Editorial preflight
Check citations and internal references on a newly published guide before promotion.
Links and URLs tool
Broken Link Checker
Check a bounded sample of links from one page. The checker labels observed 4xx and 5xx responses as confirmed broken, while redirects, timeouts, blocks, and request failures remain separate evidence that needs review.
FreeNo loginNo data stored
Page maintenance
Separate confirmed dead destinations from temporary or automation-blocked responses.
Migration verification
Find links that still return errors or rely on avoidable redirect chains after a move.
What it checks
Use the result as evidence, not a score.
- HTTP and HTTPS link destinations in one page’s initial HTML
- Up to 20 unique destinations with four concurrent guarded requests
- Final status after bounded redirects
- Confirmed 4xx/5xx, redirected, unavailable, and successful classifications
What it cannot check
- Every link across the full website
- Whether a blocked or timed-out external destination is truly broken for visitors
- Client-rendered links, authenticated destinations, geographic variants, rankings, or crawl history
How it works
Input, inspect, improve, verify.
The tool processes what you enter, shows a plain-language result, and gives you a safer next step. Make the change on your website, deploy it, then test the live page again.
Popular use cases
Useful before and after publishing.
Editorial preflight
Check citations and internal references on a newly published guide before promotion.
Page maintenance
Separate confirmed dead destinations from temporary or automation-blocked responses.
Migration verification
Find links that still return errors or rely on avoidable redirect chains after a move.
Pro tips
Small checks that prevent avoidable mistakes.
- Fix confirmed errors first, then re-check unavailable external links manually.
- Update internal links to their final canonical destination when a redirect is no longer needed in page markup.
- Do not remove a useful citation merely because its server blocks automated requests.
- Use a real site crawl when page-level sampling is not enough.
Common issues and solutions
What to review when the result looks wrong.
An external link is unavailable
Open it manually and retry later before removing it. Bot blocking, rate limits, TLS problems, and temporary outages are different from a confirmed 404.
The page contains more than 20 destinations
The tool reports that the sample was capped. Use a controlled crawl or test priority links in smaller groups.
A link redirects successfully
The destination is not broken. Review whether updating the source link would reduce unnecessary hops or preserve intentional tracking and migration behavior.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers before you make a change.
Does the checker crawl the whole website?
No. It extracts links from one public page and checks at most 20 unique destinations during each run.
Is a timeout a broken link?
Not by itself. Timeouts and blocked requests are reported as unavailable because they do not prove what a normal visitor receives.
Why are redirecting links not marked broken?
A successful redirect still reaches a destination. The tool reports it separately so you can decide whether the source URL should be updated.
Read the practical guide
Broken link versus unavailable response
Understand the evidence behind this tool, where its result stops, and the safer next steps to verify on a live page.
Read the guideEvidence · Limitations · Verification