Functionality guide
Broken website checklist: the 8 checks a scan runs
Whether your site actually works: no broken links, errors, or broken forms.
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A dead link or a form that silently fails costs you the visitor who found it, and nothing tells you it happened. These checks follow the links and load the pages a visitor would, and report what does not work.
3 of these 8 checks run on the free scan, with no account. The other 5 run on Pro.
- 1
Broken links
FreeFinds links on your page that lead to missing or error pages.
- 2
404 error page
FreeChecks that mistyped or missing URLs return a proper 404 with a real error page, not a soft 200.
- 3
Site health
FreeSpots pages that are up but broken: database errors, stuck maintenance mode, PHP errors on screen, open file listings, empty pages.
- 4
JavaScript errors
ProHidden errors in your site’s code that can quietly break features for visitors.
- 5
Broken images
ProFinds pictures on your page that fail to load, so visitors see empty boxes instead of your content.
- 6
Site search
ProTries your site’s search with a real query and checks visitors get results or a clear “nothing found” message.
- 7
Button click test
ProClicks your main buttons on the home page to make sure each one actually opens something and nothing leads to an error page.
- 8
Form quality
ProChecks your forms are properly built and easy for visitors to fill in correctly.
Common fixes
What the report most often tells you to do when one of these checks fails.
- Fix or remove links that return a 404 or a server error.
- Return a real 404 status for addresses that do not exist. Redirecting them all to the homepage counts as a "soft 404" for Google.
- Give the 404 page your navigation and a link back home, so a mistyped address keeps the visitor on the site.
- Fix the JavaScript errors in the browser console to prevent broken user flows.
- Mark required form fields with the required attribute, validate on the server as well, and use type="email" for email fields.
Run these 8 Functionality checks on your site
One scan covers this list and the other categories, and the report says what to fix first.