How to Find and Fix Broken Links in WordPress (Easy Method)

Every blog collects broken links over time. Sites you linked to shut down or reorganize, you delete or rename your own posts, an image gets removed, or a typo slips into a URL. Each one sends a reader to a dead end, wastes Google’s crawl on pages that do not exist, and leaks the value your internal links are supposed to pass. On an older blog, hundreds of them can build up unnoticed.

This guide shows how to find and fix broken links in WordPress with a free plugin, how to catch the 404 errors that other sites send to you, and how to keep the problem from building up again. Updated October 2026: the Broken Link Checker plugin now scans from the cloud, so the old warning about it slowing down your site no longer applies.

What Causes Broken Links?

• The page you linked to was deleted, moved, or the whole site closed.
• You changed a post’s URL (slug) or deleted it, breaking your own internal links.
• A typo in the URL when the link was added.
• Images removed from the media library or hosted on another site that disappeared.
• Affiliate programs that closed or changed their links.

There are two kinds to fix: outgoing broken links on your pages (you link to something dead) and incoming broken links (other sites or old bookmarks point to a URL on your site that no longer exists, which shows up as a 404 error).

Method 1: Broken Link Checker Plugin (Recommended)

Broken Link Checker, now maintained by WPMU DEV with over 500,000 active installs, checks every link and image in your posts, pages, and comments. The current version runs the scan on WPMU DEV’s servers rather than yours, so it does not slow your site down (the old local engine is still available as an option). The free version scans and emails you reports on a schedule.

Step 1: Install and connect

Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, search for “Broken Link Checker”, install, and activate. Open Link Checker in the dashboard menu and connect a free WPMU DEV account to use the cloud engine.

Step 2: Run a scan

Click Run Scan. A small blog finishes in minutes; a site with thousands of posts may take longer. When it finishes, you see the number of broken links, the pages they are on, and the error for each (404 not found, 410 gone, server error, timeout).

Step 3: Fix each link

For every broken link, decide which fix applies:

• Edit the URL: if the page moved, link to its new address. Search the site or use the Wayback Machine to see what it was.
• Replace the link: if the page is gone for good, link to a better, current source on the same topic.
• Unlink: remove the link and keep the text if no replacement is needed.
• Ignore: some sites block automated checks and report errors even though they work in a browser. Check manually before ignoring.

You can edit and unlink in bulk from the report without opening every post. Schedule a monthly scan with an email report so new problems never pile up.

Method 2: Other Tools

• Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO: scans internal, external, image, and video links; the free plan checks a limited number of links per month.
• Link Checker: uses an external crawler, so it is light on your server; free for smaller sites.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider: desktop crawler, free up to 500 URLs. Crawl your site, then filter by Response Codes > Client Error (4xx), and use the Inlinks tab to see which pages contain each broken link.
• Semrush or Ahrefs site audits: include broken links, broken images, and redirect chains in their regular audits if you already pay for one.

Fix the 404 Errors Other Sites Send You

When you delete or rename a post, every link and bookmark pointing to the old URL now shows your 404 page. Fix these with redirects:

1. Find them in Google Search Console > Indexing > Pages under “Not found (404)”, and in your SEO plugin’s 404 monitor (Rank Math and the free Redirection plugin both log 404s).
2. For each URL that had value (traffic or links), add a 301 redirect to the most relevant live page in Rank Math > Redirections or the Redirection plugin.
3. Leave genuinely junk URLs (bot probes, random strings) as 404s; there is no need to redirect them.
4. Always redirect when you change a slug or delete a post. Rank Math and Yoast Premium can do this automatically.

Prevent Broken Links in the Future

• Link to stable pages (homepages and evergreen guides) rather than news articles likely to move.
• Use an affiliate link manager so you can update a dead affiliate link once for every post.
• Upload images to your own media library instead of hotlinking.
• Set up a monthly scan and a monthly look at the Search Console 404 report.
• When you update old posts, check every link while you are there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do broken links hurt SEO?

A few will not cause a penalty, but they waste link value, hurt user experience, and on a large scale signal a neglected site. Broken internal links matter most because they stop Google and readers reaching your own pages.

Does Broken Link Checker slow down my site?

The current version scans from WPMU DEV’s cloud servers, so it has almost no effect on your site. The older local engine was resource-heavy, which is why many guides used to recommend deleting it after use.

How often should I check for broken links?

Monthly for an active blog, or quarterly for a small site. Always check after a migration, a domain change, or a large restructuring.

Should I redirect every 404?

No. Redirect old URLs that had traffic, links, or bookmarks to the closest relevant page. Redirecting everything to the homepage confuses users and Google treats it like a soft 404.