
Set up regular monthly checks to keep your SEO health in top shape.
Tips for Eliminating Broken Links
Redirect bad links: If a page has been relocated, remember to map a 301 redirect so the visitors can be redirected to the new address. This helps retain SEO value and UX.
Update old links
Update URLs to reflect the new and correct versions, especially for internal links.
Delete or Replace
If a resource no longer exists, substitute it with similar content or delete the link entirely.
Advantages of Periodically Checking for Broken Links
Through regular use of a dead link checking tool, you'll keep your site healthy. It ensures superior UX, better search engine rankings, and preserves valuable link equity.
Better SEO
Makes it easier for search engines to crawl your site.
Preserve Equity
Keep authority-granting backlinks pointing to live content.
Saves Time
Bulk scanning is much more efficient than manual browsing.
FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about broken link checking
Optimize Your SEO Workflow
Continue your audit with our suite of powerful search engine optimization tools.
Meta Tag Scraper
Extract meta titles, descriptions, and H1 tags in bulk to audit your website's visibility and CTR.
Redirect Mapper
Plan and map URL redirects during site migrations to preserve SEO rankings and traffic.
Ready to fix your broken links?
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