Knowledge Base Broken Link Audit

Inspection template for scanning knowledge articles and intranet pages for broken internal and external links, documenting deficiencies, and routing fixes to content owners.

Inspection Scope and Page Identification

• Content location identified
  Record the page title, URL, article ID, or intranet path being audited.
• Content owner identified
  Identify the business owner or publishing team responsible for link maintenance.
• Audit scope confirmed
  Confirm whether the review covers internal links, external links, embedded documents, or all link types on the page.
• Last review date recorded
  Capture the most recent review or publication date if available.
• High-risk or compliance content flagged
  Mark whether the page contains policy, safety, regulatory, or procedure content where broken links could create compliance or operational risk.

Link Integrity Check

• Internal links resolve successfully
  All internal hyperlinks open the intended destination without 404, permission error, or broken anchor behavior.
• External links resolve successfully
  All external hyperlinks open a valid destination and do not return 404, DNS failure, certificate error, or blocked page.
• Anchors and jump links work as intended
  In-page anchors, section links, and table-of-contents links jump to the correct heading or section.
• Redirects are intentional and limited
  Links do not rely on unnecessary redirect chains and any redirect leads to the intended current destination.
• Linked documents open correctly
  Linked PDFs, spreadsheets, forms, or other documents open without access errors and match the referenced content.

Broken Link Deficiency Details

• Broken link count
  Enter the number of broken, dead, or inaccessible links found on the page.
• Affected link details captured
  Record each affected link target, link text, and the page location where it appears.
• Failure type documented
  Identify the observed failure mode for each broken link.
• Broken links include required compliance content
  Determine whether any broken links point to policy, safety, regulatory, or mandatory procedure content.

Routing, Ownership, and Corrective Actions

• Deficiency assigned to owner
  Assign the broken link issue to the content owner, page maintainer, or web team.
• Corrective action selected
  Select the action needed to resolve the link issue.
• Due date set for correction
  Capture the target date for remediation based on severity and content risk.
• Temporary workaround documented
  If the target cannot be fixed immediately, document any temporary navigation path, alternate source, or notice to users.

Audit Summary and Closure

• Overall audit result
  State whether the page passed, passed with deficiencies, or failed the link audit.
• Follow-up review required
  Indicate whether a re-audit is needed after corrections are completed.
• Inspector notes
  Capture any additional observations, patterns, or systemic issues such as repeated dead links, outdated references, or broken navigation.