What this tool does
Enter a page URL. The tool downloads that page, collects the links in it, and tests the first 12 of them one by one. It reports each link’s status, shows how many were healthy or broken, and how long each took.
How it tests
Each link is requested with a HEAD request, with a short 4-second timeout and up to three redirects followed. Redirects that end at a working page count as healthy.
Limits you should know
This is a spot check, not a crawler.
- Only 12 links are tested per run, in the order they appear. A long page can have many more.
- One page only. It doesn’t follow links to check other pages of the site.
- HEAD requests. A few servers refuse HEAD or answer it differently from GET, so you can see a false error. If a link looks broken, open it in a browser.
- Short timeout. A slow but working link might show as failed.
- Bot blocking. Some sites, social networks in particular, refuse requests from servers and return 403 or 999 for working links.
- Links created by JavaScript aren’t in the page HTML and won’t be found.
How to use it well
Run it on pages that matter, like a popular tutorial or a resources page. Use it to catch a few dead links quickly, and fix the broken ones by updating the URL, replacing the source, or removing the link. For a complete check of a whole site you need a crawler such as Screaming Frog, or a monitoring plugin.
You can run 5 checks a minute and results are cached for 10 minutes. To test a single URL in detail, use the HTTP status checker.
Why did it only test some of my links?
It tests the first 12 links on the page. For more, use a site crawler.
A link works in my browser but is marked broken. Why?
The target may block server requests or reject HEAD requests, or the link was slow and hit the timeout.
Does it check images and scripts?
It checks links found in the page. It is designed for hyperlinks, not every asset.
Does it check my whole site?
No. One page at a time.
How long does each link get before it counts as failed?
Four seconds, with up to three redirects followed. A slow but working link can therefore show as failed.