link-checker

Link Checker

Audit and fix broken or insecure links across your Webflow site to improve SEO and user experience.

Important Note

ALWAYS use Webflow MCP tools for all operations:

• Use Webflow MCP's webflow_guide_tool to get best practices before starting
• Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action list_sites to identify available sites
• Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action get_site to retrieve site details
• Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action list_pages to get all pages
• Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action get_page_content to extract links from static pages
• Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action update_static_content to fix links on static pages
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action get_collection_list to get all CMS collections
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action get_collection_details to get collection schemas
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action list_collection_items to get CMS items with links
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action update_collection_items to fix links in CMS (draft)
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action publish_collection_items to publish fixed CMS items
• DO NOT use any other tools or methods for Webflow operations
• All tool calls must include the required context parameter (15-25 words, third-person perspective)
• No Designer connection is required — both static page and CMS link fixes go through data_ tools

Instructions

Phase 1: Site Selection & Discovery

1. Get site information: Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action list_sites to identify target site
2. Confirm scope: Ask user if they want to check:
   • Static pages only
   • CMS content only
   • Both static pages and CMS content
3. List pages: Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action list_pages to get all pages
4. List collections: Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action get_collection_list to get all CMS collections

Phase 2: Link Extraction & Validation

5. Extract links from static pages: Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action get_page_content for each page
   • Identify all link elements (Link, Button, TextLink, LinkBlock)
   • Capture: pageId, nodeName, URL, link text
6. Extract links from CMS: Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action list_collection_items for each collection
   • Identify Link fields and Rich Text fields with links
   • Capture: collectionId, itemId, fieldName, URL
7. Validate each link: Test URL accessibility
   • Check for 4xx/5xx errors (broken links)
   • Check for HTTP vs HTTPS (insecure links)
   • Test if HTTP has HTTPS equivalent available
   • Flag redirects (3xx status codes)
8. Categorize results:
   • ✅ Working links (2xx status)
   • ❌ Broken links (4xx/5xx errors)
   • ⚠️ Insecure links (HTTP when HTTPS available)
   • 🔄 Redirects (3xx status)
   • ⚪ Manual review needed (timeouts, DNS errors, etc.)

Phase 3: Analysis & Reporting

9. Calculate statistics:
   • Total links scanned
   • Links by type (internal vs external)
   • Links by status (working, broken, insecure, redirects)
   • Links by location (static pages vs CMS)
10. Generate health score: Calculate link health (0-100)
    • Working links: +1 point each
    • Broken links: -5 points each
    • Insecure links: -2 points each
    • Redirects: -1 point each
    • Normalize to 0-100 scale
11. Identify critical issues: Prioritize fixes
    • 🔴 Critical: Broken links on high-traffic pages
    • ⚠️ Warning: Insecure HTTP links
    • 💡 Suggestion: Optimize redirects

Phase 4: Suggestion Generation & Approval

12. Generate fix suggestions: For each problematic link, suggest fix
    • Broken links: Remove link or update to correct URL
    • Insecure links: Upgrade HTTP to HTTPS
    • Redirects: Update to final destination URL
13. Show preview with validation:

    [1] ✓ Fix insecure link
        Page: About Us
        Element: Button "Learn More"
        Current: http://example.com
        Suggested: https://example.com
        ✅ HTTPS version verified working
    
    [2] ⚠️ Fix broken link
        Page: Blog Post "Getting Started"
        Element: Text link
        Current: https://oldsite.com/page
        Suggested: [REMOVE LINK or provide correct URL]
        ❌ URL returns 404 - manual review needed
    

14. Implement granular approval: Ask user which fixes to apply
    • Type numbers to skip (e.g., "2,4")
    • Type "all" to proceed with all automatic fixes
    • Type "none" to cancel
    • Flag manual review items separately

