Internal Link Checker
Find broken internal links, redirects and weak anchor text on a page or a small crawl, with the exact page each problem was found on.
Check your internal links
Find broken links, redirects and weak anchor text on a page or across a small crawl. Nothing is stored.
Why internal links matter for a local business site
| Problem | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| Broken links (404) | Visitors hit an error page and leave. Search engines waste time on dead ends. |
| Redirected links | Each redirect adds a round trip. Chains of several redirects slow crawling. |
| Generic anchors such as "click here" | Visitors and search engines learn nothing about the target page. |
| Important pages buried deep | A service or location page four clicks from the homepage is easy to miss. |
| Links to noindex or blocked pages | You point people and crawlers at pages search engines are told to ignore. |
| Nofollow on your own pages | It tells search engines not to pass signals between your own pages, which is rarely intended. |
Before you rely on the report
- Open anything marked broken in a browser. A 403 or 429 can mean our checker was refused, not that the page is down.
- Remember this reads the HTML as served. Menus built entirely by JavaScript may be missing.
- Run the check on your homepage, a main service page and a location page, not just one.
- Fix the link text and the link address together when you change a link.
- Re-run after changes to confirm the problem is gone.
What a good result should show
A public page address, optionally with a crawl of up to 10 or 25 pages. Or the page HTML pasted in with its address. Press Load sample HTML to try a made-up page with common problems.
Counts for pages read, internal links, broken links and redirects, then findings with the exact link, its status and the page and anchor text it was found on. A CSV lists every link found.
A focused link check, not a full-site crawler
The tool checks the links on the page you give it, or on a small sample of pages reached by following them. It checks each address from our server and reads the HTML as served. It will not find every problem on a large site, and it does not replace a full crawl with a desktop crawler.
How the check runs
- Read the page. Our server fetches your page and your browser pulls out every link, noting its anchor text, whether it has nofollow, and whether it sits in a menu, the footer or the main content.
- Sort the links. Links to your own website are internal. Other websites are external and listed but not checked. Email, phone, "#" and javascript: links are classified separately.
- Check each internal address. The server requests each unique internal address, following up to five redirects, and records the final status, the redirect steps, any noindex setting and whether robots.txt blocks it.
- Crawl a little further (optional). In crawl mode, pages that load normally are fetched in turn and their links are checked too, up to the page limit you chose. Pages blocked by robots.txt are not crawled.
- Report the findings. Each finding names the link, what is wrong and the page it was found on, with a suggested fix.
What the status codes mean
| Status | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | The page loads normally. | None. |
| 301, 302, 307, 308 | The address redirects to another one. | Update the link to the final address. |
| 404, 410 | The page does not exist. | Fix the link, restore the page or add a 301 redirect. |
| 401, 403, 429 | Access was refused. Often an automated-request block. | Open it in a browser before changing anything. |
| 500 to 599 | The server failed. It may be temporary. | Re-test later, then ask your developer or host. |
| Timed out or unreachable | No answer, a DNS problem, a certificate problem or a redirect loop. | Open it in a browser and fix the cause. |
Limits worth knowing
- Links added by JavaScript after the page loads are not seen, because the page is read as the server sends it.
- Single-page mode checks up to 150 unique internal links. Crawl mode follows up to 10 or 25 pages and checks up to 250 links. Larger sites need a full crawler.
- External links are listed in the CSV but not checked.
- "Links in" and "orphan"-style counts in a crawl only cover the pages crawled here, not your whole site. Pages that nothing links to cannot be found by following links.
- Statuses are checked from our server. A site that blocks automated requests may show 403 or 429 for pages that work fine for visitors.
- Pasted HTML shows link structure and anchor text only, because a web page cannot check other addresses from the browser.
- Fetching live pages needs the DigitalBaloch PHP service, which is not available in a static preview.
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What counts as an internal link?
A link from a page on your website to another page on the same website. The tool treats the www and non-www versions of your domain as the same site, but flags links that use the other version because they usually trigger a redirect.
Why does a link show 403 or 429 when it works in my browser?
Some sites and security plugins refuse automated requests. Those codes are reported as "may be blocking our checker" rather than broken. Open the page yourself to confirm.
Should I fix redirected internal links?
Yes, where you can. A redirect still works, but it adds a round trip for every visitor and crawler. Pointing the link at the final address is a quick improvement, especially for chains of two or more redirects.
Is "click here" really a problem?
It is a missed opportunity more than an error. Descriptive anchor text such as "emergency plumbing in Austin" tells visitors and search engines what the next page is about. Generic anchors tell them nothing.
Should internal links ever be nofollow?
Rarely. Nofollow on your own pages tells search engines not to pass signals along them. There are special cases, such as login pages, but a nofollow on a normal service page is usually a mistake.
Why does the tool not crawl my whole site?
To keep it fast, free and safe for everyone, each check is limited in pages and links. For a full-site audit, use a dedicated crawler, then use this tool to re-check the pages you fix.
Can it find orphan pages?
No. An orphan page has no links pointing to it, so following links can never reach it. Comparing your sitemap with a crawl is the usual way to find orphans.
Does it follow robots.txt?
It does not crawl pages that your robots.txt blocks for Googlebot, and it tells you when your pages link to blocked pages. It still checks that a linked address responds, the way a browser would.
Is my page or data stored?
No. Pages are fetched, analysed and discarded. Pasted HTML never leaves your browser. Only a short-lived, hashed request counter is kept to prevent abuse.
Turn this report into a fix plan.
Our Local SEO team can review your results, fix the issues that matter and track the calls and enquiries that follow.