Plugin misses LOTS of broken YouTube video links

Hi @nealumphred

I hope you’re well today!

If I correctly understand you are using the “Local (old)” version of the plugin’s engine. This works in a different way than the “Cloud (new)” version or other “online” checkers. The main difference here is how it detects links. While “Cloud (new)” version and some 3rd-party serverices are actually crawling site on front-end, the standard “Local” engine checks specific types of data/content only based on its setting and using WordPress core hooks.

For example it may not see links that are e.g. in page footer or added via some 3rd-party plugins’ widgets or theme builder-specific modules that store datain a non-standard way.

That’s just a general information and not a diagnosis as it’s difficult to say for sure without knowing about those links, their location on site and actually checking pages with these links.

But if rather than listing those broken links as valid links it simply doesn’t detect them at all, it’s the most likely reason.

So let me ask:

1. Am I right thinking that those links are not listed by plugin at all? Or they are detected but incorrectly reported as valid?

2. Would you share some example links (2-3) that are not reported by plugin and also links to the pages of your site where those links are located – so we could take a look?

Kind regards,
Adam

ADAM

Thanks for the prompt response.

Yes, I am using the “Local (old)” version of the plugin’s engine.

Your question/my answers:

1. Am I right thinking that those links are not listed by plugin at all?

? Yes.

2. Would you share some example links (2-3) that are not reported by plugin and also links to the pages of your site where those links are located – so we could take a look?

? I spent several hours deleting hundreds of YouTube links prior to contacting you. I only have two new ones from Online Broken Link Checker:

In this link: https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/sex-kitten/

In this paragraph: “After Ann-Margret, I?don’t recall the term being bandied about much. It was perhaps a?faddish term that had run its course. I?think the term could have been used for Diana Ross in 1964, the year when the Supremes made it big. “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” and “Come See About Me” were #1 pop hits on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100 surveys.”

The links to both Where Did Our Love Go and Baby Love lead to Video unavailable pages.

Neither are listed as broken by your plugin.

Hope this helps!

NEAL

Hi @nealumphred

Thanks for response!

I took a look at the page in question and I see those links there. They are both there pointing to “Video unavailable” page as you said.

So the first thing I checked was putting one of those links on my test site and testing it with “Local” Broken Link Checker. It did find it and it correctly listed it as “Video Not Found” but I had these settings enabled in “Link Checker -> Local (Old) -> Settings”:

– in “Look for links in” tab: I made sure that enabled types of content to check included “pages” (which is in my case where I put link into; it may be different – e.g. post – in your case)
– in “Which links to check” tab I have enabled HTML Links, Plainetext URLs, Embedded YuuTube Videos and Smart YouTube httpv:// URLs

but more importantly

– in “Protocols & APIs” tab: the “YouTube API” option is enabled
– and in “General” tab I have my own API keys for YouTube set in “YouTube API Key” option.

I think those last two are very important for correct check, as otherwise plugin may simply check them as regular URLs and since YouTube responds with valid HTTP “200 OK” status – those links would be treated as valid.

—-

That’s one thing.

As for why they are not discovered:

1. make sure that in both “Look for links in” and “Which Links to Check” sections necessary options are enabled (as mentioned above)

2. but also – let us know please if you are using some sort of a page/post builder (other than just standard – block/Guttenberg or classic – editor) on the site and/or things like e.g. some kind of “grid” builder or, in general, any solution that can make the post content be handled differently than just with standard editor; this may be important here as it may affect how/if those links are detected.

Kind regards,
Adam

ADAM

Thanks for getting back to me. My responses to your suggestions are in bold type below:

– in “Look for links in” tab: I made sure that enabled types of content to check included “pages” (which is in my case where I put link into; it may be different – e.g. post – in your case)

I have those enabled.

– in “Which links to check” tab I have enabled HTML Links, Plainetext URLs, Embedded YuuTube Videos and Smart YouTube httpv:// URLs

I have those enabled.

– in “Protocols & APIs” tab: the “YouTube API” option is enabled

I have that enabled.

– and in “General” tab I have my own API keys for YouTube set in “YouTube API Key” option.

I have that included.

__________________

1. make sure that in both “Look for links in” and “Which Links to Check” sections necessary options are enabled (as mentioned above)

I have them enabled.

