A partial scan, which a report calls one that stopped early, is a scan that used up its link limit before every page had been read. The limit is the smaller of what the plan allows in one scan and what is left of the month. What was read is saved. What was not read is simply absent.
Why it matters
A partial result can look like good news. Few findings, or none, sounds clean, but the pages that were never reached cannot have contributed anything. So a short list from a partial scan says nothing about them.
How Link Signals reports it
- The report opens with a notice that the check stopped early, with how many pages were read, how many links were checked and what the limit was.
- The headline never says the site is clean. A scan with no findings reads “Nothing flagged in what was checked, but the scan stopped early”.
- The LinkSignal is labelled Provisional, with the pages it covers. It is Link Signals’ own metric, based only on this tool’s findings, and it is not connected to any search engine or third-party score.
- On the Sites page the check is marked Stopped early and drawn as a hollow, dashed point, because it cannot be compared with a full one.
- A comparison lists nothing as fixed. Links flagged before that were not in what was read are counted as not reached.
Many partial scans can be avoided by a look-ahead. For a site with at least twice 25 pages, the first 25 are read on their own and the cost of the whole site is projected. Reading a page costs time, not link checks. If the projection is clearly over the limit, the scan is stopped before any link check is used, and the report offers three ways forward: run it anyway, trim the sitemap, or choose a plan that covers more.
| Partial scan | Sampled scan | |
|---|---|---|
| Why not everything was read | The link limit ran out | The plan reads a set number of pages per scan |
| Which pages were read | The ones reached before it stopped | A chosen spread of the whole sitemap |
| Labelled | Stopped early, Provisional | A note on the sample |
Common misunderstandings
- A scan that was stopped by the look-ahead is not the same as one that stopped early. It used no link checks and has no findings at all.
- A partial scan is not an error. It finished and was saved, and what it found is real.
Questions
Can I fix a partial scan?
Check again when your limit allows, or choose a plan that covers more. A scan that stopped early goes through the options.
Is a sampled scan the same thing?
No. A sampled scan is planned: the plan reads a chosen set of pages. A partial scan ran out of link checks.
Run a scan and find where these show up on your own site.
