Broken links reduce usefulness and trust. Separate controlled internal links, moved external sources and Markdown accidentally displayed as text.

The useful answer depends on the purpose of the page, the people allowed to edit it and the cost of an error. A reliable workflow separates editorial decisions, technical delivery and final verification instead of hiding all three inside one automated operation.

The decision to make first

Repair an internal slug or redirect. For an external source, locate the new official URL; if the claim is no longer verifiable, rewrite or remove it.

A practical method

  1. Extract href values and leftover Markdown patterns.
  2. Resolve relative URLs from their source page.
  3. Check HTTP status with responsible rate limits.
  4. Classify 404, 410, loops, certificates and expired domains.
  5. Apply fixes and rerun the full audit.

Checks before publishing

  • The source of truth is explicit and can be restored.
  • URLs, dates and visible claims match the delivered page.
  • A human reviewer can reproduce the check without a hidden service.

The main pitfall

Replacing every failed URL with a domain home page preserves a link but destroys the editorial evidence.

Recommended next step

Schedule monthly external checks and always audit internal links when a slug changes.