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Projects and public report pages

Verify your domain

Prove you own a project's domain with the WordPress plugin, an email to the domain or a DNS record, so you can publish its public report page.

3 min read

Verification proves that you own the domain of a project. By the end of this page you will have verified your domain with one of three methods.

You need a verified domain to publish the public report page. Scans, broken links and the other tools work without it.

Find the verification panel

  1. Open the project from the Projects page.
  2. Click Public page in the sidebar.
  3. Look at the Domain ownership panel. Its badge reads VERIFIED or NOT VERIFIED.

Until you verify, the panel shows three options side by side. Pick the one that suits you.

Connect the WordPress plugin

This is the fastest way for WordPress sites. It needs no DNS changes.

  1. Click Connect under Connect the WordPress plugin. The WordPress tab opens.
  2. Install the Check for Broken Links plugin on your site.
  3. Click "Connect site" in wp-admin.

Once the site connects, the domain verifies itself. The connected site must run on the same domain as the project.

Get an email on the domain

We send a link to any mailbox on your domain. Receiving it is the proof.

  1. Under Get an email on the domain, type the mailbox name, the part before the @. The domain part is already filled in.
  2. Click Send.
  3. Open the mail with the subject "Verify" followed by your domain. Click Confirm verification.
  4. On the page that opens, click CONFIRM VERIFICATION →.

The link in the mail works for one day. Logged in, you land back on the Public page tab with the message "Domain verified." If you are logged out, the login page opens instead. A note there confirms the domain is verified.

Add a DNS TXT record

Use this method when you manage the domain's DNS but have no mailbox on it.

  1. Copy the value shown under No email either? Add a DNS TXT record. It starts with brokenlinkchecker-verify= followed by a code.
  2. At your DNS provider, add a TXT record with that exact value. Put it on the bare domain, such as example.com, not on www.
  3. Back on the Public page tab, click Check verification.

New DNS records can take a while to show up. If the check fails, wait and click Check verification again.

Check verification

The Check verification button runs every check at once: the connected site, your login email and the DNS record. On success you see the message "Domain verified." If every check fails, a message asks you to connect the site or add the DNS record.

Automatic match on your login email

Sometimes you skip all of this. When your confirmed login email sits on the project's domain, the domain verifies itself. That happens when you create the project and each time you open the Public page tab.

Two cases skip the automatic match:

  • Shared mail providers, such as Gmail or Outlook. Anyone can have an address there.
  • A domain where more than one account logs in with an address on it.

What verification unlocks

A verified domain can go live as a public report page. The Public report page switch stays locked until you verify.

Plan: publishing also needs a paid plan, with the domain in one of your Pro slots. You can verify on any plan.

The public report page Publish a public report page for your site. See what visitors get, what stays private, how to edit the page and how to switch it on or off. The Projects hub Your Projects page at a glance. Read each project card, filter the list, add a project, watch your Pro slots and switch between projects fast. Create your first project Add your domain as a project to keep every scan in one place. Run the first scan and learn what each tab of a project shows you.