Managing large websites—especially for organizations like colleges, universities, or enterprises—often means dealing with rapidly outdated external links. When multiple departments manage their own content, hidden broken links quickly become common. This issue can cause headaches for both website visitors and administrators.
Manually clicking each link to verify its status isn't just tedious; it’s prone to errors and oversights, especially when numerous links exist on each page.
Why I Created the Broken Links Scanner
Working on large websites with substantial history taught me how quickly external links break or become outdated. Teams managing their pages rarely notice these issues immediately. Broken links don't just diminish your website’s credibility—they negatively impact user experience. Visitors frustrated by broken links might leave your site for alternatives or call your office directly, consuming valuable staff time on inquiries that could have been addressed online.
Typical link-checking tools scan the entire website, including menus and navigation with hundreds of stable links that don't change often. I needed a targeted solution to check specific content areas without repeatedly testing the entire site.
Who Can Benefit?
This tool is particularly beneficial for:
- Colleges and universities
- Municipal and city websites
- News websites
- Community organizations and clubs
Any website that’s been around for some time or managed by multiple teams can quickly accumulate outdated links. If your website frequently updates its content, relies heavily on external resources, or if you have extensive archived content, broken links could already be affecting your site without your knowledge.
How It Works
Using Broken Links Scanner is effortless, even for non-technical users:
- Install the Extension: Quickly add it from the Chrome Web Store.
- Open Your Webpage: Navigate directly to the page you're maintaining.
- Highlight the Content: Select the area containing links you wish to check.
- Activate the Scan: Click the extension icon to start the scan.
- See Instant Results: Broken links appear highlighted in pink, redirected links in green, clearly showing what needs attention.
- Export Data: Easily copy and paste exported results into Excel or Google Sheets for streamlined analysis and sharing.
Why Content Managers Love This Tool
- Time-Saving: Quickly verify links without manually checking each one.
- Improved User Experience: Reduce visitor frustration and minimize unnecessary phone inquiries.
- Boosted Website Credibility and SEO: Fewer broken links improve search rankings and user satisfaction.
You can easily provide this tool to any team member—even those without technical backgrounds—transforming the tedious process of checking each link into a simple, manageable task. In our organization, we're actively encouraging content owners to regularly perform these scans on their department or program pages, significantly increasing the likelihood of maintaining accurate and user-friendly content.
Upcoming Features and Improvements
I’m actively working to enhance the tool further by:
- Supporting Additional Browsers: Expanding availability to Firefox, Safari, and other popular browsers.
- Advanced Link Checking: Analyzing internal anchor links, absolute versus relative paths, and special links such as mailto, telephone, and self-referencing links.
- Efficiency Boost via Caching: Implementing caching to remember previously checked links, significantly reducing loading times and making regular maintenance smoother and faster.
Your Feedback Matters
If you find Broken Links Scanner helpful or have ideas for improvements, I'd love to hear from you. Please use the contact form at linkscan.app to share your thoughts and suggestions. Your input directly shapes future updates and improvements.