README

A fast, safe WordPress plugin that scans your content for broken links and provides powerful tools to fix them efficiently.

Features

Core Functionality

• Smart Link Scanner: Scans posts, pages, and WooCommerce products for broken links
• Comprehensive Detection: Finds links in <a href> tags and plain URLs in content
• Intelligent Checking: Uses HEAD requests first, falls back to GET when needed
• Status Reporting: Detects 404s, timeouts, DNS errors, SSL issues, and redirects
• Batch Processing: AJAX-based scanning prevents timeouts on large sites

Link Management

• Detailed Reporting: View all broken links with status codes, occurrence counts, and affected posts
• Advanced Filtering: Filter by status, post type, domain, and more
• Quick Actions: Recheck individual links, ignore false positives
• Response Metrics: See response times and redirect chains

Bulk Operations

• Find & Replace: Safely replace URLs across your content
• Match Types: Contains, equals, starts with, ends with
• Preview Changes: See exactly what will be modified before applying
• Undo Support: Revert the last bulk operation if needed
• Safe Replacement: Protects code blocks from modification

Auto-Fix Rules

• Pattern Matching: Create rules for automatic URL replacement
• Wildcard Support: Use * to preserve URL paths (e.g., oldsite.com/* � newsite.com/*)
• Rule Management: Enable/disable rules without deleting them
• Dry Run: Preview rule application before executing

Performance & Reliability

• Rate Limiting: Configurable request throttling (be kind to servers)
• Batch Processing: Processes posts and URLs in manageable chunks
• WP Cron Support: Schedule automatic scans (hourly, daily, weekly)
• Progress Tracking: Real-time progress updates during scans
• Stop Anytime: Safely interrupt long-running scans

Developer-Friendly

• Clean OOP Structure: PSR-4 autoloading, namespaces
• Custom DB Tables: Efficient storage with proper indexing
• Security First: Capability checks, nonces, input sanitization
• i18n Ready: Translation-ready strings
• Hooks & Filters: Extensible architecture (coming in v1.1)

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or higher
• PHP 8.0 or higher
• MySQL 5.6 or higher

Installation

From ZIP File

1. Download the plugin ZIP file
2. Go to WordPress admin � Plugins � Add New � Upload Plugin
3. Choose the ZIP file and click "Install Now"
4. Activate the plugin
5. Navigate to Tools � Link Sweeper

Manual Installation

1. Upload the wp-link-sweeper folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu
3. Navigate to Tools � Link Sweeper

From Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/mubseoul/wp-link-sweeper.git
cd wp-link-sweeper
# If using Composer (optional)
composer install

Usage Guide

Running Your First Scan

1. Go to Tools � Link Sweeper
2. Click Start New Scan
3. The scanner will:
   • Extract all URLs from your content
   • Check each URL's availability
   • Report broken links, redirects, and errors

Viewing Broken Links

1. Click the Broken Links tab
2. Use filters to narrow results:
   • Status (Broken, OK, Redirects)
   • Post Type
   • Domain
3. See which posts contain each broken link
4. Recheck or ignore individual links

Finding & Replacing URLs

1. Go to the Find & Replace tab
2. Enter the URL to find (e.g., http://oldsite.com)
3. Enter the replacement URL (e.g., https://newsite.com)
4. Select match type and post types
5. Click Preview Changes to see what will happen
6. Click Execute Replacement to apply changes
7. Use Undo if you need to revert

Creating Auto-Fix Rules

1. Go to the Auto-Fix Rules tab
2. Add a new rule:
   • Pattern: oldsite.com/*
   • Replacement: newsite.com/*
   • Match Type: Contains
3. Click Add Rule
4. Preview or apply rules to broken links

Configuring Settings

1. Go to the Settings tab
2. Configure:
   • Post Types: Which content to scan
   • Rate Limit: Requests per second (default: 5)
   • Timeout: How long to wait for responses
   • Normalization: UTM removal, fragment handling
   • Scheduled Scans: Automatic scanning frequency
   • Batch Sizes: Adjust for server performance

Testing Checklist

Basic Functionality

• Install and activate plugin
• Access admin page at Tools � Link Sweeper
• All tabs load without errors
• Settings save successfully

Scanning

• Start a new scan
• Progress bar updates in real-time
• Scan completes without timeout
• Stop scan button works
• Dashboard shows accurate statistics
• Broken links appear in table
• Can filter by status, post type, domain
• Pagination works for large result sets

Link Checking

• Recheck individual link updates status
• Ignore link removes from list
• Status badges display correctly
• HTTP codes are accurate
• Response times are recorded
• Redirects are detected and counted

Find & Replace

• Preview shows affected posts
• Preview shows sample changes
• Execute replacement works
• Code blocks are protected
• Undo restores original content
• Match types work (contains, equals, etc.)

Auto-Fix Rules

• Can add new rule
• Can delete rule
• Can enable/disable rule
• Preview shows what will change
• Apply rules replaces URLs correctly
• Wildcard patterns work

WooCommerce Integration

• Product post type appears if WooCommerce active
• Can scan product descriptions
• Can replace URLs in products

Scheduled Scans

• Can set cron schedule
• Next run time displays correctly
• Scheduled scan executes (wait for schedule or test with WP-CLI)

Performance

• Large sites (1000+ posts) scan without timeout
• Batch processing works correctly
• Rate limiting prevents server overload
• Database queries are efficient

Security

• Non-admin users cannot access
• AJAX requests require nonce
• SQL injection attempts fail
• XSS attempts are escaped

Uninstall

• Can enable "Delete data on uninstall"
• Deactivate plugin
• Uninstall plugin
• Database tables removed (if option enabled)
• Options removed (if option enabled)

Roadmap

Version 1.1 (Released)

• Export broken links to CSV

Version 1.2 (Planned)

• Email notifications for broken links
• Scan custom fields (Yoast, RankMath)
• Deeper Elementor/page builder support
• Hooks and filters for developers
• Bulk ignore by domain
• Link status history tracking
• Multi-language support improvements

Pro Ideas (Not in Free Version)

• Multi-site network support
• Advanced scheduling (specific times)
• Automatic replacement with dry-run logs
• Integration with Google Search Console
• Broken image detection
• External link monitoring service
• Priority support
• White-label options

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these guidelines:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Coding Standards

• Follow WordPress Coding Standards
• Use PHP 8.0+ features where appropriate
• Write clear, documented code
• Include PHPDoc blocks for classes and methods

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: Wiki
• WordPress.org: Support Forum

License

GPLv2 or later. See LICENSE file.

Credits

Developed by Mubseoul

Special thanks to:

• WordPress community
• Contributors (see CONTRIBUTORS.md)

Changelog

1.1.0 - 2024-02-XX

• NEW: CSV Export functionality
• Export broken links to CSV file
• Respects current filters (status, post type, domain)
• Includes all link details and affected posts
• Enhanced data portability for reporting

1.0.0 - 2024-01-XX

• Initial release
• Core scanning functionality
• Find & replace tool
• Auto-fix rules
• Scheduled scans
• WooCommerce support

Note: This plugin performs HTTP requests to external websites. Always respect robots.txt and be mindful of rate limiting.