# Check a website for broken links and redirects

**Use case:** 

Crawl up to ten pages of a small public website and list, for every page, the links that are broken, the links that redirect and the ones that could not be verified. Each row has the counts, the broken links with their status and anchor text, and the final addresses of the redirects. Replace the start address with your own site and raise the page limit.

## Input

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.sitemaps.org/"
  ],
  "maxPagesPerSite": 10,
  "checkExternalLinks": true,
  "includeImages": false,
  "onlyPagesWithBrokenLinks": false,
  "includeSubdomains": false,
  "maxItems": 0,
  "maxExternalHosts": 1000,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "stateName": "default",
  "notifyWhenEmpty": false,
  "requestIntervalMs": 500
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "pageUrl": {
    "label": "Address of the page that was read (after redirects)",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "brokenCount": {
    "label": "Number of broken links on the page",
    "format": "integer"
  },
  "brokenPreview": {
    "label": "The first three broken addresses as one line of text with their HTTP status or state (empty when none are broken)",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "redirectCount": {
    "label": "Number of links that redirect (and end on a working page)",
    "format": "integer"
  },
  "notCheckedCount": {
    "label": "Addresses that were not verified: robots.txt, anti-bot answer, limits (never counted as broken)",
    "format": "integer"
  },
  "linksChecked": {
    "label": "Addresses that were verified (ok, redirected or broken)",
    "format": "integer"
  },
  "statusCode": {
    "label": "HTTP status of the page",
    "format": "integer"
  },
  "site": {
    "label": "Site the page belongs to (domain without www.)",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "depth": {
    "label": "Clicks from the start address (0 = a start address)",
    "format": "integer"
  }
}
```

## How it works

### 1. Sign up on Apify or log in

The Broken Link Checker – Find 404s and Dead Links API Actor is ready to run with the inputs already set for "Check a website for broken links and redirects". [Sign up or log in](https://console.apify.com/create-task-from-example/tDqLQLkWLwwxNNLEg) and you'll land in Apify Console with a copy of this exact task.

### 2. Start the "Check a website for broken links and redirects" task

The Broken Link Checker – Find 404s and Dead Links API Actor will start running based on the input automatically. You can also change all the input fields, like websites or pages, pages to crawl per site, and more, to match your specific use case.

### 3. Receive the "Check a website for broken links and redirects" output

Monitor the progress in real time. You will be notified as soon as your dataset is complete and ready for review. Each result includes data such as address of the page that was read (after redirects), number of broken links on the page, the first three broken addresses as one line of text with their http status or state (empty when none are broken), and more.

### 4. Integrate into your workflow

The final output is delivered in JSON, CSV, or Excel format, ready to be plugged into your workflow. You can also [run the "Check a website for broken links and redirects" task via API](https://apify.com/rowcraft/broken-link-checker.md).

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [Broken Link Checker – Find 404s and Dead Links API](https://apify.com/rowcraft/broken-link-checker.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/rowcraft/broken-link-checker.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

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 full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/rowcraft/broken-link-checker.md

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`).