Link Checker (Broken Link Monitoring)
Keep opening the links and images in your articles, and remove or replace broken ones from a single list
Links and images in your articles, checked continuously
"Sorabun > Measure / Analyze > Link Checker" actually opens the links (internal and external) and images in your article bodies and keeps checking that they still work (Pro). You don't need a separate plugin such as Broken Link Checker.
- Internal links are checked inside WordPress. Links to articles that were trashed or moved back to draft are the most common way links break
- External links are checked by opening the other page
- Images are checked to see that they load. Images uploaded to your own site are checked by whether the file exists
No AI is used, so there are no AI costs.
Read all articles once to start
Links in articles you save from now on are recorded automatically. For existing articles, press "Read all articles" at the top of the screen. Even if you don't, a little is read every hour.
Once read, press "Check now" to start checking. Even after you close the screen, checks continue automatically every hour.
| Recheck interval | |
|---|---|
| External links | Every week |
| Internal links | Every 3 days |
| Images | Every 2 weeks |
| Broken links | Every 3 days (they return to OK on their own once the other site fixes them) |
To avoid burdening other sites, at most 3 links on the same site are opened at a time.
One failure is never called broken
A temporary problem on the other server shouldn't be reported as a broken link, so only repeated failures count.
| Response | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Page not found (404), deleted (410), or domain not found | Broken after 2 failures in a row (the second check is 2 hours later) |
| Server error on the other side (5xx), no response, or SSL certificate problem | Broken after 3 failures in a row (6 hours apart) |
| An article on your site isn't published, or an uploaded file is missing | Broken right away (it's certain) |
| Access refused (401, 403), too many requests (429), and similar | Needs review. Common on sites that block bots. Not counted as broken |
| Permanently redirected (301, 308) | Redirected. You can switch to the redirect target |
Some servers refuse the lightweight HEAD request, so a failure is retried with a normal request (GET).
Reading the list
The numbers at the top are "Broken," "Redirected," "Needs review," and "URLs checked." Filter the list by status (broken, redirected, needs review, not checked yet, OK, marked as not broken, all) and by type (internal link, external link, image).
Each row shows the URL, the status and reason, the articles that use it (with the link text), and actions. A URL used in several articles appears on one row.
Fixing
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Remove link | Removes links to that URL from every article that uses it. The link text stays. Not available for images |
| Replace URL | Enter a new URL, and it's replaced in every article that uses it. Works for images too |
| Switch to redirect target | Replaces a redirected URL with the URL it redirects to. Readers wait less |
| Mark as not broken | Stops checking a link that opens fine in a browser but shows as needs review or broken. You can undo it from the "Marked as not broken" filter |
| Check again | Checks it once more right away |
Select rows and use "Bulk actions" to remove, switch to the redirect target, mark as not broken, or check again in one go.
The old text of any article you fix stays in revisions, so you can go back. Articles you don't have permission to edit are left alone.
Notifications
When new broken links are found, you're notified at most once a day in a single summary. It goes to the email, Slack, or Chatwork set up in Notifications. If no notification is set up, it goes to the administrator's email address.
The number of broken links also appears under "What to do next" in weekly and monthly reports.
Check settings
Change these under "How to check" at the bottom of the screen (administrators only).
| Setting | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Also check external links | On | When off, only internal links are checked |
| Also check images | On | When off, images aren't checked |
| Notify when new broken links are found | On | When off, no notifications are sent (they still appear in the list) |
The Technical Audit counts internal links in your 200 newest articles, once, when you run it. The Link Checker keeps checking internal links, external links, and images in all articles, and lets you fix them on the spot.