# Broken Link Crawler (`pattonholdings/broken-link-crawler`) Actor

Crawl a website and find every broken link (404s, dead ends). HEAD-checks internal + external links, reports HTTP status and referrer pages. Use for site QA, SEO audits, migration verification. Input: url + maxPages. Output: JSON summary + per-broken-link rows with referrers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pattonholdings/broken-link-crawler.md
- **Developed by:** [Coleton Patton](https://apify.com/pattonholdings) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$50.00 / 1,000 site crawleds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Broken Link Crawler

Crawl any site, find every broken link, get a CSV with each broken URL + the pages that link to it. Fetch-only (no headless browser) for speed and predictable cost.

### What it does

1. Starts from a single URL
2. Walks same-origin pages up to your `maxPages` cap (default 25)
3. Extracts every `<a href>` from each page
4. HEAD-checks every link; GET-fallback if HEAD fails
5. Returns one summary row + one row per broken link with HTTP status + up to 10 referring pages

### Input

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "maxPages": 25,
  "includeExternal": true
}
```

### Output

Summary row:

```json
{
  "type": "summary",
  "startUrl": "https://example.com",
  "pagesCrawled": 24,
  "linksChecked": 487,
  "brokenCount": 12,
  "redirectCount": 31,
  "okCount": 444
}
```

Per-broken-link rows:

```json
{
  "type": "broken-link",
  "href": "https://example.com/old-page",
  "status": 404,
  "isExternal": false,
  "referrers": ["https://example.com/", "https://example.com/blog/post"]
}
```

Pipe straight to CSV in Apify Console — perfect for QA reports + client deliverables.

### Use cases

- **Pre-launch QA** — catch broken nav before going live
- **CMS migration recovery** — find every dead internal link after a Wordpress → Webflow move
- **SEO health checks** — broken internal links waste crawl budget
- **Client deliverables for SEO agencies** — auto-generate broken-link reports for monthly retainers
- **Continuous monitoring** — schedule weekly, alert on `brokenCount > N`

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.05/run.** A typical 25-page crawl with 500 links checked takes ~1-2 min.

### Author

Built by [Peak Post](https://peakpost.ca). Part of the SEO Audit Suite.

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

The URL to start crawling from. Same-origin pages will be discovered + crawled.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

How many pages of the site to discover links from (default 25, max 500).

## `maxLinksPerPage` (type: `integer`):

Cap how many links to extract from each page (default 200, max 1000).

## `includeExternal` (type: `boolean`):

If true, links to other domains are also checked (but not crawled). Defaults to true.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "maxPages": 25,
  "maxLinksPerPage": 200,
  "includeExternal": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "url": "https://example.com"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pattonholdings/broken-link-crawler").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "url": "https://example.com" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pattonholdings/broken-link-crawler").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "url": "https://example.com"
}' |
apify call pattonholdings/broken-link-crawler --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pattonholdings/broken-link-crawler"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/X3kcKK0Z0biEvxv3V/builds/kSAQRfUW15cXOu3VY/openapi.json