Need help locating a 404 link

[gfiedel]

My reports are showing a 404 error for a link to a page in our WP site for which we changed the URL months ago. I can't find where the link is coming from. I used Screaming Frog, but can't find where it might tell me the origin of the link, only that it exists. I am pretty sure it's internal.

Can someone please tell me how to find the originating page so I can remove the link without having to comb through every page of the site to look for it?

Thanks!

[gfiedel]

Hi Lynn,

Thanks for your time on this.

I just found it. Couldn't use your key command (on a Mac), but went through it more methodically and found one 'true' in column 'D'.

Sorry my eyes weren't sharp enough first time through.

Thanks again.

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Gina,

Which report are you seeing the 404 in? If it is in a moz report but not in the csv download that is a bit odd. Are you sure it is not in there? I usually select all in the excel and then do the ctrl-shift-windows-L together (great trick can't remember what it is called) which gives you filter dropdown arrows on all the column headers. If you go to the 4xx column and click that column's arrow you can quickly see if there is a 404 true hiding in there somewhere. If not, maybe a mail to support is in order since the page should be in there.

[gfiedel]

I'm on a Mac, so can't use Xenu's... :o(

Broken Link Checker finds the link but doesn't give me a clue as to where it's coming from..

[gfiedel]

Thanks, Lynn.

I exported the csv from the report page that shows the error and also from the drilled down report page and cannot even find the offending link or URL in the csv. It's not showing any 4XX's. They are all "false".

Any thoughts, please?

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Gina,

If the link is showing up in the moz reports you should be able to find it by going to the report page and downloading the report as a csv (top right). If you filter by 4xx client errors and then scroll along all the way to the right in the csv file the referring url is shown in the last column.

[gfiedel]

Thanks, Mystery Man!

[Branagan]

Xenu's Link Sleuth is a great tool for that (and other things), although some people complain is not  as ready-out-of-the-box as they would wish, it has a fair enough learning curve.

Here's a blog post @SEOmoz about it (with some instructions): Xenu's Link Sleuth - More Than Just A Broken Links Finder

But you can give a try to this Broken Link Checker Tool first, maybe it'll save you some time if it can find it.

Good luck!