You can check the safety of a URL by using a free online tool, such as Google’s. To use it, just click on the link with the RIGHT mouse button and choose “Copy” from the context menu that appears (the command may vary depending on your software program). You can then paste the URL into the Google tool for a quick, reliable report. If you have multiple URLs to check, consider using several tools to make sure that all of them have been analyzed.
Another independent phishing URL checker is ScanURL, which uses reputable 3rd party web services to scan for malware and phishing sites. This service also checks if the queried site is listed in any blacklists, which can help you avoid linking to known bad sites. Although it is ad-supported, this is a good free option to consider.
Some services offer paid versions of their tool that allow you to check more than 2000 links per day, and provide detailed reports that include risk score, status code, content type, web server name, etc. In addition, you can schedule an auto-check that scans one or more websites on a regular basis and provides the results via email or in your account.
Many online security services will also conduct an audit of your website and check its internal links for potential problems, including broken links. This is an important part of any website maintenance strategy because broken links can damage SEO, hurt visitor experience, and increase your bounce rate.
Using an automated URL checker can save you valuable time and energy, as it will run the query in the background while you work on other tasks. This tool is especially useful for e-commerce sites, which often have thousands of links in product listings. The tool will also analyze each link and provide a list of possible problems and suggestions for fixing them.
An automatic phishing and virus checking tool is an excellent way to keep your website secure, and it can help you avoid getting blacklisted by the major search engines. There are several different tools available, but VirusTotal is one of the most popular. This unbiased tool checks URLs for viruses by scanning them with more than 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blacklisting services.
Another option for checking a URL’s security is to use a tool such as dfndr lab. This free online service uses machine learning and cross-references to identify “potentially unsafe” links. It can also detect parked domains, which are fake websites that are used for spamming or malicious activity. dfndr lab will even tell you where the suspect website is located if that information is public.