Broken Link Notifier

By PluginRx

Details
Getting Started
Changelog

Support Forum

Description

The "Broken Link Notifier" WordPress plugin is a vigilant guardian for your website's links, monitoring and alerting you to broken or dead links as users visit your site. This ensures a seamless user experience and helps prevent search engine ranking penalties. Unlike other broken link checker plugins that can cause performance and timeout issues with full site scans, this plugin focuses on notification, making it a great complement to offsite services that handle full site scans.

This plugin:

Scans content when users visit a page after the page fully loads, preventing performance lag
Identifies broken links, including 404 errors, timeouts, images, and embedded YouTube videos
Notifies you via dashboard notifications, email, Discord, and/or Microsoft Teams
Provides a list of broken links for easy review and correction
Allows easy replacement of links straight from the results page (NEW with Version 1.2.0)
Caches working (good) links to skip rechecking them for a configurable amount of time (NEW with Version 1.2.5)

With "Broken Link Notifier", you can:

Ensure accurate and functional links for your users
Prevent search engines from indexing broken links
Maintain a professional and trustworthy website image
Save time and effort in manual link checking
Scan multiple pages at a time on the back-end from your WP List Tables
Improve performance by caching successful link checks (optional)

This plugin is a must-have for website owners, developers, and SEO enthusiasts who want to guarantee a smooth and error-free browsing experience for their audience!

IF THIS PLUGIN FLAGS SOME LINKS AS BROKEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT, PLEASE READ THE FAQ BELOW

Demo

Screenshots

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Page load scan results on front-end in dev console

Multi-Scan running scans on multiple pages in WP List Tables

Find broken links easily on front-end with a glowing animation and red border

FAQ

Will this plugin slow down my site?

Why do some links show as broken when they are not?

What causes a link to give a warning?

What is status code 666?

Can I omit links and pages from scans?

When I click on "Find On Page," I cannot find the link. Where is it?

Why does the dev console show more links that what is scanned on the Multi-Scan?

What pre-checks are used to filter out broken links?

What can I do if I have the same broken link on a lot of pages?

Why does my multi-scan page stop loading halfway down?

Are there hooks available for Developers?

Yes, there are plenty. The following hooks are available:

blnotifier_html_link_sources ( Array $sources ) — Filter where the links are found in the content's HTML
blnotifier_omitted_pageload_post_types ( Array $post_types ) — Filter the post types that you don't want to scan on page load
blnotifier_omitted_multiscan_post_types ( Array $post_types ) — Filter the post types that you don't want to allow for Multi-Scan option
blnotifier_link_before_prechecks ( String|Array|False $link ) — Filter the link before checking anything
blnotifier_status ( Array $status ) — Filter the status that is returned when checking a link for validity after all pre-checks are done
blnotifier_http_request_args ( Array $args, String $link ) — Filter the http request args
blnotifier_remove_source_qs ( Array $query_strings ) — Filter the query strings to remove from source url on page load scans
blnotifier_url_schemes ( Array $schemes ) — Filter the URL Schemes skipped during pre-checks
blnotifier_capability ( String $capability ) — Change the user capability for viewing the plugin reports and settings on the back-end
blnotifier_suggested_offsite_checkers ( Array $checkers ) — Filter the list of suggested offsite checkers on Multi-Scan page
blnotifier_notify ( Array $flagged, Int $flagged_count, Array $all_links, String $source_url ) — Action hook that fires when notifying you of new broken links and warning links that are found on page load
blnotifier_email_emails ( String|Array $emails, Array $flagged, String $source_url ) — Filter the emails that the email notifications are sent to
blnotifier_email_subject ( String $subject, Array $flagged, String $source_url ) — Filter the subject that the email notifications are sent with
blnotifier_email_message ( String $message, Array $flagged, String $source_url ) — Filter the message that the email notifications are sent with
blnotifier_email_headers ( Array $headers, Array $flagged, String $source_url ) — Filter the headers used in the email notifications
blnotifier_discord_args ( Array $args, Array $flagged, String $source_url ) — Filter the Discord webhook args
blnotifier_msteams_args ( Array $args, Array $flagged, String $source_url ) — Filter the Microsoft Teams webhook args
blnotifier_strings_to_replace ( Array $strings_to_replace ) — Filter the strings to replace on the link
blnotifier_force_head_file_types (Array $file_types, Boolean $docs_use_head) — Filter the list of file types that should force a HEAD request, with the $docs_use_head variable determining whether document types should be included

Where can I request features and get further support?

Installation

1. Install the plugin from your website's plugin directory, or upload the plugin to your plugins folder.

2. Activate it.

3. Go to Broken Link Notifier > Settings in your admin menu.

4. Update your notification method(s) and post types.

5. Go to Broken Link Notifier > Omitted Pages, and add any pages that you don't want to scan, such as pages you know won't have any links on them. This will speed up the multi-scan option.

5. Page load scans are enabled automatically, so it's recommended that you test it out by deliberately making some broken links on a test page and then visiting the page. The results should show up on the Broken Link Notifier > Results page, and notify you if you have enabled email, Discord, or Microsoft Teams notifications. Reloading the page will not submit them twice. For testing, you should delete them from the results so they get reported again.

6. It is suggested to run a Multi-Scan on each of your public-facing post types to quickly see if there are any broken links before others encounter them. Also to omit some links that will be reported as false positives. You can omit individual links quickly from the results, or you can go to Broken Link Notifier > Omitted Links to add a domain with a wildcard (*), which will omit all links starting with that domain. See screenshots for examples.