2. but also – let us know please if you are using some sort of a page/post builder (other than just standard – block/Guttenberg or classic – editor) on the site and/or things like e.g. some kind of “grid” builder or, in general, any solution that can make the post content be handled differently than just with standard editor; this may be important here as it may affect how/if those links are detected.

I use the Classic Editor without any page-builder or anything resembling one. 

PS: I use the GeneratePress GP Premium theme version 2.4.0.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by nealumphred.

Hi @nealumphred,

I tested in Classic Editor by adding the mentioned YouTube links but those URLs did get listed as broken, unfortunately, we don’t have the mentioned theme to test how it works with the theme.

Do you get the issue with all the broken youtube links? or is it only specific to random youtube URLs?

Do you have a staging site? If yes, is it possible to check and see whether you could replicate the same behaviour there?

Please do make sure to try with a new Youtube API key in the staging site if possible to rule out if the issue isn’t due to the API key too.

Please do let us know how that goes, looking forward to your response.

Kind Regards,

Nithin

NITHIN

Thanks for the repsonse. Your questions below with my answers in bold print:

“Do you get the issue with all the broken youtube links? or is it only specific to random youtube URLs?”

I do not get it with all the broken youtube links.

“Do you have a staging site? If yes, is it possible to check and see whether you could replicate the same behaviour there?”

No.

You asked, “Please do make sure to try with a new Youtube API key in the staging site if possible to rule out if the issue isn’t due to the API key too.”

I just created a new API key and swapped it in the Rathe Rare Records site for the old one. Let’s hope that’s the answer. If it is, it will probably take a while for me to know. I will keep you informed.

Thanks again!

NEAL

Hi @nealumphred,

If it is, it will probably take a while for me to know. I will keep you informed

Thanks for the follow up. Sure, please do let us know how that goes.

Kind Regards,

Nithin

Hi @nealumphred,

Since we haven’t heard from you for a while. I’ll mark this thread as resolved for now. Please feel free to open a new thread if you have new queries.

Kind Regards
Nithin

NITHIN

I am running my Rather Rare Records site through the Online Broken Link Checker now. So far, it has found two broken links on this page: https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/pop-charts-1961/

Under the date February 11–March 4 in the article, the links for “The Lawrence Welk Show” and “Lennon Sisters” are broken. Neither is listed as broken on the Broken Link Checker plugin.

Those two links remain broken for your inspection.

NEAL

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by nealumphred.

Hi @nealumphred,

Under the date February 11–March 4 in the article, the links for “The Lawrence Welk Show” and “Lennon Sisters” are broken. Neither is listed as broken on the Broken Link Checker plugin.

I could notice the broken URLs, however, the mentioned broken URLs don’t appear to be regarding YouTube links as mentioned initially.

Did you try to re-run a new crawl by clicking the “Re-check all pages” button under Link Checker > Local > Advanced > Forced recheck?

Could you please search for the page URL ie https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/pop-charts-1961/ in the Search as shown in the following screenshot and see what it shows up under the “Status” tab for that specific URL?

You can check this screenshot for reference:

View post on imgur.com

However, please do note that for different issues it would be ideal to create a new thread rather than following up in an existing thread.

If you still have issues even after re-check then please do open a new thread and provide us with the mentioned information so that we can check further if needed.

Kind Regards,

Nithin

N

Thanks for the response but I am confused: my original question was “Do you know why the plugin misses all these broken links?”

So far, that question has not been answered—whether they are YouTube links or other links.

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong, like not having checked an option in the plugin’s settings?

N

Hi @nealumphred,

I understand that the behaviour you’re experiencing is not as expected, and further troubleshooting will be necessary to identify a solution. However, our prior suggestions and steps provided were focused on addressing issues related to YouTube links, as they were the primary concern at that time and part of the conversation.

After updating the API key as you have mentioned in here:
https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-misses-lots-of-broken-youtube-video-links/#post-17744000

Were you getting the same issues with YouTube videos getting reported again? We never got a follow-up regarding that part. If it works fine after changing the API key it will point to the initial issue that was more specific to that.

The issue noticed with Youtube video links and the recent issue are different. Regarding the last query, did you check the last suggestion on what was the “Status” of the mentioned Source URL as shown in the screenshot? ie regarding this part:

Could you please search for the page URL ie?https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/pop-charts-1961/?in the Search as shown in the following screenshot and see what it shows up under the “Status” tab for that specific URL?

Looking forward to your response.

Kind Regards,

Nithin