What is a Broken Link?

A broken link (also called a dead link or dead URL) is a hyperlink that points to a webpage or resource that is no longer available. When a user clicks a broken link, they encounter an error page — typically a 404 Not Found or 410 Gone status code. Broken links can be internal (linking to other pages on the same site) or external (linking to resources on other websites).

Broken links occur for many reasons: the target page was deleted without a redirect, the URL structure changed during a site migration, the external website went offline or removed the resource, or the link contains a typo. Even on well-maintained sites, broken links accumulate over time as the web changes around them.

For automated detection, broken links are identified by sending HTTP requests to each linked URL and examining the status code response. Any response in the 4xx or 5xx range typically indicates a broken link that needs attention.

Broken links damage user experience. When a visitor clicks expecting useful content and lands on a 404 page, they are likely to leave your site — increasing bounce rate and reducing engagement. For e-commerce sites, a broken product link means a lost sale. For content sites, broken internal links prevent users from accessing the information they need.

Broken links also hurt SEO. Search engine crawlers follow links to discover and index content. When they encounter broken links, they waste crawl budget on non-existent pages instead of indexing your real content. A high number of broken links signals poor site maintenance, which can negatively impact rankings. Moreover, broken external links — linking to sites that no longer exist — reduce the authority and trustworthiness of your content.

Google's algorithm considers link quality as part of its evaluation. Sites with excessive broken links may be seen as lower quality, resulting in lower search rankings. Regular broken link detection and cleanup is essential maintenance for any website.

WebCheckly's link health check scans every link on your page in real-time, reporting the status code, response time, and IP address for each URL. It identifies broken links (4xx and 5xx errors) and presents them in a clear, filterable table. You can see exactly which links are broken, where they appear on your page, and what error they return.

For continuous monitoring, WebCheckly's broken link checker runs on a schedule and alerts you when new broken links are detected. This is especially valuable for large sites where manual checking is impractical. Combined with uptime monitoring, SSL alerts, and SEO scans, WebCheckly gives you complete coverage of everything that can go wrong with your website.

• HTTP Status Codes — Broken links return specific 4xx and 5xx status codes.
• Technical SEO — Broken links create crawl errors that damage SEO.
• Website Availability — Broken link monitoring is part of comprehensive site health.