Phase 5: Execution & Confirmation

15. Apply fixes to static pages: Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action update_static_content
    • Update link URLs in nodes
    • Process in batches of 20 links
16. Apply fixes to CMS content: Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action update_collection_items
    • Update Link fields directly
    • Update links in Rich Text fields
    • Process in batches of 50 items
17. Publish changes (if requested): Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action publish_collection_items
18. Show progress: Display progress indicators for large operations
19. Generate final report:
    • Links scanned: X
    • Links fixed: Y
    • Links requiring manual review: Z
    • Health score improvement: Before → After

Phase 6: Verification & Recommendations

20. Verify fixes: Re-check fixed links to confirm success
21. Report failures: Clearly identify any fixes that failed
22. Provide recommendations:
    • Schedule regular link checks (monthly/quarterly)
    • Set up monitoring for critical external links
    • Consider using 301 redirects for changed URLs
23. Export report (optional): Offer to export findings

Examples

Example 1: Complete Site Audit

User prompt:

Run a complete link check on my site and fix any issues

Step 1: Site Selection

🔍 Link Checker: Site Selection

Available sites:
1. Company Website
2. Blog Site
3. Portfolio

Which site would you like to audit? (1/2/3)

Step 2: Scope Confirmation

📋 Link Checker Scope

What would you like to check?
1. Static pages only (faster)
2. CMS content only
3. Both static pages and CMS content (comprehensive)

Recommendation: Option 3 for complete audit

Your choice? (1/2/3)

Step 3: Extraction & Validation

🔄 Scanning Links...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

Found 247 links:
├── Static pages: 89 links (15 pages)
├── CMS content: 158 links (3 collections)
│   ├── Blog Posts: 142 links
│   ├── Team Members: 12 links
│   └── Products: 4 links

Validating links...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100% (247/247 checked)

✅ Working: 215 links (87%)
❌ Broken: 8 links (3%)
⚠️ Insecure: 18 links (7%)
🔄 Redirects: 6 links (2%)

Step 4: Analysis Report

📊 Link Health Report: Company Website

Overall Health Score: 76/100 ⚠️

## Issues Found:

### 🔴 Critical: Broken Links (8)
├── [1] Page: "About Us"
│   └── Link to: https://partner-site.com/old-page
│       Status: 404 Not Found
│       Impact: High (homepage)
│
├── [2] CMS: Blog Post "Product Launch"
│   └── Link to: https://press-release.com/announcement
│       Status: 404 Not Found
│       Impact: Medium
│
├── [3-8] 6 more broken links...

### ⚠️ Warning: Insecure Links (18)
├── [9] Page: "Contact"
│   └── Link: http://social-media.com/company
│       Fix: https://social-media.com/company
│       ✅ HTTPS verified working
│
├── [10] CMS: Blog Post "Getting Started"
│   └── Link: http://tutorial-site.com
│       Fix: https://tutorial-site.com
│       ✅ HTTPS verified working
│
├── [11-26] 16 more insecure links...

### 💡 Suggestion: Redirects (6)
├── [27] Page: "Services"
│   └── Link: https://example.com/old-url
│       Redirects to: https://example.com/new-url
│       Suggestion: Update to final destination
│
├── [28-32] 5 more redirects...

---

💡 Recommendations:
1. Fix 8 broken links immediately (SEO impact)
2. Upgrade 18 HTTP links to HTTPS (security)
3. Update 6 redirects to final URLs (performance)

Estimated time to fix: ~5 minutes

Step 5: Fix Preview

🔧 Proposed Fixes (26 total)

### Automatic Fixes Available (24):

[1] ✓ Upgrade to HTTPS
    Page: Contact
    Element: Button "Follow Us"
    Current: http://social-media.com/company
    New: https://social-media.com/company
    ✅ HTTPS verified working

[2] ✓ Upgrade to HTTPS
    CMS: Blog Posts > "Getting Started" > content field
    Current: http://tutorial-site.com
    New: https://tutorial-site.com
    ✅ HTTPS verified working

[3] ✓ Update redirect
    Page: Services
    Element: Text link "Learn more"
    Current: https://example.com/old-url
    New: https://example.com/new-url
    ✅ Final destination verified

