How to find broken links in a Zendesk help center

By Jake Marsh · Updated

To find broken links in your Zendesk help center, install Sprucewell, open it from the left navigation bar and click the broken links number on the overview, or go straight to the Links tab. Sprucewell checks every <a href> and <img src> in every translation and lists each problem with the article it's in. Each row has Replace everywhere, Add a redirect and Open article to fix it.

Steps

  1. Open the overview. It reads every language and shows broken or risky links, stale translations and redirect rules. Reload reads everything again.
  2. Open Links. Every problem is listed with its type and the article and language it's in.
  3. Click Check attachments to look up every help center attachment articles link to (up to 1,000 per run).
  4. Fix each row.
    • Replace everywhere opens Find and replace with that address filled in, ready for the new one, so every article that has it changes at once.
    • Add a redirect opens Redirects with the missing address filled in.
    • Open article opens it in Knowledge admin.
  5. Reload to confirm the list is shorter.

What counts as broken

ProblemMeaning
Missing targetThe article, section, category or attachment no longer exists (deleted, archived, or hidden from you)
Target is a draftThe linked article is a draft in that language, so readers get page-not-found
Target not in that languageThe linked article has no translation in the link's language
Broken #anchorThe #part of the link isn't in the target article
Old domainThe link points at a domain you listed as old
http:// linkA link to your own help center without https
Empty addressA link or image with no address

Also listed, but not problems: Missing, redirected (the target is gone but a redirect rule sends readers on; link straight to the new page to skip the hop), Other site (not checked) and Help center page (not checked), such as search or request forms.

Links to other websites

Links to other sites are grouped by domain under the table. Sprucewell doesn't fetch other websites: Zendesk apps can't send the lightweight request a link check needs, and Sprucewell doesn't download other sites' pages from your account. If you're leaving a domain, list it under Old domains to flag (in the Links tab or the app settings), separated by commas, and every link to it shows as a problem.

Before you archive an article

When you archive an article in Sprucewell's Clean up tab, the preview lists the articles that link to it, so you can fix them first or add a redirect in the same step. That keeps archiving from creating new broken links.

What it costs

Sprucewell is billed monthly by Zendesk per Zendesk account, by article translations: Starter $85 a month for up to 2,000, Growth $125 for up to 6,000, Scale $175 for any number. Every feature, including the link checker, is on every plan, with a 14-day free trial. See the Sprucewell documentation.

Sprucewell

Help center find and replace, broken links and 301 redirects across articles. Preview, then undo. From $85 a month per Zendesk account.

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Questions

Does Zendesk have a built-in broken link checker?

Not one that checks links inside your articles across every language. Sprucewell's Links tab does that, and anyone who can open the app can run it.

Why does a link to an article I can see show as missing?

Missing target also covers articles that are archived or hidden from you. A link to a draft shows as Target is a draft, because readers get page-not-found.

Can I find every article that links to one page?

Yes. In the Links tab, click All links and type the page's address in Filter by article or address. Before archiving, Clean up also lists the articles that link to each article.

Does it check images too?

Yes. Every <img src> is checked like a link, and Check attachments looks up help center attachments the articles use.

Can I fix one bad link in every article at once?

Yes. Replace everywhere opens Find and replace with the address filled in. Type the new address, preview, and apply.

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