Website Analysis

Broken Image Link Checker

Detect broken image URLs on a page.

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🖼️ Broken Image Checker

Find and fix broken images on any webpage to improve user experience and SEO performance.

💡 What We Check

All Images: Extract every <img> tag from the webpage
Broken Images: Identify images that return 404, 500, or other error codes
Working Images: Verify images that load successfully (HTTP 200)
Missing Alt Tags: Find images without alt text (bad for SEO and accessibility)
Missing Src: Detect empty or missing image sources
SEO Score: Overall image health rating (0-100)

⚠️ Why Broken Images Hurt SEO

Broken images create a poor user experience, increase bounce rate, hurt your site's credibility, and send negative signals to search engines. Google can detect broken images and may lower your rankings as a result. Always fix broken images immediately to maintain SEO performance and user trust.

Free Broken Image Checker - Find & Fix Broken Images for SEO

Our free Broken Image Checker tool helps you find and fix broken images on any webpage. Detect 404 errors, missing images, and images without alt text to improve user experience, reduce bounce rate, and boost your SEO rankings. Scan unlimited pages and get instant results.

What is a Broken Image Checker?

A Broken Image Checker is a free online SEO tool that scans webpages to identify broken, missing, or inaccessible images that harm user experience and search engine rankings. Broken images occur when image files return 404 Not Found errors, 500 server errors, or fail to load due to incorrect URLs, deleted files, hosting issues, or permission problems. Our image checker tool extracts all img tags from a webpage, tests each image URL to verify it loads successfully (HTTP 200 status), identifies broken images that return error codes, detects images with missing alt text attributes (critical for SEO and accessibility), and provides an overall image health SEO score from 0 to 100. Broken images create serious problems for websites including poor user experience and increased bounce rates, reduced credibility and trustworthiness, negative SEO signals sent to Google, lost traffic from Google Image Search, and accessibility violations for screen reader users. Our broken image detector is used by SEO professionals, web developers, content managers, and website owners to audit image health, fix broken image links before they hurt rankings, ensure all images have proper alt text for SEO, maintain professional website appearance, and comply with web accessibility standards. Regular image checking is essential because images can break over time due to site migrations, file deletions, CDN issues, URL changes, and hosting problems.

How to Use Our Broken Image Checker

Using our free broken image finder is simple and provides instant comprehensive results.

Enter the URL of the webpage you want to scan in the input field
Click 'Check Images' to start scanning all images on the page
View your overall image health SEO score (0-100) based on broken images and missing alt tags
Check statistics showing total images, working images count and percentage, broken images count and percentage
Review the complete list of broken images with HTTP status codes and missing alt tags highlighted
Browse working images to verify they have proper alt text for SEO and accessibility
Read personalized SEO recommendations to fix broken images and improve your image optimization
Download or export results to share with your development team for quick fixes

Why Broken Images Hurt SEO and User Experience

Broken images have a significant negative impact on both search engine optimization and user engagement.

Poor user experience leads to higher bounce rates and lower time on page (negative ranking signals)
Broken images make your site look unprofessional, reducing trust and credibility with visitors
Google can detect broken images and may interpret them as signs of low-quality, poorly-maintained content
Missing images prevent content from being fully understood, reducing page value and relevance
Broken product images directly hurt e-commerce conversion rates and sales
Lost opportunities in Google Image Search as broken images cannot be indexed or rank
Accessibility violations as screen readers cannot process broken images, even with alt text present

Common Causes of Broken Images

Understanding why images break helps you prevent future issues and fix existing problems.

File deleted or moved: Image file was removed from server or moved to different location without updating URL
Incorrect file path: Wrong URL, typo in filename, or incorrect relative/absolute path reference
Site migration issues: URLs changed during website redesign or platform migration without proper redirects
CDN or hosting problems: Content delivery network errors, server downtime, or hosting configuration issues
File permission errors: Incorrect server permissions preventing image files from being accessed publicly
Protocol mismatch: HTTP images on HTTPS pages blocked by mixed content security policies
Hotlinking restrictions: External images blocked by source website preventing hotlinking to their images

How to Fix Broken Images

Our broken image checker identifies problems so you can fix them quickly and restore SEO performance.