[4-24] ... 21 more automatic fixes

### Manual Review Required (2):

[25] ⚠️ Broken link - needs correction
    Page: About Us
    Element: Button "View Partner Site"
    Current: https://partner-site.com/old-page
    Issue: 404 Not Found
    Action needed: Provide correct URL or remove link

[26] ⚠️ Broken link - needs correction
    CMS: Blog Posts > "Product Launch" > content field
    Current: https://press-release.com/announcement
    Issue: 404 Not Found
    Action needed: Update with correct URL or remove

---

Which fixes would you like to apply?
- Type "all" to apply all 24 automatic fixes
- Type numbers to skip (e.g., "3,5,7")
- Type "none" to cancel

Step 6: After User Approves "all"

✅ Applying Fixes...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

Static Pages:
- Updated 8 links on 5 pages
- ✅ Contact page: 3 links fixed
- ✅ Services page: 2 links fixed
- ✅ About page: 1 link fixed
- ✅ Blog page: 2 links fixed

CMS Content:
- Updated 16 links in 12 items
- ✅ Blog Posts: 14 links fixed
- ✅ Team Members: 2 links fixed

---

🎉 Link Fixes Complete!

Summary:
- Links scanned: 247
- Links fixed: 24 ✅
- Manual review needed: 2 ⚠️
- Failed: 0 ❌

Health Score: 76 → 95 (+19) ✨

---

⚠️ Manual Review Items:

[1] About Us page - broken partner link
    Current: https://partner-site.com/old-page
    Action: Update or remove manually

[2] Blog post "Product Launch" - broken press release
    Current: https://press-release.com/announcement
    Action: Update or remove manually

---

💡 Next Steps:
1. Fix the 2 manual review items
2. Re-run link checker in 1 month
3. Set up monitoring for critical external links
4. Consider 301 redirects for any URL changes

Would you like to export this report? (yes/no)

Example 2: CMS-Only Link Check

User prompt:

Check all links in my blog posts

Step 1: Collection Selection

🔍 Link Checker: CMS Collections

Found 3 collections:
1. Blog Posts (47 items)
2. Team Members (8 items)
3. Categories (6 items)

You requested blog posts. Checking "Blog Posts" collection...

Step 2: Link Extraction

🔄 Extracting Links from Blog Posts...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100% (47/47 items)

Found 142 links in Blog Posts:
├── Link fields: 23 links
├── Rich Text content: 119 links
└── Total unique URLs: 87 (55 appear multiple times)

Validating links...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100% (87/87 unique URLs checked)

Results:
✅ Working: 79 links (91%)
❌ Broken: 3 links (3%)
⚠️ Insecure: 5 links (6%)
🔄 Redirects: 0 links

Step 3: Issue Report

📊 Blog Posts Link Health: 91/100 ✅

## Issues Found:

### 🔴 Broken Links (3):
[1] Post: "Getting Started with Webflow"
    Field: content (Rich Text)
    Link: https://old-docs.example.com/guide
    Status: 404 Not Found
    Appears in: 3 posts

[2] Post: "Best Practices 2024"
    Field: external-link (Link)
    Link: https://expired-resource.com
    Status: 410 Gone

[3] Post: "Tutorial Series Part 3"
    Field: content (Rich Text)
    Link: https://video-host.com/deleted-video
    Status: 404 Not Found

### ⚠️ Insecure Links (5):
[4] Post: "Case Study: Company A"
    Field: content (Rich Text)
    Link: http://company-a-site.com
    Fix: https://company-a-site.com
    ✅ HTTPS available and working

[5-8] 4 more insecure links...

