A rescan is a full scan of the same sitemap, started from a finished report with the Scan again button. It is a scan like any other, with one difference: Link Signals remembers which scan it repeats, labels the new report as a rescan, and sets the two side by side. The point is to answer one question from evidence: did the work on the site make a difference?
Why it matters
A second report on its own cannot say what changed. A shorter list could mean links were fixed, or that different pages were read, or that a site was down for a day. Comparing the scans in a fixed way removes the doubt, which is why every figure in a rescan is set against its twin from the first scan.
How Link Signals treats it
- Findings are matched by address. A link flagged in both scans is the same finding. One in only the new scan is new, and one in only the old scan has left the list.
- Nothing is assumed about the ones that left. The page each one was on is read again, up to 60 of them, and the report says what was seen: the link is gone, the page is gone, the link is still there but no longer flagged, or it could not be confirmed. Only the first two are fixes.
- Every recorded number is compared. Pages read, links checked, each result type, how many links are followed, the ranking credit count and the dates on your own domain and certificate all appear with a before, an after and the change. A row is left out only when it is zero in both.
| What the page shows now | How a rescan reports it |
|---|---|
| The link is not on the page | Link removed |
| The page no longer exists | Page gone |
| The link is on the page, not flagged | Still there, not counted as fixed |
| The page could not be read | Not confirmed |
A finding from the original scan that you have since trusted (a paid-plan feature) is not one of those four. It is shown in its own list, “Trusted by you, so no longer counted”, and its page is not read again, so a rescan does not say whether the link is still there. The comparison table has a row, “Links you trust, counted as safe”, and the counts change because those links are now counted as safe.
The LinkSignal is shown with how it moved since the original scan. LinkSignal is Link Signals’ own metric, worked out only from what this tool finds, and it is not connected to any search engine or third-party score.
Common misunderstandings
- A rescan is not a re-check. A rescan reads the whole sitemap again and uses link checks for every link it checks. A re-check reads only the flagged links.
- A rescan that stops early cannot say what is fixed. It is labelled and the findings it did not reach are not counted as fixed. See a scan that stopped early.
- Running it again without changing anything gives the same result and uses link checks for nothing, which is why the button asks first.
Questions
When is a rescan worth running?
After a clean-up that touched several links, so every part of the report can be compared. For one or two fixes, a re-check is cheaper.
Does a rescan use my link checks?
Yes. The confirm box shows how many you have left this month. See rescan and compare for what it shows.
Run a scan and find where these show up on your own site.
