A false positive is a result that says there is a problem when there is not. In link checking, it is a perfectly good link that the scanner flags. The opposite, a real problem that is missed, is a false negative. Every automated check trades one against the other: making it stricter catches more problems and also raises more false alarms.
Why it matters
If a report cries wolf too often, people stop reading it. If it is too lax, an injected link stays on your site for months. Link Signals tries to be honest about this by giving each flag a verdict and a reason, so you can see how sure it is and why.
Where they come from
Keyword matching can’t tell the topic of a page from its intent, so some harmless pages are flagged. A news article about a casino fine, a medical page that names a drug, or a charity page about gambling addiction can all contain the same words as a spam page. Link Signals keeps keyword-only matches at Needs review so a person decides, and reserves Not safe for confirmed or model-judged findings.
Needs review · Keyword match, needs a human look: casino, roulette, poker, slot| Source of the flag | How sure it is |
|---|---|
| Domain on a blocklist | Confirmed |
| A model reading the page and the link’s context | Judged |
| Keywords in the page or the domain name | A prompt to look, not a conclusion |
Sites that refuse automated checks are handled separately. A well-known site that answers with an error because it blocks bots is not flagged for it, and a page that stops the scanner is reported as “couldn’t check” rather than as a problem.
What to do about one
Open the destination and look. If the link is fine, mark it reviewed or ignore it so it does not return. Link Signals reads the page again before calling anything resolved, so a review is never taken on trust.
The full list of places it can be wrong is on accuracy and limits.
Questions
Is a Not safe verdict ever a false positive?
It can be, since a model’s judgement is not perfect, but blocklist matches are far more reliable. The reason on the finding says which kind of evidence it rests on.
Does ignoring a finding hide a real problem?
Only for that link. Ignoring is meant for links you have checked. Anything new that is flagged still appears.
Run a scan and find where these show up on your own site.
