Free SEO Tool
Broken Link Checker
Crawl your site and find every broken link — 404s, dead external links, redirect chains, and broken images. Fix them before they hurt your rankings and user experience. Free and open source.
# Install (one time)
pip install git+https://github.com/respectevery01/zens-ink-seo-package.git
# Find all broken links
python3 -m zens_ink.site_audit --url https://yoursite.com
What This Tool Finds
Internal broken links
Links between your own pages that point to deleted or renamed URLs returning 404.
External dead links
Outbound links to third-party sites that have gone offline, moved, or deleted the target page.
Redirect chains
URLs that redirect multiple times (301 → 301 → 200) — slows page load and dilutes link equity.
Broken image references
<img> tags pointing to missing image files — shows as broken images to visitors.
Anchor text gaps
Links with generic anchor text like "click here" or "read more" that pass no topical context.
The Real Cost of Broken Links
Every broken link on your site is a dead end. Visitors who hit a 404 bounce. Googlebot that follows a dead link wastes crawl budget and loses trust in your site.
Crawl budget: Google allocates a limited number of pages it will crawl per day on your site. Every 404 from a broken link in your sitemap or internal navigation wastes that budget. On small sites this matters less. On sites with thousands of pages, broken links directly reduce your indexation rate.
Link equity loss: When you link to a page that 404s, the link equity (ranking power) that would have passed to a real page evaporates. Fixing internal broken links by redirecting to the correct page recovers that equity instantly.
User trust: A site full of broken links feels abandoned. Users who hit two or three 404s in a session are unlikely to return — or to buy whatever you're selling.
Full technical SEO audit included
The broken link checker is part of ZensInk's free site audit, which also validates your sitemap, checks for missing canonical tags, finds missing H1s and meta descriptions, and detects orphan pages.
FAQ
How do I find broken links on my website for free? ⌄
Install the ZensInk open source package and run `python3 -m zens_ink.site_audit --url https://yoursite.com`. The tool crawls all pages, finds internal and external broken links (404s, timeouts, redirect loops), and outputs a report — no API key or sign-up needed.
What is a broken link? ⌄
A broken link (also called a dead link) is any hyperlink that points to a page that no longer exists. The destination page may have been deleted, moved without a redirect, or the URL may be mistyped. Broken links return HTTP 404 or similar error codes.
How do broken links affect SEO? ⌄
Broken links waste Googlebot crawl budget, create poor user experience (visitors hit dead ends), and signal poor site maintenance. Google may lower rankings for pages with many broken outbound links. Fixing them is a quick SEO win.
How often should I check for broken links? ⌄
For blogs and content sites, check monthly. For e-commerce or frequently updated sites, check weekly. The free ZensInk tool can be added to your CI pipeline to catch broken links automatically on every deployment.