Broken Link Checker for Finding Broken Internal & External Links

A Broken Link Checker crawls a website or inspects one webpage, discovers links and checks what happens when their destinations are requested. It can identify outcomes such as missing pages, server errors, redirects and timeouts. Wranker also shows internal and external classifications, source pages, anchor text, occurrence information and crawl details. Similar tools may be called a broken links checker tool or broken link analyser.

A website broken link checker starts from a submitted domain or starting page, discovers eligible internal pages and verifies links found on the pages it processes. External destinations can also be checked when that option is enabled. A site broken link checker should not claim complete website coverage when page limits, crawl depth, path rules, robots.txt, or access failures restrict the scan. Wranker currently offers domain and start-page controls for defining the crawl.

Yes. Use the single-page mode as a web page broken link checker when you need to inspect links found on one public URL without crawling the wider website. This is useful before publishing or refreshing an article, resource page, landing page or campaign page. The result applies only to links discovered on the submitted page and should not be treated as a sitewide broken-link audit.

A broken internal link points to another destination within your own website, while a broken external link points to a different website. A broken internal link checker helps identify same-site paths you can normally update, restore, or redirect directly. External findings may require replacing the source, removing the reference, or verifying whether the destination is temporarily blocked or limited by the checker. Both types should be reviewed separately.

Start with links on important pages, repeated template-level issues and internal failures that interrupt navigation, content discovery or key user actions. A useful broken link analyser—often searched for as a broken link analyzer—should show the source page, destination, anchor text, occurrence count and response outcome. Depending on the evidence, the correct action may be to update the link, restore the page, use a relevant redirect, replace an external source, remove an obsolete reference or retry the request.

A 404 or 410 means the requested resource is unavailable. A 5xx response identifies a server-side failure. These outcomes deserve different investigation and should not be combined with redirects or network timeouts. Responses such as 401 and 403 can indicate access restrictions, while 429 indicates rate limiting or server overload rather than a missing page. A broken links checker should keep these classifications separate.

Not automatically. A 3xx response means the destination redirects to another URL, and that final destination may work correctly. Redirected links should appear in a separate review group. Investigate long chains, loops, unexpected destinations, or links that could point directly to the final URL, but do not add every working redirect to the confirmed broken-link total. Google’s crawlers normally follow common redirects and process the final destination.

No. A timeout means the checker did not receive a response within the configured waiting period. It does not prove that the destination has permanently disappeared. The server may be temporarily slow, overloaded, rate-limiting requests, or blocking automated checks. Retry the URL and verify it manually before replacing or removing the link. Wranker’s existing guidance also recommends manually checking timeout findings because some are temporary.

Broken links can interrupt user journeys and make useful internal destinations harder to reach, but a 404 response by itself does not damage the performance of a website’s other valid pages. Google describes proper 404 and 410 responses as normal when removed content has no relevant replacement. Fix links from important pages when they point to an incorrect or unavailable destination. Use a relevant permanent redirect when content has genuinely moved; retain an appropriate 404 or 410 when the content is gone, and no suitable replacement exists. Google also uses links to discover pages and understand their relevance.

A free broken link checker is useful for focused link QA, checking a selected website scope or reviewing one important page. It can identify link destinations that require further investigation and provide source-page context. However, a free website broken link checker does not replace a complete technical audit covering areas such as indexability, rendering, structured data, canonicalisation, performance and broader site architecture. Wranker’s current page also positions the checker as a focused tool rather than a full technical SEO audit.