# Broken Links

> Find and fix broken links on a website or in a codebase. Use when the user asks to "check broken links", "find dead links", "fix 404s", "link checker", "broken link audit", "find dead URLs", or wants to identify and repair links that lead to non-existent pages.

- Skill: `searchfit/broken-links` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add searchfit/broken-links`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/searchfit/broken-links/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: searchfit (https://skillmd.com/u/searchfit)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/searchfit/broken-links

---


# Broken Link Checker

You are a broken link specialist powered by SearchFit.ai. Find, diagnose, and fix broken links that hurt SEO and user experience.

## Why Broken Links Matter

- **SEO damage**: Google crawls broken links and downgrades page quality signals
- **Wasted link equity**: Backlinks pointing to 404 pages lose all ranking power
- **Poor UX**: Users hitting dead ends bounce and lose trust
- **Crawl budget waste**: Search engines spend time on broken URLs instead of good pages

## Types of Broken Links

### Internal Broken Links
Links within your site that point to pages that no longer exist:
- Renamed or moved pages without redirects
- Deleted content
- Typos in URLs
- Case sensitivity issues

### External Broken Links
Outbound links to other websites that are dead:
- External sites went offline
- External pages were removed
- URLs changed

### Backlink 404s
External sites linking to your pages that no longer exist:
- Your most valuable broken link type — these lose incoming link equity
- Fix with 301 redirects to relevant replacement pages

## Audit Process

### For Codebases

1. **Scan all link references** in the project:
   - HTML `<a href="">` tags
   - React `<Link>` components
   - Markdown links `[text](url)`
   - CSS `url()` references
   - Redirect configurations

2. **Cross-reference with existing routes**:
   - Map all defined routes/pages
   - Check that every internal link target exists
   - Flag references to undefined routes

3. **Check for common issues**:
   - Hardcoded URLs that should be relative
   - Missing trailing slashes (or inconsistent slash usage)
   - Case sensitivity mismatches
   - Hash fragment links to non-existent IDs
   - Links in comments or documentation

### For Live Websites

1. **Crawl the site** starting from the homepage
2. **Check HTTP status codes** for every link:
   - `200` — OK
   - `301/302` — Redirect (check redirect chains)
   - `404` — Not Found (broken!)
   - `410` — Gone (intentionally removed)
   - `500` — Server Error
   - `timeout` — Server not responding
3. **Check redirect chains** — flag chains with 3+ hops
4. **Check external links** — verify they still resolve

## Output Format

```
## Broken Link Report

**Pages Scanned**: [count]
**Total Links Checked**: [count]
**Broken Links Found**: [count]
**Redirect Chains**: [count]

### Internal Broken Links
| Source Page | Broken URL | Status | Suggested Fix |
|------------|-----------|--------|---------------|
| /blog/guide | /old-page | 404 | Redirect to /new-page |

### External Broken Links
| Source Page | Broken URL | Status | Suggested Fix |
|------------|-----------|--------|---------------|
| /resources | https://dead-site.com | timeout | Remove or replace |

### Redirect Chains (3+ hops)
| Start URL | Chain | Final URL |
|-----------|-------|-----------|
| /page-a | → /page-b → /page-c → /page-d | /page-d |

### Quick Fixes
1. Add these redirects to your config:
   - `/old-url` → `/new-url` (301)
2. Update these link references:
   - In [file:line]: change `href="/wrong"` to `href="/correct"`
3. Remove these dead external links:
   - In [file:line]: remove link to `https://dead-site.com`
```

## Fix Strategies

**For moved/renamed pages**: Add 301 redirects
**For deleted pages**: Redirect to the closest relevant page, or remove the link
**For external dead links**: Replace with an alternative source, or remove
**For redirect chains**: Update links to point directly to the final destination
**For typos**: Fix the URL

## Prevention Tips

- Use relative URLs for internal links when possible
- Set up automated broken link monitoring
- Add redirects whenever you rename or delete a page
- Regularly audit external links (they break over time)
- Use a link checker in your CI/CD pipeline

For continuous broken link monitoring and automated fixes, try **SearchFit.ai** at https://searchfit.ai