# Status code and broken links

> An HTTP status code is the server's three-digit answer to a request, such as 200 (OK) or 404 (not found). A broken link points to a page that answers with an error.

- **Check ID:** S18
- **Area:** [SEO](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo)
- **Tool:** [SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit)
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/status-code-and-broken-links

## Why it matters

Broken links damage user experience and SEO. Google lowers the ranking of pages with many non-functional links. The page itself must return a 2xx status or a 3xx redirect; any other status (e.g., 5xx) indicates technical issues.

## In practice

An e-shop has 85 links on its homepage. After checking, 3 lead to discontinued products (404) and 1 external link points to a partner company that no longer exists (timeout). Fixing these links improves crawl budget and user experience.

## How be1st checks it

Checks the HTTP status code of the analyzed URL and verifies the links on the page. The `<a href>` links are actually verified with an HTTP HEAD request to determine whether they are functional or broken (404, 5xx, timeout). On pages with very many links a representative sample across site sections and domains may be checked; the result states how many links were verified.

[SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit), SEO tab.

Every check ends as: Pass, Warning, Fail.

## Sources

- [SEO Starter Guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide) (Google Search Central)
- [HTTP Status Codes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status) (MDN Web Docs)

## Related terms

- [robots.txt](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/robots-txt): robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of a website that tells crawlers which parts of the site they may and may not visit.
- [sitemap.xml](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/sitemap-xml): An XML sitemap is a file that lists the important URLs of a website, so search engines can find them without relying on links alone.
- [HTTPS (SEO)](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/https): HTTPS is the encrypted version of HTTP. It protects data between the browser and the server, and browsers mark sites without it as not secure.
- [WWW consistency](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/www-consistency): WWW consistency means a website answers on one host name only, either with www or without it, and redirects the other version there.
- [Trailing slash consistency](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/trailing-slash-consistency): Trailing slash consistency means every URL is used in one form only, either /page or /page/, and the other form redirects to it.
- [HTML size (SEO)](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/html-size): HTML size is the weight of a page's HTML document in kilobytes, without images, styles and scripts. Search engines and browsers have to download and parse all of it.