How To Find Broken Links (Free) | Improve Site Health, Broken Link Checker | SEOShareLink
Ever clicked a link on your own website and felt that little jolt of disappointment when a “404 Not Found” page loads instead?
You’ve just found a broken link. They’re the digital equivalent of potholes on your website’s road—annoying for visitors and a sign of poor maintenance to search engines. The good news? Finding them is completely free and easier than you think.
Let’s get your site’s pathways smooth and clear again.
Why Broken Links Are More Than Just Annoying
A broken link, or 404 error, happens when a page that was once linked to no longer exists. It’s like giving someone directions to a store that’s closed down.
- For Your Visitor: It’s a frustrating dead end that hurts user experience and makes your site feel abandoned.
- For Google: It wastes crawl budget (the time Google’s bot spends on your site) and can slowly erode your site’s perceived quality and authority.
The bottom line: A site full of broken links is like a shop with broken windows. Fixing them is a basic act of maintenance that shows you care.
“Regularly finding and fixing broken links is one of the highest-ROI, lowest-effort SEO tasks you can perform. It directly improves the user’s journey and keeps your site’s authority flowing.”
Your Free Toolbox for Finding Broken Links
You don’t need a big budget. You just need to know where to look. Here’s your three-step, completely free process.
Step 1: Your #1 Source – Google Search Console (5 Minutes)
This is your most important tool. It shows you the broken links Google has already found while crawling your site—the ones that matter most for SEO.
- Log into Google Search Console.
- Select your website property.
- In the left menu, go to Reports > Experience > Page experience.
- Click the “Open report” button for the Core Web Vitals report. While primarily for speed, the detailed table often surfaces pages with other issues.
- For a more direct list, navigate to Reports > Indexing > Pages and look for pages not indexed due to “404” errors.
This list is your priority. These are the broken pages Google knows about.
Step 2: Crawl Your Own Site with Free Software (10-30 Minutes)
To find broken links between your own pages (internal links), you need a crawler. The best free option is Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Download the free version (it crawls up to 500 URLs).
- Enter your website’s URL and click “Start.”
- Once finished, go to the “Response Codes” tab and filter for “Client Error (4xx)”.
- You’ll see a clean list of every broken page the crawler found, along with which pages link to them.
This is incredibly powerful for spotting links in your menus, sidebar, or old blog posts that you’ve forgotten about.
Step 3: Check Your Outbound Links Manually (5 Minutes)
Broken outbound links (links from your site to others) also hurt your credibility. In Screaming Frog, filter for “Outlinks” and check for 4xx errors there. For a quick manual check, skim your most popular posts and test any external links you remember adding.
Your Action Plan: What to Do When You Find Them
Finding them is half the battle. Here’s your simple fix-it guide.
| Type of Broken Link | The Smart Fix | How to Do It (Free) |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Link to a Moved/Deleted Page | Create a 301 Redirect. Send the old broken URL to the most relevant, live page. | Use the “Redirection” plugin for WordPress. For other sites, use your hosting control panel’s redirect manager or edit the .htaccess file. |
| External Link to a Dead Page | Remove or Replace the Link. Find an updated source or simply unlink the text. | Edit the post/page in your editor. If you can’t find a new source, remove the link but keep the citation text. |
| Broken Link from Another Site to Yours | Reclaim the Link. If a good site links to your broken page, redirect that broken page on your site to your new content. | This turns a lost opportunity into a win. Use a 301 redirect as above. |
Crucial Tip: Not every 404 needs a redirect. If a URL was never a real page (e.g., a typo from a spam site), you can ignore it. Focus on fixing errors for pages that had real traffic or value.
Making It a Habit: The 15-Minute Monthly Audit
The key is consistency. Don’t let broken links pile up for a year.
- Set a Reminder: Put a 15-minute monthly “Link Check” task on your calendar.
- The Quick Routine:
- Open Google Search Console, check the Core Web Vitals and Indexing reports for new 404s.
- Run Screaming Frog on your key pillar content pages (you can enter multiple start URLs).
- Fix the top 3-5 issues you find right then.
This tiny monthly habit prevents a massive, overwhelming cleanup down the road.
Your Broken Link FAQ
Are broken links a direct Google ranking factor?
Not a direct one, like a keyword in your title tag. But they are a strong indirect signal. They hurt user experience, which Google measures. They also waste crawl budget, meaning Google might not discover your good pages as quickly.
What’s the difference between a 404 and a 410 error?
A 404 means “Not Found.” The server doesn’t know what this page is. A 410 means “Gone” and tells search engines the page was intentionally removed. Use a 410 only if you have permanently deleted content with no replacement. For most cases, a 301 redirect is better.
A plugin I deleted created thousands of broken links. What now?
Don’t panic. First, in Google Search Console, use the “Removals” tool to temporarily hide the error spam from your reports. Then, use the “Redirection” plugin to set up a wildcard redirect (e.g., /old-plugin-url/* redirects to your homepage). This fixes them in bulk.
Is there a way to find broken images too?
Yes. Screaming Frog will also list broken images under the “Response Codes” tab (look for broken image links, not the page itself). These are just as important to fix for a polished user experience.
How do I stop breaking links in the future?
Always set up a 301 redirect when you change or delete a page’s URL. It’s the single most proactive thing you can do. Most CMS platforms or SEO plugins have this feature.
Ready to smooth out the potholes? Your first audit is the most valuable. Open Google Search Console right now and look at the “Page experience” report. Find one broken link and fix it. You’ve just made your website a little bit better for the next person who visits.
