The Scanfully Broken Links feature checks your site for links that return 4xx or 5xx errors. These links hurt user experience and can affect search performance. This feature shows where the problems are, helps you understand what caused them, and gives you a clear path to fix them.
What Broken Links Are
A link is broken when it points to a URL that can’t load correctly. Most problems fall into a few groups:
- The page no longer exists
- The URL is wrong
- The external site blocks the request
- The server returns an error
Scanfully flags any link that responds with an error code, so you know exactly where the issue lives and what action to take.
How Scanfully Detects Broken Links
Scanfully crawls your site by following links on your pages. It respects your max depth setting, reads your sitemap (which you can override), and uses timestamps to show when a link first appeared as broken and when we last checked it.
We only scan URLs on your domain unless you link out to another website. External links get checked too, but they behave differently because those servers may block automated requests.
The Broken Links Summary
The summary at the top helps you understand the scope and type of issues:
- Total broken links found
- Percentage of broken links that are dofollow
- Internal broken links
- External broken links
Internal links usually matter first because they send your users to dead ends. Dofollow links matter because search engines crawl them. External links can still frustrate users, but they often break for reasons outside your control.
When you click on the pen emoji top right, you’ll be taken straight to the piece of content on your site, ready to edit the relevant article. You will need to be logged in for this, but you’ll be prompted if you’re not.
The Details Table
This table is where you’ll spend most of your time. It shows every broken link we found, with enough information to fix it.
Referrer: The page where the broken link appears. You’ll open this page in WordPress and update the URL there.
Internal / External: Internal links point to your domain. External links point to another website.
Anchor Text and URL: This shows the clickable text and the actual URL behind it.
Status Code: A 4xx or 5xx error explains why the link is broken.
Examples:
- 404: Page not found
- 403: Access forbidden
- 500: Server error
A common case you’ll see is an external site returning 403. Many sites block automated crawlers. The link may work fine in a browser even if the scan reports it as broken.
First Detected / Last Checked: These timestamps help you see whether an issue is brand new or something that has been failing for a while.
Filtering and Searching
Use filters when the list gets long. You can:
- Show only internal or only external links
- Filter by status code
- Search by URL, anchor text, or the page where the link appears
Filtering never changes your data. It only helps you find the items you want to work on. We recommend you work on Internal Links first.
How to Fix Broken Links
Scanfully shows you the problem, but fixing it happens inside WordPress. The common steps look like this:
- Open the referrer page by clicking on the pen icon.
- Find the link with the broken URL.
- Update it, remove it, or replace it.
- Save your changes.
- Request a new scan to confirm everything is resolved.
A few practical examples:
The target page was deleted: Update the link to a new page or remove it.
The URL has a typo: Correct the spelling and rescan.
External site returns a 403: Test the link in your browser.
If it works, the site is blocking our crawler. You can ignore it or add it to Ignored Broken Links.
Your server returned a 500: Check your hosting logs or your WordPress error logs. Something on your site is failing to respond.
When Scanfully Scans
Your site gets scanned on a regular schedule. You can also trigger a manual check with “Request new scan.” We update the “last checked” timestamp each time we complete a scan.
Keeping Your Site Healthy
Checking broken links regularly helps your site stay clean and usable.
A few habits help:
- Re-scan after making big content changes
- Fix internal broken links quickly
- Review old content and remove outdated references
- Avoid linking to unstable third-party URLs
