Set Up Automatic Link Scanning

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SEO Repair Kit’s Auto Scan lets you automatically check your website for broken links on a schedule. You can choose how often scans run, which links and content types are checked, and whether email alerts are sent when broken links are found.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to configure and run automatic link scanning.

How to Set Up Automatic Link Scanning

1. Open Auto Scan

In your WordPress Dashboard, go to:

SEO Repair Kit → Links Manager → Auto Scan

The Auto Scan Settings screen will open.

2. Enable Automatic Scanning

Under Enable Automation, select:

Automatically scan links on a schedule

Then use Scan Interval to choose how often SEO Repair Kit should automatically scan your links.

For example, select Every 24 hours if you want the scan to run once every 24 hours.

3. Choose Which Links and Content to Scan

Use Link Scope to choose which types of links should be checked.

You can configure the scan for internal links, external links, or both.

Then use Scan Coverage to choose how much of your website should be included.

Link Scope

Choose the link types you want SEO Repair Kit to check.

Select Both Internal and External Links if you want both types included.

Scan Coverage

Choose how SEO Repair Kit determines which content should be scanned.

Selected Post Types lets you manually choose specific content types.

Whole Website automatically includes applicable posts, pages, and public custom post types.

4. Select the Post Types to Scan

If Scan Coverage is set to Selected Post Types, choose the content types you want to include.

For example, you can select Posts, Pages, or any other relevant public post types available on your website.

The exact options depend on the content types registered on your WordPress installation.

Note: The Post Types to Scan options are used only when Scan Coverage is set to Selected Post Types.

Configure Scan Processing

The next three settings control how SEO Repair Kit processes links during automatic scans.

Batch Size

Batch Size controls how many posts are fetched in each database batch.

All matching content is still scanned.

If you are unsure, you can keep the existing/default value.

Max Links per Post

Controls how many links can be scanned in each content item.

Set this to 0 to scan all links found in each item.

HTTP Timeout (seconds)

Controls how long SEO Repair Kit waits for a link request before it times out.

If you are unsure, keep the existing/default value.

Enable Broken Link Email Alerts

If you want to receive an email when an automatic scan finds broken links, enable:

Send email alerts when broken links are found

Then enter the email address that should receive the alerts.

For multiple recipients, enter the email addresses separated by commas, as indicated in the interface.

Save Your Auto Scan Settings

After configuring the scan, click Save Settings.

Once automation is enabled and the configuration is saved, check Next scheduled run to see when the next automatic scan is scheduled.

Run a Scan Immediately

You do not need to wait for the next scheduled scan if you want to check your links immediately.

Click Run Scan.

SEO Repair Kit will start a scan using your configured Auto Scan settings.

After the scan completes, you can review its activity from:

Links Manager → Notifications

Reset Auto Scan

The Auto Scan screen also provides two reset options.

Reset Settings

Click Reset Settings when you want to reset the Auto Scan configuration.

Reset Scan

Click Reset Scan when you need to reset the scan state.

Important: Use the reset options only when necessary. If you only want to change your automatic scan configuration, update the required fields and click Save Settings instead.

Recommended Auto Scan Setup

If you want to monitor both internal and external links across selected website content, you can configure Auto Scan like this:

Enable Automation: Enabled
Scan Interval: Every 24 hours
Link Scope: Both Internal and External Links
Scan Coverage: Selected Post Types
Post Types: Select the content types you want monitored
Max Links per Post: 0 to scan all links
Email Alerts: Enabled if you want broken-link notifications

For Batch Size and HTTP Timeout, keep your existing/default values unless you have a specific reason to change them.

What Happens After You Enable Auto Scan?

Once your settings are saved, SEO Repair Kit can run link scans according to the selected schedule.

When scans run, you can review information such as scanned content, total links, broken links, and email alert activity from the Notifications tab.

View Scan & Notification History →

What’s the Difference Between Links Scan and Auto Scan?

Links Scan is useful when you want to manually select content and run a link scan yourself.

Auto Scan lets SEO Repair Kit perform recurring scans based on your saved schedule and configuration.

You can use both together: run manual scans whenever needed and use Auto Scan for ongoing monitoring.

Did You Know?