What each result means
| Result | HTTP status | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Broken | 404 or 410 | The page is gone. Fix or remove the link — or, on someone else's site, pitch a replacement. |
| Error | Other 4xx / 5xx | The server failed. Re-check later; persistent 5xx errors usually mean a dead site. |
| Redirect | 3xx then OK | Works, but update the link to the final URL to skip the hop. |
| Blocked | 401, 403, 429 | The site refuses bots. Open it in a browser before calling it broken. |
| Unreachable | No response | DNS failure, timeout or expired domain — often a strong broken link building lead. |
Turn broken links into backlinks
Every dead outbound link on a relevant page is a small problem for that site owner — and a reason for them to reply to you. This is the core of broken link building:
- 1
Find resource pages in your niche
Search for pages like “best [topic] resources” or “[topic] links” — pages that exist to link out. - 2
Scan them here
Look for Broken and Unreachable links that point at content similar to yours. - 3
Have a genuine replacement
Your page should cover what the dead link covered, ideally better. Check the old page on the Wayback Machine. - 4
Tell the owner — helpfully
Lead with the broken link they need to fix; suggest your page as one option. Our outreach email generator has a template.
Check your own backlinks too
If other sites link to pages on your site that now return 404, you're losing that value. Find them in Search Console's Links report and 301-redirect each dead URL to its closest live equivalent — see link reclamation.
Limits of a single-page scan
This tool scans one page and up to 35 of its links, which is ideal for prospecting and spot checks. For a full-site audit, use a desktop crawler or the Pages report in Google Search Console. To check whether a specific page links to you, use the backlink checker.