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Overview

Broken links are one of the most common and damaging website issues. They frustrate users, waste search engine crawl budget, and signal poor site maintenance to both visitors and search engines. SEO Crawler automatically discovers and reports every broken link on your domain.
Available on: All plans (Free, Solo, Pro, Agency)

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What We Detect

Our crawler identifies links that return error status codes, indicating they’re broken or inaccessible.

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Client Errors (4xx)

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Server Errors (5xx)

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Other Failures

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SEO Impact

Google’s crawlers encounter the same broken links as your users. Excessive 404 errors can hurt your search rankings.
  • Wasted Crawl Budget: Search engines have limited resources to crawl your site. Every broken link is a wasted request.
  • Lost PageRank: Internal links pass authority. Broken links leak that authority into nothing.
  • Indexing Issues: Broken links can prevent search engines from discovering new content.

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User Experience Impact

  • Increased Bounce Rate: Users who hit 404 pages often leave immediately
  • Lost Conversions: Broken links in conversion funnels directly cost revenue
  • Damaged Trust: Broken links make your site appear unmaintained or unreliable

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How It Works

1

Discovery

Our crawler starts from your homepage and follows every link, building a complete map of your site’s link structure.
2

Validation

Each discovered URL receives an HTTP HEAD request to check its status code. If HEAD isn’t supported, we fall back to GET.
3

Classification

Links are categorized by type (internal/external) and status code, with errors flagged for review.
4

Source Tracking

For every broken link, we record which pages contain it so you know exactly where to make fixes.

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Reading Your Results

After a crawl completes, broken links appear in the Issues tab sorted by severity.

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Result Fields

Click any broken link to see all pages where it appears. This makes bulk fixes easier—you might find the same broken link on 50 pages due to navigation or footer links.

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Common Fixes

If you intentionally removed the page:
  1. Set up a 301 redirect to the most relevant existing page
  2. Update all internal links to point to the new destination
  3. Submit updated sitemap to search engines
Check if the content exists at a new URL:
  1. Search the target site for similar content
  2. Check Wayback Machine for historical versions
  3. Update your link to the new URL or a suitable alternative

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403 Forbidden

For internal 403 errors:
  • Check server permissions on the file/directory
  • Verify .htaccess rules aren’t blocking access
  • Ensure directory indexes are enabled if linking to folders

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500 Server Errors

Internal server errors indicate code problems:
  • Check server error logs for stack traces
  • Review recent code deployments
  • Test the page directly in a browser

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Best Practices

Regular Crawls

Schedule weekly crawls to catch broken links quickly. The longer a link is broken, the more damage it causes.

Fix Internal First

Prioritize internal broken links—you have full control over these and they directly impact your site structure.

Use Redirects

When removing pages, always set up 301 redirects. This preserves any SEO value and helps users find relevant content.

Monitor External Links

External sites can break anytime. Regular monitoring catches these before users report them.

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Filtering Results

Use filters to focus on specific issues:

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Exporting Data

Export broken link data for team collaboration or client reporting:
  • CSV: Full data export for spreadsheet analysis
  • PDF Report: Formatted report with charts and summaries
  • API: Programmatic access to all crawl data
Pro and Agency plans include white-label PDF exports for client-facing reports.

Redirect Chain Analysis

Detect redirect loops and excessive chain lengths.

Response Time Tracking

Monitor page performance alongside link health.