---

🔧 Proposed Fixes:

[1] ⚠️ Remove broken link (manual review)
    Posts affected: 3 (Getting Started, Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2)
    Link: https://old-docs.example.com/guide
    Suggestion: Update to new docs URL if available

[2] ⚠️ Remove broken link (manual review)
    Post: "Best Practices 2024"
    Link: https://expired-resource.com
    Suggestion: Remove or replace with alternative

[3] ⚠️ Remove broken link (manual review)
    Post: "Tutorial Series Part 3"
    Link: https://video-host.com/deleted-video
    Suggestion: Update with new video URL

[4] ✓ Upgrade to HTTPS
    Post: "Case Study: Company A"
    Current: http://company-a-site.com
    New: https://company-a-site.com
    ✅ HTTPS verified working

[5-8] ... 4 more HTTPS upgrades

---

Which fixes would you like to apply?
- Type "4-8" to apply only HTTPS upgrades
- Type "all" for all automatic fixes
- Type "none" to cancel

Example 3: Static Pages Only (Quick Check)

User prompt:

Quick check on my static pages for broken links

Response:

🔍 Quick Link Check: Static Pages

Scanning 15 static pages...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

Found 89 links across 15 pages

Validation Results:
✅ All links working! (89/89)

Health Score: 100/100 ✨

Your static pages have no broken or insecure links.

💡 Tip: Run a full audit including CMS content for comprehensive coverage.

Example 4: Fixing Specific Issues

User prompt:

I have some broken links on my About page. Can you fix them?

Response:

🔍 Checking Links on "About" Page...

Found 12 links on About page

Validation Results:
✅ Working: 9 links
❌ Broken: 2 links
⚠️ Insecure: 1 link

---

Issues Found:

[1] ❌ Broken: Partner site link
    Element: Button "Visit Partner"
    Link: https://partner-old-site.com
    Status: 404 Not Found
    Fix: Manual review needed

[2] ❌ Broken: Team member profile
    Element: Text link "Meet Sarah"
    Link: /team/sarah-old-profile
    Status: 404 Not Found
    Fix: Update to /team/sarah-johnson?

[3] ⚠️ Insecure: Social media link
    Element: Link "Follow us"
    Link: http://social.com/company
    Fix: https://social.com/company
    ✅ HTTPS verified

---

Which fixes would you like to apply?
- Type "3" to only fix the insecure link
- Type "2,3" to fix items 2 and 3
- Type "all" for automatic fixes
- Type "none" to cancel

Note: Item [1] requires manual correction with correct URL

Guidelines

Phase 1: Discovery Best Practices

Site Selection:

• Use data_sites_tool with action list_sites to get available sites
• Never assume site ID
• Confirm site name with user

Scope Definition:

• Ask if checking static pages, CMS, or both
• Estimate time based on scope:
  • Static pages only: 1-3 minutes
  • CMS only: 2-5 minutes (depends on item count)
  • Full site: 5-10 minutes

Collection Selection:

• List all collections with item counts
• If user specifies collection, focus on that
• If "all CMS", check all collections

Phase 2: Link Extraction Best Practices

Static Page Link Extraction:

• Use data_pages_tool with action get_page_content to get page nodes
• Look for these node types:
  • Link (a tag)
  • Button (with link)
  • TextLink
  • LinkBlock
• Extract href/url property
• Capture link text for reporting
• Track nodeId for fixing later

CMS Link Extraction:

• Use data_cms_tool with action get_collection_details to identify Link and Rich Text fields
• Use data_cms_tool with action list_collection_items to get all items
• For Link fields: Extract URL directly
• For Rich Text fields: Parse HTML to extract tags
• Track: collectionId, itemId, fieldName for fixing

✅ Working (2xx):
- 200 OK
- 201 Created
- 204 No Content

❌ Broken (4xx/5xx):
- 400 Bad Request
- 401 Unauthorized
- 403 Forbidden
- 404 Not Found
- 410 Gone
- 500 Internal Server Error
- 502 Bad Gateway
- 503 Service Unavailable

⚠️ Insecure (HTTP):
- URL starts with http://
- HTTPS equivalent exists and returns 2xx
- Mark as "upgrade to HTTPS"

🔄 Redirects (3xx):
- 301 Moved Permanently
- 302 Found
- 307 Temporary Redirect
- 308 Permanent Redirect

⚪ Manual Review:
- Timeout errors
- DNS resolution failures
- Connection refused
- SSL certificate errors

Formula:
1. Base score = 100
2. Working links: No change
3. Broken links: -5 points each
4. Insecure links: -2 points each
5. Redirects: -1 point each
6. Minimum score: 0
7. Maximum score: 100

