Definition
Xenu Link Sleuth is a free Windows software created by Tilman Hausherr, originally designed to audit broken links on a website. The tool crawls an entire site and generates a comprehensive report of internal and external links, identifying 404 errors, redirects, and structural issues. While Xenu is a white hat tool by nature, it is widely used in grey hat and black hat strategies to identify broken link building opportunities: finding sites with broken links to propose your own content as a replacement. Launched in the late 1990s, Xenu remains popular despite its dated interface because it is fast, lightweight, and free. Modern alternatives like Screaming Frog have largely replaced it for technical auditing. LemmiLink simplifies quality link acquisition without requiring manual prospecting or broken link exploitation.
Key Points
- Free broken link and site structure auditing tool for Windows
- Used in grey hat SEO for broken link building and opportunity prospecting
- Dated interface but still functional, fast, and lightweight
- Largely replaced by Screaming Frog and other modern crawlers
Practical Examples
Broken link audit
Xenu crawls a 10,000-page site in minutes and generates a report listing all internal and external 404 errors, enabling link structure correction.
Broken link building
An SEO uses Xenu to scan authority sites in their niche, identify broken outgoing links, then contact webmasters to propose their content as a replacement.
Site structure analysis
Xenu generates a complete map of a site's internal linking, revealing orphan pages and crawl depth issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
The software has not been actively developed for several years, but it remains functional for basic link auditing. Modern alternatives like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or Ahrefs Site Audit offer far more advanced features.
Broken link building is generally considered an acceptable grey hat technique when practiced with moderation and by offering quality content. LemmiLink simplifies link acquisition without this manual prospecting.
Go Further with LemmiLink
Discover how LemmiLink can help you put these SEO concepts into practice.
Last updated: 2026-02-07