Crawl a site for broken links

Crawl a site for broken links

SEO & AEO
Screaming Frog
The free version covers 500 URLs, which is enough to audit most sites, and the inlinks tab names the exact page you need to edit.
Source
Screaming Frog
Tools
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Runs
Quarterly
Cost
Free up to 500 URLs
Last updated
August 7, 2026

What it is.

You point the SEO Spider at your domain and let it crawl. When it finishes, the Response Codes tab filtered to Client Error shows every URL that returned a 404 not found.

The part that makes it actionable is the inlinks panel. Select a broken URL and it lists the pages linking to it, so you know which page to edit instead of knowing only that something is broken.

You can use it free for up to 500 URLs, which covers a large share of B2B sites completely.

What you get.

  • A list of every URL returning a 404, found by crawling the site yourself.
  • The source pages linking to each broken URL, so every repair has an address.
  • Broken links in your own pages and in your outbound links to other sites.
  • An export you can hand to whoever edits the pages.
  • A crawl of up to 500 URLs at no cost.
HOW TO USE IT

How to set it up.

1

Download the SEO Spider, enter your domain in the bar, and start the crawl.

2

Watch the 500 URL free limit; if your site is larger, crawl one directory at a time.

3

When the crawl finishes, open Response Codes and filter to Client Error to see the 404s.

4

Select each broken URL and read the inlinks panel to find the pages pointing at it.

5

Export the list with the inlinks column, since a 404 with no source page gives you nowhere to go.

6

Decide per URL whether to correct the link, redirect the old address, or restore the page.

Use cases

Find the 404s yourself

Crawl the site and list every URL returning a not-found response.

Name the source page

Take the page doing the linking, so the correction happens once.

Audit inside the free limit

Cover a small site in one crawl without buying a license.

Best for

After a site migration

A migration breaks internal links quietly, and a crawl is the only way to find them all.

Older content libraries

Outbound links rot on their own as other people reorganize their sites.

Before a link building push

Pointing new authority at a 404 wastes the link.

Open the original.

Hosted on Screaming Frog, free to open.
Open the Tool

Questions about Crawl a site for broken links

What's the free limit?
Can I schedule it?
How do I know which broken links matter?

Questions about SEO & AEO

Do broken internal links hurt rankings?
How often is a link crawl worth running?
Strengths
  • It reports the linking pages, so every broken URL comes with the page you need to edit.
  • The free tier covers 500 URLs, which is a whole site for many B2B companies.
  • It crawls the live site, so it finds links no tool was ever told about.
Limitations
  • The free version stops at 500 URLs, so larger sites need a paid license or directory-by-directory crawls.
  • It's a desktop application, so it runs on somebody's machine and not on a schedule.
  • A crawl finds links and no traffic data, so pair it with Search Console to prioritize.
  • Crawling hard can load your server, so lower the speed on a small host.
Skip this if
  • Skip it if you already crawl on a schedule and get the broken links in a ticket.
Ideal for
  • SEO leads
  • Technical marketers
  • Stage: Any stage

Want this running without building it yourself?

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