How to Check for Broken Links in WordPress (2026 Guide)

WordPress powers over 40% of the web, and broken links are one of the most common issues WordPress site owners face. Between plugin updates, deleted pages, changed permalinks, and expired external resources, links break constantly. Here's how to find and fix every broken link on your WordPress site in 2026. (For a platform-agnostic approach, see our general guide to finding and fixing broken links.)

Why WordPress sites are prone to broken links

WordPress sites accumulate broken links faster than most websites for several reasons:

• Frequent content updates — blog posts are edited, pages are deleted, and permalink structures change.
• Plugin conflicts — plugins can modify URL structures or create pages that later disappear when the plugin is deactivated.
• Theme changes — switching themes can break hardcoded links in widgets, menus, and custom templates.
• External link rot — the sites you link to in your content change, move, or shut down over time.
• Media files — images and downloads are frequently moved or deleted from the Media Library. Learn more about how broken images affect your SEO.

Method 1: Use an external scanner (recommended)

The most reliable way to find broken links on a WordPress site is to scan it from the outside, just like a search engine would. This catches everything — links in content, menus, footers, sidebars, and even dynamically generated links that plugins create.

Broken Link Scan is a free external scanner that works with any website, including WordPress. Here's how to use it:

1. Go to brokenlinkscan.com and enter your WordPress site's URL.
2. The tool crawls your entire site, following every link it finds.
3. Review the results — broken links are listed with their HTTP status codes and the pages where they appear.
4. Fix each broken link by editing the relevant post or page in WordPress.

External scanners have a major advantage over WordPress plugins: they see your site exactly as visitors and search engines do. If a link appears broken to the scanner, it's broken for your users too.

Method 2: WordPress plugins

Several WordPress plugins can check for broken links directly from your dashboard. Here are the most popular options in 2026:

Broken Link Checker (by SUSPENDED/ManageWP)

This was once the most popular broken link plugin. It monitors links in your posts, pages, comments, and custom fields. However, it runs on your server, which can cause performance issues on shared hosting. Many users report significant slowdowns during scans.

Link Whisper

Primarily an internal linking tool, Link Whisper includes a broken link report feature. It's a premium plugin ($77/year) but offers value beyond just link checking with its internal link suggestions.

Jetalizer / WP Link Status

Newer alternatives that aim to check links without the performance overhead. Results vary, and most free versions are limited in scope.

The problem with plugin-based scanning

All WordPress link checker plugins share the same fundamental limitation: they run on your web server. This means:

• Scans consume server resources, potentially slowing your site for visitors.
• Shared hosting environments may kill long-running scan processes.
• They can only check links stored in the database — not links generated by JavaScript or other plugins.
• External link checks from your server may be rate-limited or blocked by target sites.

This is why an external scanner like Broken Link Scan is generally more reliable — it offloads the work to cloud infrastructure and scans your site the way a real browser does.

Method 3: Google Search Console

Google Search Console's Pages report shows crawl errors that Googlebot has encountered on your site. While not a comprehensive broken link checker, it reveals the broken links that Google has already found — and those are the ones directly impacting your SEO.

1. Open Google Search Console and navigate to Pages.
2. Look for pages listed under "Not found (404)".
3. Click into each error to see the referring pages.
4. Fix the links on those referring pages or set up 301 redirects.

The limitation: Google Search Console only shows errors Googlebot has encountered. It doesn't proactively scan all your links, and it can take days or weeks to report new issues.

Method 4: Manual checking

For very small WordPress sites (under 20 pages), you can check links manually by clicking through every page. This is tedious but straightforward. It becomes completely impractical once your site grows beyond a handful of pages.

How to fix broken links in WordPress

Once you've identified broken links, here's how to fix them efficiently:

For internal broken links

1. If the page was moved: set up a 301 redirect using a plugin like Redirection or Yoast SEO Premium.
2. If the page was deleted intentionally: update the link to point to a relevant alternative page.
3. If the permalink changed: update the link or create a redirect from the old URL.

For external broken links

1. Find an updated URL: the resource may have moved to a new address.
2. Use the Wayback Machine: check if an archived version exists that you can reference.
3. Replace with an alternative: find a similar resource to link to instead.
4. Remove the link: if no good alternative exists, remove the link entirely.

Setting up ongoing monitoring

Fixing broken links once isn't enough. New broken links will appear as external sites change and as you update your own content. The best approach is to combine regular external scans with Search Console monitoring:

1. Run a scan with Broken Link Scan monthly, or set up automated monitoring for continuous coverage.
2. Review Google Search Console's crawl errors weekly.
3. Always check for broken links after major WordPress updates, theme changes, or content migrations.

Keeping your WordPress site free of broken links isn't just good for SEO — it shows your visitors that your site is maintained, reliable, and worth their trust. Check out our monitoring plans to stay on top of new broken links automatically.