Example:
- Total links: 200
- Working: 180 (no penalty)
- Broken: 5 (−25 points)
- Insecure: 10 (−20 points)
- Redirects: 5 (−5 points)
- Score: 100 − 25 − 20 − 5 = 50/100

🔴 Critical (fix immediately):
- Broken links on homepage
- Broken links on high-traffic pages
- Broken links in navigation
- 404 errors on important external references

⚠️ Warning (fix soon):
- Insecure HTTP links (security risk)
- Broken links on blog posts
- Broken links in footer
- 410 Gone errors

💡 Suggestion (optimize):
- 301 redirects (update to final destination)
- 302 redirects (may change, monitor)
- External links with slow response times

Essential:
- Total links scanned
- Working links count & percentage
- Broken links count & percentage
- Insecure links count & percentage
- Redirect links count & percentage

Detailed:
- Links by location (static vs CMS)
- Links by type (internal vs external)
- Most common issues
- Pages/items with most issues
- External domains with most broken links

Can auto-fix:
✅ HTTP → HTTPS (if HTTPS verified working)
✅ Redirects → Final destination (if final URL verified)
✅ Relative URLs → Absolute URLs (for external sites)

Needs manual review:
⚠️ Broken links (404, 410, 5xx) - requires correct URL
⚠️ HTTP with no HTTPS equivalent
⚠️ Timeouts or connection errors
⚠️ SSL certificate errors
⚠️ Authentication required (401, 403)

[X] ✓ Auto-fix available
    Location: [Page name or CMS item]
    Element: [Element type + text]
    Current: [Current URL]
    New: [Proposed URL]
    ✅ Verification: [Status]

[Y] ⚠️ Manual review needed
    Location: [Page name or CMS item]
    Element: [Element type + text]
    Current: [Current URL]
    Issue: [Error description]
    Suggestion: [What to do]

Requirements:
- Use data_pages_tool with action update_static_content
- Update nodes array with new URLs
- Process in batches of 20 links per page
- Verify updates after each batch

Error Handling:
- If Designer not connected: Report and skip static pages
- If update fails: Mark link and continue with others
- Report partial successes separately

For Link Fields:
- Direct update: fieldData[fieldName] = "new-url"
- Use data_cms_tool with action update_collection_items
- Option: update live or draft

For Rich Text Fields:
- Parse HTML content
- Find and replace <a> tags
- Preserve other HTML formatting
- Update fieldData[fieldName] with new HTML

Batch Processing:
- Process 50 items per batch
- Show progress for large collections
- Handle API rate limits gracefully

Ask user:
"Would you like to publish the changes immediately?"
- Yes: Use data_cms_tool with action publish_collection_items
- No: Leave as drafts

For static pages:
- Changes are immediate (Designer updates live)
- Warn user that static page changes are live

If any fixes failed:
❌ Fixes that failed (X):

[1] Failed to update
    Location: Contact page
    Reason: Page content changed since last read (conflict)
    Action: Re-fetch the page and retry

[2] URL still broken
    Location: Blog post "Guide"
    Reason: HTTPS version returned 404
    Action: Manual correction needed

✅ Summary:

Before:
- Health Score: 76/100
- Broken links: 8
- Insecure links: 18
- Redirects: 6

After:
- Health Score: 95/100 (+19)
- Broken links: 2 (6 fixed, 2 need manual review)
- Insecure links: 0 (18 fixed)
- Redirects: 0 (6 fixed)

Changes:
- Static pages: 8 links updated on 5 pages
- CMS content: 16 links updated in 12 items
- Total fixes: 24 ✅
- Manual review: 2 ⚠️

Always provide:
1. Schedule for next check (monthly/quarterly)
2. Monitoring suggestions for critical links
3. Best practices for avoiding broken links
4. URL redirect strategies if applicable

Example:
💡 Recommendations:

1. **Schedule regular checks**
   - Run link checker monthly for active sites
   - Run quarterly for static sites
   - Set calendar reminder

