Title: Archivarix Broken Links Recovery Author: Archivarix Support Published: March 11, 2026 Last modified: May 24, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/assets/banner-772x250.png? rev=3479973) ![](https://ps.w.org/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/assets/icon.svg?rev=3482045) # Archivarix Broken Links Recovery By [Archivarix Support](https://profiles.wordpress.org/archivarixsupport/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery.1.1.0.zip) * [Details](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/#description) * [Reviews](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/#reviews) * [Installation](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/#installation) * [Development](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/) ## Description Archivarix Broken Links Recovery scans your WordPress content for broken external and internal links and helps you fix them using the Wayback Machine (Web Archive) or manual management. **Key Features:** * **Multi-level link checking:** - HTTP status codes (4xx, 5xx, timeouts, DNS failures) - Redirect analysis (different domain, redirect to root) - Domain parking detection (30+ parking service signatures) - Content-Type mismatch detection - Soft 404 detection - YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok video availability via oEmbed API - Social network link validation (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest) * **Automatic mode:** Replaces broken links with Web Archive copies using the post date as timestamp. Falls back to removing links when archive is unavailable. * **Manual mode:** Full control — review each broken link and choose the action: - Replace with Web Archive copy - Replace with custom URL - Remove link (keep anchor text) - Remove link and anchor text - Whitelist (ignore and skip in future scans) * **Internal link checking:** Validates internal links against WordPress database and HTTP verification. * **Background processing:** Scans run in the background without blocking your site. * **Scan sources:** Posts, pages, custom post types, comments, custom fields, widgets, Elementor content. * **Proxy support:** Configure HTTP proxies for external link checking to avoid rate limiting. * **Detailed logs:** Every check and action is logged for review. * **Bulk actions:** Fix multiple links at once. * **WP-CLI & multisite:** Scan and fix from the command line (`wp ablr scan`), and across a multisite network without logging into each site (`wp ablr scan -- network`). * **AI-ready (WordPress 7.0):** Scan, list and fix operations are registered with the Abilities API and available over REST and MCP, so custom dashboards and AI agents can drive the plugin. **Works great with [Archivarix External Images Importer](https://archivarix.com/en/wordpress/)— this plugin handles links, that plugin handles images.** **Available in:** English, Russian (Русский), Spanish (Español). For more information, visit the [plugin page](https://archivarix.com/en/blog/broken-links-recovery/). ### External services This plugin connects to external services to check link availability and find archived copies of broken pages. No personal user data is ever sent — only the URLs found in your WordPress content are transmitted to these services during scans initiated by the site administrator. #### Wayback Machine (Internet Archive) Used to check if an archived copy of a broken page exists and to build replacement URLs. * Availability API endpoint: `https://archive.org/wayback/available?url={page_url}& timestamp={date}` * Sends: the broken page URL and the post publication date (as a timestamp hint) * Called when: checking Wayback availability for broken links (during scan or manual lookup) * [Terms of Use](https://archive.org/about/terms) * [Privacy Policy](https://archive.org/about/terms#702-privacy-policy) #### YouTube oEmbed API Used to verify whether a YouTube video is still available. * Endpoint: `https://www.youtube.com/oembed?url={video_url}&format=json` * Sends: the YouTube video URL found in content * Called when: a YouTube link is encountered during scan * [Terms of Service](https://www.youtube.com/t/terms) * [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) #### Vimeo oEmbed API Used to verify whether a Vimeo video is still available. * Endpoint: `https://vimeo.com/api/oembed.json?url={video_url}` * Sends: the Vimeo video URL found in content * Called when: a Vimeo link is encountered during scan * [Terms of Service](https://vimeo.com/terms) * [Privacy Policy](https://vimeo.com/privacy) #### TikTok oEmbed API Used to verify whether a TikTok video is still available. * Endpoint: `https://www.tiktok.com/oembed?url={video_url}` * Sends: the TikTok video URL found in content * Called when: a TikTok link is encountered during scan * [Terms of Service](https://www.tiktok.com/legal/terms-of-service) * [Privacy Policy](https://www.tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy) #### Pinterest oEmbed API Used to verify whether a Pinterest pin or board is still available. * Endpoint: `https://www.pinterest.com/oembed.json?url={pin_url}` * Sends: the Pinterest URL found in content * Called when: a Pinterest link is encountered during scan * [Terms of Service](https://policy.pinterest.com/terms-of-service) * [Privacy Policy](https://policy.pinterest.com/privacy-policy) #### Social network link verification The plugin makes HTTP GET requests to social network URLs found in your content to verify they