URLTO GUIDE
Review internal and external links before publishing
As a page gains links, unexpected destinations become easier to overlook. Use an inventory to find candidates for review, then open the important ones yourself.
URLTO editorial · Updated
Link inventory · series01 / 10
1. An inventory is different from a destination check
Link Check extracts and classifies links from the fetched HTML. It does not visit every destination to check for 404 responses. Ten external links means the inventory found ten, not that all ten work. Links added later by JavaScript can be absent.
2. Ask a different question for each category
| Category | Review question |
|---|---|
| Internal | Can a visitor reach the next step? |
| External | Is this the intended domain and resource? |
| Empty or fragment | Does the button or target work? |
| Duplicate | Useful repeated navigation or a copy error? |
3. Open the links that matter most
Check signup, purchase and contact paths before lower-priority references. Review domain spelling, old event URLs, empty href values and unexpected repetition. Repeated menu and footer links may be intentional; do not remove them on counts alone.
4. Follow a destination issue with a focused check
Open a suspicious URL or use Redirect Checker to inspect its HTTP path. A link labelled Product A that opens Product B can return a successful status, so status codes alone are insufficient. Recheck the inventory after editing and walk through the main visitor journeys.