How to use the Broken Link Checker.

What is the Broken Link Checker?

The Broken Link Checker is a powerful tool that automatically scans all your short links to verify their target URLs are still reachable. It identifies any broken or unreachable links, allowing you to fix them before visitors encounter issues.

How It Works

The scanner checks target URLs of each short link and see if it's reachable or not. Results are stored per link and displayed in a dedicated admin page with summary statistics.

How to Use the Broken Link Checker

Configure Scan Frequency

1. Go to URL Shortify → Settings → Links tab.

2. Scroll to the Broken Links section.

3. Choose a Scan Frequency:

   Option	Description
   Disabled	No automatic scans — run manually only
   Daily	Scans all links once every 24 hours
   Weekly	Scans all links once every 7 days
   Monthly	Scans all links once every 30 days

4. Click Save Settings.

The scanner uses Action Scheduler to run in the background — it will not slow down your site or visitors.

Run a Manual Scan

1. Go to URL Shortify → Broken Links.
2. Click the Run Scan button.
3. A progress bar appears showing real-time scan status.
4. Wait for the scan to complete — the counters update live as each link is checked.

Scans run in batches of 5 links per request to avoid server timeouts. Large sites may take a few minutes.

Review the Results

The Broken Links page shows a summary dashboard at the top:

Fix Broken Links

For each broken link you have three options:

Update the Target URL

1. Click Edit in the row actions.
2. Update the Destination URL to a working URL.
3. Save the link.

Recheck a Single Link

After fixing a URL, verify it immediately:

1. Click Recheck in the row actions.
2. The scanner re-checks that one link and updates its status.

Clear a Scan Result

To remove a result without fixing the link:

1. Click Clear in the row actions.
2. The link's scan result is cleared and it returns to "Not Scanned" status.

Bulk Clear

1. Select multiple links using the checkboxes.
2. Choose Clear Scan Results from the bulk actions dropdown.
3. Click Apply.

Monitor Ongoing

• The Last Scan timestamp shown on the Broken Links page tells you when the most recent full scan completed.
• Re-visit the page after the next scheduled scan to see updated results.
• Fix broken links promptly — 4xx/5xx target URLs will result in a poor visitor experience.

Notes

• The scanner uses a 10-second timeout per URL for scheduled scans and 8 seconds for manual (AJAX) scans.
• Up to 5 redirects are followed automatically.
• SSL certificate errors are ignored to reduce false positives.
• Requires URL Shortify PRO.