How to find broken links with Xenu for free

Introduction

Broken links can hurt your visitors’ experience and make it harder for search engines to crawl your website correctly. Fortunately, you do not always need complex tools to detect them.

In this guide, you will learn how to use Xenu Link Sleuth to review your website, find damaged links, identify redirects and fix common errors that may appear after page changes, migrations, content updates or domain modifications.

This article is aimed at users who manage their website from a hosting account, whether with WordPress, HTML files, a custom CMS or content published from panels such as DirectAdmin or cPanel.

What is Xenu Link Sleuth

Xenu Link Sleuth, also known as Xenu Link Checker, is a free Windows tool that crawls a website and reviews its internal and external links.

Its main role is to help you detect:

• Broken links.
• Pages that return a 404 error.
• Images that do not load.
• Redirects.
• Incorrectly linked files.
• URLs with access problems.
• Resources such as scripts, style sheets or files linked from the site.

Xenu does not modify your website. It only analyzes it and generates a report so you can decide what to correct.

Why it is important to fix broken links

A broken link is a link that points to a page, image or file that no longer exists, changed address or does not respond correctly.

Fixing them matters because it:

• Improves user experience.
• Prevents visitors from ending up on error pages.
• Helps keep the website structure cleaner.
• Makes crawling easier for search engines.
• Improves the trust perception of your site.
• Helps you detect problems after a migration, domain change or redesign.

For example, if you changed your website from http:// to https://, moved pages to another folder or deleted old images, some URLs may have been left incorrectly linked.

Steps to find broken links with Xenu

1. Download Xenu from its official website

Go to the developer’s official page and download Xenu Link Sleuth from there:

https://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Important recommendation: download Xenu only from its official site or from trusted sources. If a page asks you to pay for the download, be careful.

2. Install the tool on Windows

Once the file is downloaded, install it on your Windows computer using the installation wizard.

Xenu is a lightweight and simple application. You do not need to connect your hosting account, cPanel, DirectAdmin or FTP details to run a basic link analysis.

Important: Xenu does not have an official native version for macOS or Linux. On those systems, it may require extra solutions such as emulation or a Windows virtual machine.

3. Open Xenu and start a new scan

When you open Xenu, choose the option to check a URL.

You can normally do this from:

File > Check URL

Then enter the full address of your website. For example:

https://yourdomain.com/

If you want to review a specific folder, add the trailing slash:

https://yourdomain.com/blog/

This helps avoid the tool misunderstanding the path and crawling a different section than the one you need.

4. Configure the basic options

Before starting the crawl, you can review a few useful options:

• Check external links: also checks external links.
• Treat redirections as errors: flags redirects so you can review them.
• Maximum level: limits crawl depth if you only want to analyze one part of the site.
• Parallel threads: controls how many simultaneous connections Xenu makes.

Practical tip: if your site is on shared hosting or has many pages, avoid using too many simultaneous threads. An overly aggressive crawl can create unnecessary load on the server.

5. Start crawling the website

Click the button to begin the analysis and wait while Xenu reviews the pages, images and linked resources.

During the process, you will see a list of URLs with different statuses. Some results may appear as correct, redirected, not found or temporary errors.

Do not worry if a lot of data appears. The important thing is to focus first on the most relevant errors.

6. Review the detected broken links

When the crawl finishes, pay special attention to results such as:

• not found: usually indicates a 404 error.
• no such host: the linked domain does not respond or does not exist.
• timeout: the server took too long to respond.
• server error: this may indicate a temporary problem or a site error.
• redirection: the URL redirects to another address.

Important point: not every redirect is bad. A well-configured 301 redirect may be perfectly correct, especially if you changed an old URL to a new one. Even so, it is worth reviewing redirects to avoid chains or wrong destinations.

7. Identify where each broken link is

Xenu helps you see not only which link is broken, but also from which page it is being linked.

That is key, because it tells you exactly where to make the correction.

For example:

• If the broken link is inside a WordPress post, edit that post.
• If it is inside an HTML page, correct the corresponding file.
• If it is in a menu, review the CMS navigation settings.
• If it is a missing image, confirm that the file exists in the correct folder.
• If it appears after a migration, review whether all paths and redirects are configured properly.

8. Correct the links from your website or panel

How you fix the problem depends on how your website is built.

