Link Auditor Skill

Hugo site link health analysis through a 4-phase pipeline: Scan, Analyze, Validate, Report. Extracts internal, external, and image links from Hugo markdown content; builds an adjacency matrix of internal link relationships; identifies orphan pages, under-linked pages, link sinks, and hub pages; validates that link targets resolve to real files; and generates audit reports with actionable fix suggestions.

Read and follow the repository CLAUDE.md before starting any audit.

Instructions

Phase 1: SCAN

Goal: Extract all links from every markdown file and classify them by type.

Step 1: Identify content root

Scan all markdown files in content/ because even small sites with 10 posts can have orphan pages, and partial scans miss graph-level issues. Locate the Hugo content directory and enumerate all markdown files:

# TODO: scripts/link_scanner.py not yet implemented
# Manual alternative: extract links from markdown files
grep -rn '\[.*\](.*' ~/your-blog/content/ --include="*.md"

Step 2: Extract links by type

Parse each markdown file for three link categories. Classify by type to understand link distribution:

Internal Links:

• [text](/posts/slug/) -- absolute internal path
• [text](../other-post/) -- relative path
• [text](/categories/tech/) -- taxonomy pages
• {{< ref "posts/slug.md" >}} -- Hugo ref shortcode

External Links:

• [text](https://example.com/path)
• [text](http://example.com/path)

Image Links:

• ![alt](/images/filename.png) -- static path
• ![alt](images/filename.png) -- relative path
• {{< figure src="/images/file.png" >}} -- Hugo shortcode

Step 3: Tally link counts per file

Record total internal, external, and image links per file for the summary.

Gate: All markdown files scanned. Link extraction complete with counts by type. Proceed only when gate passes.

Phase 2: ANALYZE

Goal: Build internal link graph and compute structural metrics.

Step 1: Build adjacency matrix

Always build the adjacency matrix and compute inbound link counts because orphan pages are invisible to search crawlers and this is often the highest-impact finding an audit produces. Map every internal link to its source and target:

Page A -> Page B (A links to B)
Page A -> Page C
Page B -> Page D
Page C -> (no outbound)
Page E -> (no outbound, no inbound = orphan)

Step 2: Compute graph metrics

Metric	Definition	SEO Impact
Orphan Pages	0 inbound internal links	Critical -- invisible to crawlers
Under-Linked	< N inbound links (default 2, adjustable with --min-inbound N)	Missed SEO opportunity
Link Sinks	Receives links, no outbound	May indicate incomplete content
Hub Pages	Many outbound links	Good for navigation

Step 3: Classify findings by severity

Clearly distinguish critical issues from suggestions because they require different urgency levels. Organize all findings by impact:

• Critical: Orphan pages, broken internal links, missing images
• Warning: Under-linked pages, link sinks
• Info: Hub pages, external link stats

Gate: Adjacency matrix built. All pages classified with inbound/outbound counts. Proceed only when gate passes.

Phase 3: VALIDATE

Goal: Verify link targets resolve to real files or live URLs.

Step 1: Validate internal links

For each internal link target, try all Hugo path resolutions before reporting a link as broken because Hugo resolves paths through multiple conventions. Check these resolutions in order:

1. Parse the link target path
2. Try Hugo path resolutions: content/posts/slug.md, content/posts/slug/index.md, content/posts/slug/_index.md
3. Mark as broken only if ALL resolutions fail
4. Record source file and line number for broken links

Step 2: Validate image paths

Check all image paths against static/ because missing images are critical issues. Validate both absolute and relative interpretations:

1. Parse image source path (absolute or relative)
2. Map to static/ directory, checking both absolute and relative interpretations
3. Check file exists
4. Record source file and line number for missing images

Step 3: Validate external links (optional)

Skip external URL validation by default because network latency, rate limiting, and bot-blocking make results unreliable. Only run validation when explicitly enabled with --check-external flag. When enabled, follow these steps:

1. HTTP HEAD request to URL
2. Follow redirects (up to 3)
3. Check response status code
4. Report known bot-blocked sites as "blocked (expected)" not broken because LinkedIn (403), Twitter/X (403/999), and Facebook actively block automated requests while links work fine in browsers

Use --verbose to include valid links in the output (default: issues only).

Gate: All link targets checked. Broken links have file and line numbers. External results (if enabled) distinguish real failures from false positives. Proceed only when gate passes.

Phase 4: REPORT

Goal: Present findings in a structured, actionable audit report.

Never modify content files during this phase because users must approve all content changes. Report findings with specific suggestions and let the user decide which fixes to apply.

Step 1: Generate summary header

===============================================================
 LINK AUDIT: ~/your-blog/content/
===============================================================

 SCAN SUMMARY:
   Posts scanned: 15
   Internal links: 42
   External links: 28
   Image references: 12

Step 2: Report by severity

List critical issues first (orphans, broken links, missing images), then warnings (under-linked, sinks), then info (hubs, valid external counts). Show all findings without summarizing or abbreviating because partial issue lists hide problems.

Each issue must include:

• File path
• Line number (for broken links and missing images)
• Specific suggestion for resolution

Step 3: Generate recommendations

Conclude with numbered, actionable recommendations ordered by impact:

===============================================================
 RECOMMENDATIONS:
   1. Add internal links to 2 orphan pages
   2. Fix 1 broken internal link in /posts/example.md line 45
   3. Update or remove 1 dead external link
   4. Add missing image or fix path in /posts/images.md line 12
===============================================================

Always run the full 4-phase audit regardless of how few issues appear because link rot is progressive and orphan pages are invisible without graph analysis.

Gate: Report generated with all findings. Every issue has a file path and actionable suggestion. Audit is complete.

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Error Handling

Error: "No markdown files found"

Cause: Wrong directory path or empty content root Solution:

1. Verify the content/ directory exists at the given path
2. Check that .md files exist (not just subdirectories)
3. Confirm the path is the Hugo content root, not the project root

Error: "External validation timeout"

Cause: Target site is slow, blocking requests, or unreachable Solution:

1. Check if the site is in the known false-positives list (LinkedIn, Twitter)
2. Add persistently failing sites to the false-positives list
3. Use shorter timeout with --timeout 5 for slow sites

Error: "Image path ambiguous"

Cause: Path could be relative or absolute, unclear resolution Solution:

1. The scanner checks both interpretations automatically
2. Report shows which interpretation was attempted
3. Verify the Hugo site's static directory structure matches expectations

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References

• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/link-graph-metrics.md: Graph metrics definitions and SEO impact
• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/false-positives.md: Sites known to block validation requests
• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/fix-strategies.md: Resolution strategies for each issue type