diff --git a/typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/master/Deprecation-90390-DeprecateBrokenLinkRepositorygetNumberOfBrokenLinksInLinkvalidator.rst b/typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/master/Deprecation-90390-DeprecateBrokenLinkRepositorygetNumberOfBrokenLinksInLinkvalidator.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..29552b94d97ca223cd3577783c748d68b0e30910
--- /dev/null
+++ b/typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/master/Deprecation-90390-DeprecateBrokenLinkRepositorygetNumberOfBrokenLinksInLinkvalidator.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+.. include:: ../../Includes.txt
+
+===============================================================================================
+Deprecation: #90390 - Deprecate BrokenLinkRepository::getNumberOfBrokenLinks() in linkvalidator
+===============================================================================================
+
+See :issue:`90390`
+
+Description
+===========
+
+The method :php:`BrokenLinkRepository::getNumberOfBrokenLinks()` is deprecated.
+
+
+Impact
+======
+
+If third party extensions use this function, a `E_USER_DEPRECATED`
+is triggered.
+
+
+Affected Installations
+======================
+
+This only affects third party extensions which use this function. The
+deprecated function is no longer used in the core.
+
+
+Migration
+=========
+
+Use :php:`BrokenLinkRepository::getNumberOfBrokenLinks()` instead.
+
+.. index:: Backend, NotScanned, ext:linkvalidator
diff --git a/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/EventListener/CheckBrokenRteLinkEventListener.php b/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/EventListener/CheckBrokenRteLinkEventListener.php
index 2d296995219b6ce1720abeed57a497f2078d20c1..3075309466bd8b3d2939b5bfd38de05d8c58a42c 100644
--- a/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/EventListener/CheckBrokenRteLinkEventListener.php
+++ b/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/EventListener/CheckBrokenRteLinkEventListener.php
@@ -45,8 +45,7 @@ final class CheckBrokenRteLinkEventListener
         }
         $url = (string)$event->getLinkData()['url'] ?? '';
         if (!empty($url)) {
-            $count = $this->brokenLinkRepository->getNumberOfBrokenLinks($url);
-            if ($count) {
+            if ($this->brokenLinkRepository->isLinkTargetBrokenLink($url)) {
                 $event->markAsBrokenLink('External link is broken');
             }
         }
@@ -88,8 +87,7 @@ final class CheckBrokenRteLinkEventListener
             return;
         }
 
-        $count = $this->brokenLinkRepository->getNumberOfBrokenLinks('file:' . $file->getProperty('uid'));
-        if ($count) {
+        if ($this->brokenLinkRepository->isLinkTargetBrokenLink('file:' . $file->getProperty('uid'))) {
             $event->markAsBrokenLink('File with ID ' . $file->getProperty('uid') . ' not found');
         }
     }
diff --git a/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/Repository/BrokenLinkRepository.php b/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/Repository/BrokenLinkRepository.php
index 8a322b087b618e94b7861686c6223e6801a0f74c..36bf60b38079a521a823aeef3e71f0a60dfc057b 100644
--- a/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/Repository/BrokenLinkRepository.php
+++ b/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/Repository/BrokenLinkRepository.php
@@ -33,9 +33,15 @@ class BrokenLinkRepository
      * @param string $linkTarget Url to check for. Can be a URL (for external links)
      *   a page uid (for db links), a file reference (for file links), etc.
      * @return int the amount of usages this broken link is used in this installation
+     * @deprecated This method was deprecated in TYPO3 10.3 Use isLinkTargetBrokenLink() instead
      */
     public function getNumberOfBrokenLinks(string $linkTarget): int
     {
+        trigger_error(
+            'BrokenLinkRepository::getNumberOfBrokenLinks() was deprecated in TYPO3 10.3 Use BrokenLinkRepository::isLinkTargetBrokenLink() instead',
+            E_USER_DEPRECATED
+        );
+
         try {
             $queryBuilder = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(ConnectionPool::class)
                 ->getQueryBuilderForTable(static::TABLE);
@@ -46,10 +52,36 @@ class BrokenLinkRepository
                     $queryBuilder->expr()->eq('url', $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter($linkTarget))
                 );
             return (int)$queryBuilder
+                ->execute()
+                ->fetchColumn(0);
+        } catch (\Doctrine\DBAL\Exception\TableNotFoundException $e) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check if linkTarget is in list of broken links.
+     *
+     * @param string $linkTarget Url to check for. Can be a URL (for external links)
+     *   a page uid (for db links), a file reference (for file links), etc.
+     * @return bool is the link target a broken link
+     */
+    public function isLinkTargetBrokenLink(string $linkTarget): bool
+    {
+        try {
+            $queryBuilder = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(ConnectionPool::class)
+                ->getQueryBuilderForTable(static::TABLE);
+            $queryBuilder
+                ->count('uid')
+                ->from(static::TABLE)
+                ->where(
+                    $queryBuilder->expr()->eq('url', $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter($linkTarget))
+                );
+            return (bool)$queryBuilder
                     ->execute()
                     ->fetchColumn(0);
         } catch (\Doctrine\DBAL\Exception\TableNotFoundException $e) {
-            return 0;
+            return false;
         }
     }