Every scan has a limit on how many links it may check. When a scan reaches that limit before it has read every page, it stops, saves what it found, and says so. This guide explains why that happens, how a stopped-early report is labelled, how to avoid one, and what to do after one.
What it is and why it happens
A scan reads the pages in your sitemap and checks the links it finds. Reading a page costs time. Checking where a link leads is what uses your link checks. The limit for one scan is the smaller of two numbers: what your plan allows in a single scan, and what is left of your link checks for the month.
A large site, or a site with many different outbound links on each page, can need more checks than either number allows. When the limit is reached the scan finishes with the pages it had read. A report like this is called a partial scan, or a scan that stopped early. It is not an error, and what it found is real. It is only incomplete. The glossary entry gives the definition.
What you are told
Link Signals does not let a partial result pass for a complete one. Wherever the result appears, it is marked.
| Where | What it says |
|---|---|
| Top of the report | The Stopped early notice: how many pages were read of how many, how many links were checked, and what the limit was |
| The headline | Never says the site is clean. With nothing flagged it reads “Nothing flagged in what was checked, but the scan stopped early” |
| The LinkSignal | Labelled Provisional, with the pages read, because it is a score for those pages only |
| The Sites page | The check carries a Stopped early label and is a hollow point with a dashed outline on the LinkSignal chart, since it cannot be compared with a full scan |
| A comparison | Lists nothing as fixed. Links flagged last time that are not in what was read are counted as not reached |
| The email | The message about the scan says it stopped early |
The LinkSignal 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. See how the score is worked out.
How to avoid it
Where a site is clearly too big for the limit, Link Signals tries to say so before it spends anything.
- Load sitemap shows the size first. It gives the number of pages, what your plan reads, and the smallest plan that would cover the site. A note also says how many pages have a date for when they last changed, which lets later scans skip pages that have not moved.
- The look-ahead. For a site with at least twice 25 pages, a scan first reads 25 pages on their own and projects what the whole site would need. Reading pages uses no link checks.
- Stopped before any are used. If the projection is clearly over the limit, by about a quarter or more, the scan stops there. The report says it was stopped before it used any of your link checks, and offers three choices.
- Run it anywayA confirm box says the scan will check up to the limit and then stop, that its report will be marked as stopped early and cannot say what is fixed, and how many link checks you have left this month.
- Trim the sitemapRemove sections that do not matter, such as tag archives, and load a smaller sitemap. A sitemap with fewer pages gives a complete result.
- Choose a plan that covers moreThe plans page shows how many links each plan checks in one scan. See choosing the right plan.
A scan that has been told to run anyway skips the look-ahead, since the decision has been made. The confirm box on Scan again also warns when the link checks left are fewer than the last scan used, because that scan would stop early too.
What to do after one
- Use what it found. The findings are real, so deal with the most serious first. See reading your scan report.
- Decide on a fix: a plan that covers more, a smaller sitemap, or waiting until your link checks renew.
- Check again when your limit allows. Compare like with like, because a full scan after a partial one is the first fair comparison. See rescan and compare.
See how a site is changing for watching a large site over time, and scans run in the background for how a scan proceeds once started.
Questions
Did a stopped-early scan use my link checks?
Yes, up to the limit. A scan stopped by the look-ahead used none, because it was stopped before it checked any link.
Can I trust the findings it listed?
Yes. They are real findings from the pages it read. What it cannot tell you is whether the unread pages have more.
Why does the comparison list nothing as fixed?
A scan that never looked at some links cannot say they are gone. They are counted as not reached, and nothing is claimed about them.
Is this the same as a sampled scan?
No. A sampled scan is planned, with a chosen spread of pages. A partial scan ran out of link checks. See what if my site is very large.
Load a sitemap to see its size against your plan before anything is used.