are still accessible. No API keys or authentication tokens are used— only standard browser-like HTTP requests. No data is sent beyond the URL itself. Platforms checked: Twitter/X (x.com), LinkedIn (linkedin.com), Instagram (instagram. com), Facebook (facebook.com). * [Twitter/X Terms](https://x.com/tos) | [Privacy](https://x.com/privacy) * [LinkedIn Terms](https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement) | [Privacy](https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy) * [Instagram Terms](https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870) | [Privacy](https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy) * [Facebook Terms](https://www.facebook.com/terms.php) | [Privacy](https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy) #### General link checking During scans, the plugin makes HTTP GET requests to all external URLs found in your WordPress content (posts, pages, comments, widgets, custom fields) to verify their HTTP status. Only the URL itself is requested — no personal data, cookies, or authentication information is transmitted. #### httpbin.org (proxy testing) Used solely to test proxy connectivity when the administrator configures proxies in plugin settings. * Endpoint: `https://httpbin.org/ip` * Sends: nothing (simple GET request to verify the proxy works) * Called when: administrator clicks “Test Proxies” in settings * [httpbin.org](https://httpbin.org/) is an open-source HTTP testing service ## Screenshots [⌊Settings page — scan sources, exclusions, proxy configuration, and automatic actions⌉⌊ Settings page — scan sources, exclusions, proxy configuration, and automatic actions⌉[ Settings page — scan sources, exclusions, proxy configuration, and automatic actions [⌊Settings page with proxy list and internal link checking enabled⌉⌊Settings page with proxy list and internal link checking enabled⌉[ Settings page with proxy list and internal link checking enabled [⌊Scanning in progress — real-time progress bar and detailed link statistics⌉⌊Scanning in progress — real-time progress bar and detailed link statistics⌉[ Scanning in progress — real-time progress bar and detailed link statistics [⌊Broken links list with status filters, action buttons, Web Archive lookup, and undo support⌉⌊Broken links list with status filters, action buttons, Web Archive lookup, and undo support⌉[ Broken links list with status filters, action buttons, Web Archive lookup, and undo support ## Installation 1. Upload the plugin folder to `/wp-content/plugins/` 2. Activate through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress 3. Go to Tools Broken Links Recovery 4. Configure scan sources and mode in Settings tab 5. Click “Start Scan” to begin checking your content ## FAQ ### How does the Web Archive replacement work? When a broken link is found, the plugin builds a Wayback Machine URL using the original URL and the post publication date as the timestamp. The Web Archive automatically finds the closest available snapshot. ### Will this slow down my site? No. All scanning and checking runs in the background using WP Background Processing. Your site visitors are not affected. ### What about broken images? This plugin only checks `` links. For broken images, use our companion plugin [Archivarix External Images Importer](https://archivarix.com/en/wordpress/). ### What does “Whitelist” do? Whitelisted links are marked as “ignore” and skipped during future scans. Useful when you know a link is temporarily down or has intermittent issues. You can remove links from the whitelist at any time. ### Can I skip certain domains during a scan? Yes. In Settings Exclusions, list domains (one per line) to skip entirely. Excluded links are never collected or checked, which speeds up scanning, and a domain also covers its subdomains. This differs from Whitelist (which ignores individual links that were already found): exclusions keep whole domains out of the scan from the start — handy for sites you know are fine or that cause false positives. ### Does it check internal links? Yes. The plugin can check internal links using a hybrid approach: first it tries to resolve them via the WordPress database (fast), then falls back to HTTP verification for unresolved URLs. ### What does “uncheckable” mean? Some links cannot be reliably checked due to bot protection, rate limiting, or strict security policies (common on .gov/.edu domains). These are marked as “uncheckable” so you can review them manually. ### Does it support Elementor? Yes. The plugin scans Elementor content stored in `_elementor_data` post meta and can fix broken links within Elementor widgets. ### Does it support WP-CLI? Yes. The plugin registers a `wp ablr` command so you can scan and fix links from the command line without logging into wp-admin: * `wp ablr scan` — run a full scan (extract, check, and auto-fix if automatic mode is enabled) * `wp ablr status` — show the current scan state and link statistics * `wp ablr list --status=broken` — list links (supports `--format=table|csv|json |count`) * `wp ablr fix --action=wayback|custom|remove_link|remove_text` — fix a single link * `wp ablr clear --yes` — delete all scan data Unlike the admin UI, the CLI runs the scan synchronously in the current process, so it works even where loopback HTTP requests are unavailable. ### Can I use it on a multisite network? Yes. Activate it per site or network-wide; each site keeps its own settings and broken-links list. When network-activated, the plugin sets up its tables on every existing site and automatically on any site added later, and cleans them up when a site is deleted. To scan sites without logging into each one, use WP-CLI: `wp ablr scan --url=site.example.com` for a single site, or `wp ablr scan --network` to scan every site in the network in one run. ### Can AI agents or external dashboards control it? Yes, on WordPress 7.0+. The plugin registers its operations (scan, status, list broken links, fix a link) with the WordPress Abilities API. These are available over the REST API for your own dashboards and automation, and — when the WordPress MCP Adapter plugin is installed — to AI agents over the Model Context Protocol. On older WordPress versions this simply has no effect. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/987815841a1ba62c8fc8a3379c0fd710cb94c3ef14c9ba064c9880fea087b053? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Very good start](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-good-start-5/)󠁿 [sephage](https://profiles.wordpress.org/sephage/) May 15, 2026 1 reply Promising plugin and off to an excellent start. I have a website that has nearly 20 years of content, so you can imagine how many broken links I might have. This one scans them in one of the most performant ways I have seen in these types of plugins – it's about as fast as you could expect given the nature of the checking process is inherently slow. Everything is written to a couple of database tables that are well-designed, so you can easily check those directly and understand what is going on if you are comfortable with MySQL. The interface is simple and easy to understand and navigate, and it performs well, too. And the idea overall – linking to a past snapshot of a link – is a fantastic alternative to just leaving a link broken. It desperately needs two things to make it even better: An exclusion list to skip entirely for scans (for sites that you know beforehand are ok or will return false positives). This would have dramatically sped up the checking time for my site, and I am sure I am not the only one. A method to filter out entirely anything that has already been fixed. This is important because you can easily end up "fixing" links more than once and the plugin is not smart enough to skip items you've already fixed, which can make for some interesting URLs (where the webarchive URL prefix is prepended recursively, making the link totally useless). Especially important on a site like mine with upwards of 20000 links. The recovery feature is nice but it also does not work in those circumstances, so your only option is restoring from a database backup and doing it all over (or a LOT of manual cleanup). [ Read all 0 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “Archivarix Broken Links Recovery” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Archivarix Support ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/archivarixsupport/) “Archivarix Broken Links Recovery” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/contributors) for their contributions. [Translate “Archivarix Broken Links Recovery” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.1.0 * WP-CLI commands: wp ablr scan/status/list/fix/clear * Multisite support (per-site data; wp ablr scan –network) * WordPress 7.0 Abilities API exposed over REST and MCP * Exclusion list: skip chosen domains entirely during scans (Settings) * Fix: re-scanning no longer re-wraps already-archived links into recursive Web Archive URLs * Tested up to WordPress 7.0 #### 1.0.0 * Initial release * Multi-level broken link detection (HTTP, redirects, parking, soft 404) * Web Archive replacement with post date timestamps * Manual and automatic fix modes * Background processing for large sites * Internal link checking * YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok video validation via oEmbed * Social network link validation * Elementor content support * Proxy support for external checks * Domain parking detection (30+ signatures) * Soft 404 detection * Bulk actions and detailed logs ## Meta * Version **1.1.0** * Last updated **5 months ago** * Active installations **200+** * WordPress version ** 5.6 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.0.7** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Languages * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/) and [Russian](https://ru.wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/). * [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery) * Tags * [broken links](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/broken-links/)[dead links](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/dead-links/) [link checker](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/link-checker/)[Wayback Machine](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/wayback-machine/) [web-archive](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/web-archive/) * [Advanced View](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/advanced/) ## Ratings 4 out of 5 stars. * [ 0 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 1 4-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 0 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Archivarix Support ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/archivarixsupport/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/archivarix-broken-links-recovery/) ## Donate Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin? [ Donate to this plugin ](https://archivarix.com/)