What Next?

How-To Guide Developer Docs

1.3.0

Update: New support links

1.2.6.1

Fix: Option in settings to show good links on results page was set to true by default; turned it off

1.2.6

Update: Added an option in settings to show good links on results page (props to @colnago1 for suggestion)
Update: Added an export page (props to @colnago1 for suggestion)

1.2.5.3

Fix: Link search not finding some URLS
Fix: Undefined array key "min"

1.2.5.2

Fix: Function wpdb::prepare was called incorrectly. Unsupported value type (array).

1.2.5.1

Fixes: Sanitizing and unslashing some variables

1.2.5

Update: Added option for caching good links (enable in settings)

1.2.4.2

Fix: If no link is found, omit it

1.2.4.1

Tweak: Updated "Did not pass pre-check filter" error to provide more information

1.2.4

Tweak: Added minified versions of results-front.js and results-front.css
Tweak: Removed omitted links and omitted pages hooks from readme.txt since they were moved to their own pages

1.2.3

Update: Auto-switch user agent for X/Twitter links if a custom user agent isn't provided
Update: Updated author name and website again per WordPress trademark policy

1.2.2

Update: Changed author name from Apos37 to WordPress Enhanced, new Author URI
Tweak: Optimization of main file
Fix: Undefined variable $redirect_detected

1.2.1

Update: Added a method column to the results page
Fix: Links being added from invalid sources
Tweak: Links without a source will be automatically removed
Fix: Some links are being added to results without a source
Update: Added option to pause auto-verification on results page
Update: Admin bar count is reduced in real time if results are removed
Tweak: Update notice on results page from "trash" to "clear" (props @cantabber for pointing it out)

1.2.0

Update: Added code 413 to warnings and automatically code files larger than 10 MB with 413 when using `GET` requests (allowing redirects option)
Update: Added an option for forcing documents to use `HEAD` requests
Fix: Gifs, videos, and other large files timing out (props @mrphunin)
Update: Added a Replace Link action to link column on results page (props a4jp-com for suggestion)
Update: Added a Trash Page action to source on results page; must enable it in Settings (props @mrphunin for suggestion)
Fix: Sometimes no permission for trash error; changed Clear Result action to use ajax instead
Tweak: Renamed all other action links on link and source columns on results page
Tweak: Changed Edit link to "Edit Page" (props a4jp-com)

1.1.4.2

Tweak: Added support for translations on some other info boxes
Update: Added an info box to the top of the results page with clarification on trashing results
Fix: Undefined array key "HTTP_REFERER"

1.1.4.1

Update: Added an option to pause front-end scanning (props @ravanh)
Update: Added status codes to settings, allowing you to change types, deprecated hooks will only work if codes in settings have no been saved: blnotifier_bad_status_codes, blnotifier_warning_status_codes

1.1.4

Update: Added field for user agent and option to mark status code 0 as broken instead of warning (props @ravanh)

1.1.3.8

Update: Allowed max redirects to be 0 to show redirect status code instead of the final status code

1.1.3.7

Fix: Multi-Scan redirecting if content is not found or if pages have shortcodes that redirect

1.1.3.6

Update: Added settings for allowing redirects and setting max redirects amount (props @ravanh)

1.1.3.5

Fix: Fatal error on helpers.php at line 1001

1.1.3.4

Fix: Fatal error when trying to uncheck all post types in settings (props @ravanh)

1.1.3.3

Fix: Added support for links starting with // (props pauleipper)

1.1.3.2

Fix: Added full path to multi scan links to support multisite (props oddmoster)

1.1.3.1

Fix: Added full path to "Edit" link to support multisite (props oddmoster)

1.1.3

Update: Added a link search page

1.1.2

Fix: Warnings from Plugin Checker

1.1.1

Update: Auto-delete omitted links on Results page
Fix: Some links not being deleted due to special characters

1.1.0

Fix: YouTube links showing broken

1.0.9

Fix: Umlauts in links showing broken (props ralf d)
Tweak: Removed donate link, nobody donates anyway, working on premium version instead

1.0.8

Update: Added demo to readme.txt

1.0.7

Fix: Results page rescan not working on some links
Fix: Offsite checker links broken XD

1.0.6

Fix: wp_mail_failed logging error
Update: Added a string replace for `"×" => "x"`, which is being converted in images with sizes (ie _100x66.png)
Update: Added a new filter `blnotifier_strings_to_replace` for replacing simple characters

1.0.5

Update: Added a re-scan verification when loading results page as some false-positives occur with poor connections
Tweak: Updated plugin tags
Update: Added other plugins to bottom of help page
Update: Added an option in settings to include/exclude image src links
Tweak: Changed default timeout to 5 seconds

1.0.4.2

Fix: Emailing empty content if already added to results; stopped duplicate emails

1.0.4.1

Fix: MS Teams integration error with logging

1.0.4

Fix: Undefined variable on help page
Update: Added support for checking YouTube video links (props shirtguy72)
Update: Added support for iframe links (props shirtguy72)
Update: Added support for image source links

1.0.3.1

Tweak: Fix minor issues found by WP repo plugin reviewer

1.0.3

Tweak: Updates recommended by WP repo plugin reviewer
Fix: Settings saved notification not echoing
Tweak: Removed links post type and help docs post types if installed

1.0.2

Tweak: Added nonce to Page Scan JS
Update: Added Multi-Scan and Page Scan results to results page
Tweak: Changed "Full Scan" references to "Multi-Scan"

1.0.1

Deployment