2. **Monitor critical external links**
   - Key partners: company-a.com, partner-site.com
   - Documentation: docs.example.com
   - Social media profiles

3. **Set up URL redirects**
   - If changing URLs, create 301 redirects
   - Test redirects before going live
   - Keep redirect map updated

4. **Best practices**
   - Test external links before adding
   - Use relative URLs for internal links
   - Avoid deep linking to external pages
   - Verify links after major redesigns

Offer to export findings:

1. **Markdown** - Human-readable report
   - Include all statistics
   - List all issues found
   - Show fixes applied
   - Add recommendations
   - Great for documentation

2. **CSV** - Spreadsheet format
   - Columns: Location, Element, URL, Status, Issue, Fix Applied
   - Easy to filter and analyze
   - Good for sharing with team

3. **JSON** - Machine-readable data
   - Complete raw data
   - Useful for integrations
   - Archive for historical tracking

# Link Audit Report: Company Website
Date: January 10, 2026

## Summary
- Total links scanned: 247
- Health score: 95/100
- Links fixed: 24
- Manual review needed: 2

## Issues Found
### Broken Links (8)
1. About Us > Button "Visit Partner"
   - URL: https://partner-old-site.com
   - Status: 404 Not Found
   - Fix: Manual review needed

...

## Recommendations
1. Schedule monthly link checks
2. Monitor key external links
3. Set up 301 redirects for URL changes

For large sites:
- Process pages in batches of 10
- Process CMS items in batches of 50
- Show progress: "Processing batch 1 of 5..."
- Timeout protection: Skip after 30s per batch

- Cache validation results by unique URL
- If same URL appears 10 times, validate once
- Report: "Checking 87 unique URLs (out of 247 total links)"
- Reduces validation time significantly

Parallel (faster):
- Link validation (test multiple URLs simultaneously)
- Page content extraction (fetch multiple pages)

Sequential (required):
- Link updates (one at a time to avoid conflicts)
- Publishing (one batch at a time)

❌ Error: Cannot update static pages

Reason: Designer MCP app not connected

Solution:
1. Open Webflow Designer
2. Open the target site
3. Connect Designer MCP app
4. Retry static page fixes

Note: CMS fixes can proceed without Designer

⚠️ Warning: Rate limit reached

Pausing for 60 seconds...

Progress will resume automatically.
Current: 50/200 links validated

⚠️ Link validation timeout

Link: https://very-slow-site.com
Timeout: 10 seconds exceeded

Marked for manual review.
Continuing with remaining links...

⚠️ SSL Certificate Error

Link: https://expired-cert-site.com
Issue: Certificate expired

Cannot verify HTTPS. Marked for manual review.

🎉 Excellent! No Issues Found

All 247 links are working correctly!

Health Score: 100/100 ✨

Your site has:
✅ No broken links
✅ No insecure HTTP links
✅ No unnecessary redirects

💡 Recommendation:
Run this check monthly to maintain link health.

❌ Critical: Multiple Broken Links

Found 89 broken links across all pages.

This suggests a possible site-wide issue:
- Domain migration not configured?
- External service outage?
- Relative URL path issues?

🔍 Recommended Action:
1. Check if external services are down
2. Verify domain and SSL configuration
3. Test a few links manually
4. Contact Webflow support if needed

Shall I still proceed with individual link fixes? (yes/no)

⚠️ Mixed Content Warning

Your site uses HTTPS but has 18 HTTP links.

This creates:
- Security warnings in browsers
- SEO penalties
- Trust issues for visitors

🔧 Recommendation:
Upgrade all HTTP links to HTTPS (all 18 can be auto-fixed)

Proceed with upgrade? (yes/no)

⚠️ Redirect Chain Detected

Link: https://example.com/old
  → 301 to: https://example.com/temp
  → 301 to: https://example.com/final

Recommendation: Update directly to final URL
- Improves page load speed
- Reduces redirect overhead
- Better for SEO

Fix: Update to https://example.com/final

Apply fix? (yes/no)