Replace broken images: Upload new images or restore deleted files to original locations
Fix incorrect URLs: Correct typos, update file paths, or change from relative to absolute URLs
Set up 301 redirects: Redirect old image URLs to new locations if files were moved permanently
Check file permissions: Ensure image files have correct read permissions (644) on web server
Update after site migrations: Use search-replace to update all image URLs after domain or platform changes
Use absolute URLs: Replace relative paths with full URLs including domain to prevent path errors
Add alt text: Include descriptive alt attributes on all images for SEO, accessibility, and when images fail to load
Monitor regularly: Run broken image checks monthly to catch issues before they impact SEO rankings

Pro Tip

Run a broken image check immediately after any site migration, redesign, or major content update to catch broken images before Google crawls your pages. For large websites, check your most important pages (homepage, top landing pages, product pages, blog posts) monthly and set up automated monitoring to alert you when images break. Always use absolute URLs (full https://domain.com/path/image.jpg format) instead of relative paths (../images/image.jpg) to prevent broken images across different page depths. Implement lazy loading for images below the fold to improve page speed while ensuring critical above-the-fold images load immediately. Most importantly, add descriptive alt text to every single image on your site - not only does this help SEO and rankings in Google Image Search, but it also ensures that even if an image breaks, users and search engines still understand what the image was supposed to show.

FAQ

What is a broken image and why does it occur?

A broken image is an image that fails to load on a webpage, typically showing a broken image icon or empty space instead. Images break when: the file is deleted or moved, the URL path is incorrect, there are server or hosting issues, file permissions block access, or the CDN fails. Broken images hurt SEO and user experience significantly.

Is this Broken Image Checker tool free?

Yes! Our Broken Image Checker is completely free with no limits. You can scan unlimited pages to find broken images, check alt text, and get SEO recommendations without any cost. No registration or credit card required.

How do broken images affect SEO?

Broken images negatively impact SEO by: increasing bounce rate as users leave frustrated pages, reducing time on page and engagement metrics, making your site appear low-quality to Google, preventing images from ranking in Google Image Search, hurting mobile user experience and Core Web Vitals, and creating accessibility issues that Google considers in rankings.

What is image alt text and why is it important?

Image alt text (alternative text) is an HTML attribute that describes what an image shows. It's critical for SEO because: search engines use alt text to understand and index images, it helps images rank in Google Image Search, screen readers use it for blind/visually impaired users (accessibility), and it displays when images fail to load, maintaining context. Always include descriptive, keyword-rich alt text on all images.

How often should I check for broken images?

Check for broken images monthly on your most important pages (homepage, top landing pages, product pages). Run immediate scans after: site migrations or redesigns, major content updates, hosting provider changes, CDN configuration changes, or bulk file uploads/deletions. For large e-commerce sites, weekly automated scans are recommended.

Can broken images hurt my Google rankings?

Yes, broken images can indirectly hurt Google rankings. While broken images aren't a direct ranking factor, they create negative user experience signals (high bounce rate, low time on page) that Google measures. Pages with broken images may be seen as low-quality, poorly maintained content and could rank lower as a result. Google may also deindex broken images from Google Image Search.

How do I fix a broken image?

To fix a broken image: (1) Check if the file exists on your server, (2) Upload the image if it's missing, (3) Verify the file path/URL is correct, (4) Ensure file permissions are set to 644 (readable), (5) If the file moved, set up a 301 redirect from old URL to new, (6) Use absolute URLs instead of relative paths. Test the image URL directly in a browser to verify it loads.

Should I use absolute or relative URLs for images?

Use absolute URLs (full https://domain.com/path/image.jpg) instead of relative URLs (../images/image.jpg) for images whenever possible. Absolute URLs prevent broken images across different page depths, work correctly in RSS feeds and syndicated content, are easier to debug when issues occur, and survive site migrations better. The only downside is they don't work as well in local development environments.

What HTTP status codes indicate broken images?

Common broken image HTTP status codes: 404 Not Found (image file doesn't exist), 403 Forbidden (permission denied), 500 Internal Server Error (server problem), 503 Service Unavailable (temporary server issue), and 0 (no response/timeout). Working images return 200 OK or 304 Not Modified (cached). Fix any image returning error codes.

Do images affect page load speed and Core Web Vitals?

Yes, images significantly impact page speed and Core Web Vitals (Google's page experience ranking signals). Large unoptimized images hurt Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), broken images don't affect speed but hurt user experience, and too many image requests harm performance. Optimize images, use modern formats (WebP), implement lazy loading, and use a CDN for fast delivery.

Can I check images on password-protected pages?

No, our tool can only check publicly accessible pages. For password-protected pages, use browser developer tools (F12 → Network tab) to manually check image loading, or temporarily make the page public for scanning. Internal SEO tools or paid services may offer authenticated crawling for members-only content.

What should I do if I have hundreds of broken images?

For large-scale broken image issues: (1) Prioritize fixing homepage and top landing pages first, (2) Use search-replace tools to bulk update URLs if there's a pattern, (3) Set up 301 redirects for moved images rather than updating every page, (4) Consider hiring a developer for bulk fixes, (5) Check backups to restore deleted images, (6) Document image URL structure to prevent future breaks. Fix high-traffic pages immediately to minimize SEO impact.

Related tools

Pro tip: pair this tool with Page Size Checker and Mobile Friendly Test for a faster SEO workflow.