Common actions include:

1. Updating the old URL to the new one.
2. Removing links that no longer have a valid destination.
3. Uploading missing images or files again.
4. Creating 301 redirects for moved pages.
5. Reviewing internal paths after a domain change.
6. Fixing links that still use http:// instead of https://.

If you manage files through DirectAdmin or cPanel, you can use the file manager or an FTP connection to edit the required documents. If you use WordPress or another CMS, it is usually easier to correct the links from the site’s admin panel.

9. Save the Xenu report

Once the analysis is finished, save the report so you can review it calmly or share it with your technical team.

The report can help you:

• Document the errors found.
• Prioritize corrections.
• Verify issues after a migration.
• Review redirects.
• Keep a technical SEO maintenance history.

10. Run the scan again

After fixing the errors, run Xenu again.

This second scan will let you confirm that:

• Internal links now work.
• Images load correctly.
• Redirects point to the correct destination.
• No important errors remain unresolved.

This final review is especially recommended after changing hosting, enabling an SSL certificate, redesigning your site or moving content to new URLs.

Useful tips

• Review internal links first. These depend directly on your website and usually have the biggest impact on user navigation.
• Do not delete a URL without checking it. Some errors may be temporary, especially if the external server was down during the crawl.
• Take care with HTTP to HTTPS changes. If you enabled an SSL certificate, check that your internal links use https:// to avoid mixed content or unnecessary redirects.
• Run periodic reviews. A monthly analysis or one after each major change can help keep your site healthier.
• Be careful with very large crawls. If your website has many pages, review it by sections to avoid excessive server load.
• Combine Xenu with good hosting practices. A fast site with active SSL, backups and a clear link structure creates a better experience for your visitors.

Does Xenu create a sitemap

Xenu includes a Site Map option that can help you visualize or generate a site map as a crawl reference.

However, if you need an XML sitemap for SEO, the best approach is to generate it from your CMS, from a specialized plugin or from the tool you use to manage your website. In WordPress, for example, many SEO plugins can create and update the sitemap automatically.

If your website is hosted at miHosting and you are not sure whether your sitemap is configured correctly, you can review your CMS settings or ask technical support for guidance.

When it makes sense to use Xenu

Xenu can be useful in many common situations:

• After migrating your website to a new hosting account.
• After changing your domain.
• After enabling HTTPS with an SSL certificate.
• Before publishing a new version of your site.
• After deleting old pages.
• When you detect 404 errors on your website.
• When you want to improve basic technical SEO.
• When you need to review links without using paid tools.

If your site has grown a lot, receives significant traffic or depends on forms, sales or bookings, it can also be a good idea to combine this review with website maintenance, regular backups and technical monitoring.

Frequently asked questions

Does Xenu help improve SEO

Yes. Xenu is not a full SEO platform, but it helps detect basic technical problems, especially broken links, redirects and resources that do not load. Fixing these errors can improve navigation and make your site easier to crawl.

Does Xenu work with HTTPS sites

Yes. Xenu can review sites that use https://, so you can use it on websites with an active SSL certificate.

Does Xenu modify my website

No. Xenu only crawls and analyzes links. You must make corrections manually from your CMS, website files, hosting panel or redirect configuration.

Can I use Xenu with WordPress

Yes. You can analyze any WordPress site by entering the public URL of the website. Then, if you find broken links, you will need to correct them from the WordPress panel, the visual builder, the menus, the posts or the pages involved.

Can I fix broken links from DirectAdmin or cPanel

It depends on where the link is. If the broken link is inside an HTML file, you can edit it from the DirectAdmin or cPanel file manager. If it is inside WordPress or another CMS, the best approach is to correct it from the site’s admin panel.

How often should I review broken links

For small websites, a review every one or two months may be enough. For websites with many changes, online stores, active blogs or business sites, it is a good idea to review them after each major update.

Conclusion

Xenu Link Sleuth is a simple and free tool for finding broken links on your website. Using it regularly helps you detect 404 errors, missing images, incorrect redirects and other details that can affect your visitors’ experience.

Start by reviewing your main domain, fix the most important internal links first and run the analysis again to confirm that everything works correctly.

If your website is hosted at miHosting and the errors are related to a migration, domain setup, SSL, hosting files or redirects, you can contact technical support for guidance.