Free Website Broken Link Checker

A 404 error is returned by a server when a resource is requested that is no longer available. The server returns a 404 Not Found error. The 404 error needs to be fixed by the owner of the website.

A broken link can be caused by:

1. A typo in the url (the link never worked)
2. The page is deleted
3. The website is temporarily unavailable

The fix for a broken link depends on the reason why the link was broken. If you use a Content Management System (CMS) for your website, login into the admin panel of your CMS and change or delete the link. Otherwise, change or delete the dead link in your HTML code.

In case the page that the link referenced, has moved:

1. Login into WP-Admin;
2. Click on the Post or Pages tab;
3. Find the Post or Page with the broken link;
4. Change or delete the link.

In case a page was accidentally deleted:

1. Login into WP-Admin;
2. Click on the Post or Pages tab;
3. Click on the Thrash link;
4. Restore the page that was accidentally deleted.

A broken link checker should respect a robots.txt file. The robots.txt file specifies if web crawlers are allowed to check a given link. A broken link tester will report the URL as "Status Unknown" or as "Broken Link".

Some websites, such as Youtube and Linkedin, disallow crawlers altogether. These websites often block web crawlers based on the User-Agent header. A good bot specifies a good User-Agent header. EWC's web crawler specifies a User-Agent with good identification too. Therefore, websites might respond with an 4xx response code. The link is reported as broken while for regular users, the link is not broken.

The web is constantly changing. New websites and web pages are launched every second. Links therefore break. This process is called link rot . A few tips to prevent broken links:

1. Don't use a url that redirects to another url;
2. Use a permalink where possible: a permalink is a link that should always be available. Check if a websites offer a permalink and use that url for your link.
3. Use short urls that are easy to read: URLs that contain identifiers are subject to change. URLs that are easy to read are produced by humans and change less often.
4. Use a broken link checker and broken link monitor: A broken link monitor notifies you as soon as a broken link is detected. Use EWC's broken link checker to verify your website is 100% healthy.

Broken links do indirectly affect SEO. Broken links affect the bounce rate and the time on site. The bounce rate and time on site affect SEO. Therefore, use a broken link checker to fix broken links as soon as they are detected.

A broken link can be found by the Google Bot. These broken links are reported in Google Search Console are reported as Not found (404). It can take a few days or even weeks before Google checks again if the broken link is fixed. You want to fix broken links before Google detects them. Therefore, use a broken link monitor so you get notified when a broken link is detected.