Broken Link Finder

Find and fix broken links on any website. This tool crawls your pages, checks every link, and reports which ones are broken — helping you maintain SEO rankings and provide a better user experience.

What does Broken Link Finder do?

Broken Link Finder automatically scans your website to detect:

• 404 errors — Pages that no longer exist
• Server errors (5xx) — Links to pages with server problems
• Timeout issues — Links that take too long to respond
• Invalid anchors — Fragment links (#section) that don't exist on the page
• External broken links — Dead links pointing to other websites

Why check for broken links?

Broken links hurt your website in multiple ways:

1. SEO Impact — Search engines penalize sites with broken links
2. User Experience — Visitors leave when they hit dead ends
3. Lost Revenue — Broken product or checkout links cost sales
4. Credibility — Broken links make your site look unmaintained

Features

• Deep crawling — Check links inside article pages, not just the homepage
• Configurable depth — Control how deep the crawler goes (1-10 levels)
• Fast parallel checking — Scan up to 50 pages simultaneously
• External link checking — Verify links to other websites work
• Smart content detection — Focuses on main content, skips navigation menus
• Email notifications — Get reports sent directly to your inbox
• Detailed reports — HTML and JSON reports with all findings

How to use

1. Click Try for free to open the actor
2. Enter your Website URL (e.g., https://example.com/blog)
3. Set Crawl depth to control how deep to check (default: 3)
4. Set Max pages to limit the crawl size (default: 100)
5. Click Start and wait for results
6. Download the report or view online

Input options

Field	Description	Default
Website URL	The starting URL to crawl	Required
Max pages	Maximum pages to crawl	100
Crawl depth	How many levels deep to check links	3
Max concurrency	Pages to check in parallel	10
Check external links	Also verify links to other sites	Yes
Save only broken links	Only save broken links to dataset	Yes
Crawl subdomains	Include subdomains in the crawl	No
Notification emails	Email addresses for reports	None

Input example

Check a blog for broken links, going 3 levels deep:

{
    "baseUrl": "https://example.com/blog",
    "maxPages": 500,
    "maxCrawlDepth": 3,
    "maxConcurrency": 10,
    "checkExternalLinks": true,
    "saveOnlyBrokenLinks": true
}

Check an entire e-commerce site including subdomains:

{
    "baseUrl": "https://shop.example.com",
    "maxPages": 2000,
    "maxCrawlDepth": 4,
    "crawlSubdomains": true,
    "notificationEmails": ["webmaster@example.com"]
}

Output

Results are saved in two formats:

Dataset (structured data)

Each broken link is saved as a record:

{
    "sourceUrl": "https://example.com/blog/old-post",
    "sourceTitle": "My Old Blog Post",
    "targetUrl": "https://example.com/deleted-page",
    "linkText": "Click here",
    "linkType": "internal",
    "httpStatus": 404,
    "status": "Not Found",
    "isBroken": true,
    "severity": "high",
    "issueType": "404_not_found",
    "checkedAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

Key-Value Store

• OUTPUT — JSON summary with statistics and all broken links
• OUTPUT.html — Visual HTML report for easy viewing

Understanding the results

Status	HTTP Code	Severity	Meaning
OK	200	None	Link works correctly
Redirect	301/302	Low	Link redirects (usually fine)
Not Found	404	High	Page doesn't exist
Forbidden	403	Medium	Access denied
Server Error	500+	High	Server problem
Timeout	—	High	Page didn't respond

How crawl depth works

The Crawl depth setting controls how deep the crawler goes:

Depth	What gets checked
1	Only links on the starting page
2	Starting page + one level of linked pages
3	Two levels deep (recommended for most sites)
4+	Deeper crawling for large content sites

Example with depth 3:

1. Crawls category page /blog/tutorials
2. Finds 20 article links, crawls each article
3. Checks all links inside each article (images, downloads, related posts)

Use cases

Blog and content sites

Find broken links in old articles that reference deleted pages or outdated external resources.

E-commerce stores

Detect broken product links, missing images, and dead checkout paths before customers do.

Documentation sites

Ensure all internal links between docs work and external API references are valid.

Site migrations

Verify all old URLs properly redirect after moving to a new domain or platform.

Regular SEO audits

Schedule weekly or monthly checks to catch broken links before search engines do.

Cost estimation

Costs depend on pages crawled and resources used:

Site Size	Pages	Estimated Cost
Small	100	~$0.10-0.25
Medium	1,000	~$1.00-2.50
Large	10,000	~$10.00-25.00

Tips for best results

1. Start small — Test with 50-100 pages first to verify settings
2. Use appropriate depth — Depth 3 works for most sites
3. Lower concurrency — Reduce to 5 if you get rate-limited
4. Schedule regular checks — Use Apify schedules for weekly monitoring
5. Check external links — Many broken links point to other sites

Integrations

Export results to:

• Google Sheets
• Slack notifications
• Email reports
• Webhooks for custom integrations
• Any tool via Apify API

FAQ

How long does a crawl take?

A 100-page site typically completes in 2-5 minutes. Larger sites take proportionally longer.

Will this slow down my website?

The crawler includes rate limiting and respects server responses. Reduce concurrency if needed.

Can I check competitor websites?

Yes, but respect their terms of service and use reasonable crawl limits.

What's the difference between internal and external links?

Internal links point to pages on your site. External links point to other websites.

How do I fix broken links?

Update the link to the correct URL, set up a redirect, or remove the link entirely.

Support

• Apify Documentation
• Community Forum
• Contact Support