Broken Outbound Link Finder: find dead links on any page
Check every link from one page to other sites for 404s, dead domains, timeouts and home page redirects.
- Free to use
- Nothing to install
- No sign-up
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About the Broken Outbound Link Finder
Enter the address of one page. We read its HTML, list the links that go to other sites and check up to 60 of them: a quick HEAD request first, then a full request when that fails, following each redirect. You see which links are broken (404 not found, 410 gone, or a domain that no longer exists), which give server errors or do not answer, which now land on a home page and which simply redirect. Use it on your own blog posts and resource pages, or on someone else's resource page to suggest a working replacement for a dead link. Download the list as CSV.
How it works
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Step 1
Enter the full address of one page, such as a blog post or a page of useful links.
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Step 2
We check up to 60 links to other sites, one at a time, for about 20 seconds. If time runs out, run it again: answers from the first run are kept for ten minutes.
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Step 3
Fix or replace the broken links first, then look at links that land on a home page, and download the list as CSV.
What the status codes mean
In the HTTP standard (RFC 9110), 404 means the page was not found, without saying whether for good, and 410 means it is gone and probably will not return. A 5xx code is a server error, often short-lived, so check those again later. 401, 403 and 429 usually mean the site blocks automated visits rather than a broken link, so we list them apart. A domain that no longer has an address usually means the site has closed.
Redirects and home pages
A link that redirects still works, but linking straight to the final address saves your reader a step. When a link to an inner page now lands on the site's home page, the page you linked to was probably removed: Google says redirecting many old pages to an unrelated page such as the home page may be treated as a soft 404. We flag those for a look (our measure).
What this tool cannot do
It checks one page at a time, and only its links to other sites; for broken links inside your own site, use the Website SEO Audit. It reads the HTML the server sends, so links a script adds later are missed. A link can work for us and fail for some visitors, or the other way round, because some sites treat automated checks differently. It checks at most 60 links within a time limit, and it cannot tell whether a working link is still a good source.
Frequently asked questions
Why fix broken links to other sites?
They send your readers to an error page instead of the source or help you promised. Google says linking to other sites can help establish trustworthiness, for example by citing your sources, so those sources should still open.
Why does a link show as refused when it opens in my browser?
Some sites answer automated requests with 401, 403 or 429 while showing the page to people. We list those apart instead of calling them broken. Open each one in your browser to be sure.
Can I use this to find link opportunities?
Yes. Run it on a resource page in your field. If a link there is dead and you have a page that covers the same thing, tell the site owner about the broken link and suggest your page. Keep it honest: Google's link spam policy counts buying links, excessive link swaps and links given for money, goods or services as link spam, unless such links are marked rel="sponsored" or nofollow.
What does "lands on a home page" mean?
The link pointed to an inner page, such as an article, but now redirects to the site's home page. That usually means the article was removed. Google says redirecting many old pages to an unrelated page such as the home page may be treated as a soft 404. Find the page that replaced it, or another source.
Why were some links not checked?
We check up to 60 links a page, one at a time, and stop starting new checks after about 18 seconds so the run fits our hosting's time limit. The links left over are listed. Run the check again: answers from the last ten minutes are reused, so the second run gets further.
Sources and checks
Rules last checked
The Broken Outbound Link Finder follows these official pages:
- RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics (rfc-editor.org)
- How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers (developers.google.com)
- Site moves with URL changes (developers.google.com)
- Link best practices for Google (developers.google.com)
Flagging a link that now lands on a home page is our measure, based on Google's note on redirects to unrelated pages.
Scores, limits and suggestions marked "our checklist", "our measure" or "our suggestion" are ours, not Google's or the platform's. How our tools work
Related reading
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