Broken Link Checker plugin review and common issues

False positives occur when the scanning server is blocked by the target site. Many websites block automated crawlers, returning 403 or 503 responses to the scanner even though the link is fine for human visitors. Check flagged links manually in a browser — if they load correctly, they are false positives. In the BLC dashboard, you can mark these links as “not broken” to remove them from reports. For external links to sites known to block crawlers (LinkedIn, some news sites), expect recurring false positives.

After installation, AIOSEO’s Broken Link Checker needs to run its initial cloud scan, which can take time depending on site size and plan. Go to the Broken Link Checker dashboard and look for a Scan button or status indicator. If no scan has started, verify your AIOSEO account is connected (the plugin requires an account even on the free tier). Ensure your site is publicly accessible — scanning behind maintenance mode or basic auth will prevent the cloud scanner from crawling.

After fixing a link, BLC needs to rescan that URL to update its status. Click the Recheck button next to the specific link in the BLC dashboard rather than waiting for the next scheduled scan. If the link still shows as broken after a recheck, the destination URL may still be returning an error — test it directly in your browser to confirm the fix actually worked.

In the Broken Link Checker settings, there is an exclusion list where you can add specific URLs or domain patterns to skip during scanning. This is useful for domains that consistently block crawlers (returning false positives), internal admin URLs, or affiliate links that use redirect services. Wildcard patterns (e.g., linkedin.com/*) can exclude all links from a specific domain.

AIOSEO’s Broken Link Checker scans all publicly accessible links it can find via its cloud crawler — this includes most standard content areas. Page builder content stored in the post_content field (Elementor, Beaver Builder) is typically scanned. Content in custom database tables or dynamically generated links (not in post content) may not be detected. For comprehensive coverage of complex page builder layouts, supplement with a desktop crawler like Screaming Frog.

The original Broken Link Checker by ManageWP is still available on WordPress.org but has not received active development. Its server-side scanning approach is known to cause significant server load on large sites. The AIOSEO version is the actively maintained successor with a better architecture. For most sites, migrating to the AIOSEO version or using a cloud-based SEO auditing tool is preferable.

Broken Link Checker runs continuously inside WordPress, catching newly broken links as they occur. Screaming Frog is a one-time desktop crawl tool that provides a comprehensive snapshot at a point in time. For ongoing monitoring, BLC is more practical. For a thorough audit before a site launch or after a major migration, Screaming Frog provides more detailed reports including server response codes, redirect chains, and page metadata — all in one free crawl up to 500 URLs.

Yes, that can happen, especially on older sites with many plugins. This usually happens when the plugin, theme, and add-ons are updated out of sequence. In most cases, testing on staging catches the issue before it reaches the live site. From experience, backups and changelog reviews save a lot of cleanup time.

Start by checking whether another plugin already does the same job. In most cases, overlap is what creates avoidable conflicts and performance issues. A common issue is installing a plugin because it looks convenient without checking the stack first. From experience, a short compatibility review avoids most of the pain later.