How to Check Internal and External Links on Any Page (Free)
Learn how to list every internal and external link on a web page, spot nofollow and broken links, and fix the problems that waste link value. Free tool included.
Every page on your website is a small map. Its links tell visitors where to go next and tell search engines which pages matter. When those links are broken, unlabelled or pointing to the wrong places, both visitors and crawlers get lost.
This guide shows how to check every link on a page in under a minute, what each result means, and which problems are worth fixing first.
Internal vs external links in one minute
- Internal links point to another page on the same website, such as your home page linking to your pricing page. Subdomains of the same site, like blog.example.com, count as internal too.
- External links point to a different website. When another site links to you, that external link is your backlink.
Internal links spread visitors and crawl attention around your own site. External links send them elsewhere. Our guide to internal links vs backlinks covers the difference in more depth.
How to check the links on a page
- Open the free Link Checker.
- Paste the full page URL, for example https://example.com/blog/my-post.
- Tick Also find broken links if you want each link tested. This takes a little longer.
- Click Check links.
You get totals for internal, external, dofollow and nofollow links, then a table of every link with its anchor text. Use the filters to show one type at a time, search for a domain, or download everything as a CSV.
What the results mean
| Result | What it means | Is it a problem? |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | Link to another page on the same site | No, internal links are good |
| External | Link to another website | No, linking out is normal |
| Dofollow | A normal link that can pass ranking signals | No |
| Nofollow | rel="nofollow" asks search engines not to count it | Only if it should be a normal link |
| Sponsored | rel="sponsored" marks a paid or affiliate link | No, this is the correct label for paid links |
| UGC | rel="ugc" marks user-generated content, such as comments | No |
| Broken (404, 410, 5xx) | The linked page is gone or failing | Yes, fix or remove it |
| Couldn't verify | The site blocked the check or timed out | Usually not, open it in a browser to confirm |
Five problems to fix first
1. Broken links
A link to a deleted page wastes the visitor's click and the crawler's time. Update it to the new address, link to a close alternative, or remove it. Broken links on other people's sites can also be an opportunity: see our guide to broken link building.
2. A page-level nofollow
A robots meta tag with "nofollow" turns every link on the page into a nofollow link, often by accident after a template change. The Link Checker warns you when it finds one.
3. Paid links without a label
Google asks for paid, sponsored and affiliate links to carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Filter by External and Dofollow to review the outbound links you vouch for.
4. Weak internal anchor text
"Click here" and "read more" tell search engines nothing. Describe the page you are linking to instead. Our anchor text guide explains how to do it without over-optimising.
5. Important pages with few internal links
Check your key pages and count how many internal links point to them from the rest of your site. Pages buried deep or linked from nowhere (orphan pages) are crawled and indexed late. If a page isn't showing in Google, our guide to fixing pages that aren't indexed covers the other common causes.
Use it to verify a backlink
The same tool confirms a backlink someone promised you:
- Enter the URL of the page that should link to you.
- Choose the External filter and search for your domain.
- Check that the link exists, that its anchor text makes sense and whether it is dofollow.
If the link is there, check how strong the linking site is with our free DA PA Checker. To find links you don't know about yet, follow our guide on how to check your backlinks for free.
How often should you check?
- After a redesign or migration, check your main templates: home page, a category page and an article.
- Monthly, check your most visited pages for broken links.
- Whenever a partner or directory adds your link, confirm it once it goes live, and again a few weeks later.
Key takeaways
- Internal links help visitors and crawlers move around your site; external links send them elsewhere.
- Fix broken links and accidental page-level nofollow rules first.
- Label paid links as sponsored, and use descriptive anchor text for internal links.
- The free Link Checker lists every link on a page, with follow type, anchor text and status.
- For a full health check of the page beyond its links, run the free Website SEO Audit or follow our SEO audit checklist.