Title: Exclude HTTP status 403 Last modified: March 14, 2026 --- # Exclude HTTP status 403 * Resolved [Gal Baras](https://wordpress.org/support/users/galbaras/) * (@galbaras) * [2 months, 4 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exclude-http-status-403/) * I’m getting most of the “failures” from sites that reject connections with the 403 HTTP status. This can be resolved either by changing the way the plugin connects, or circumvented by excluding 403 from being reported. * Is there a way to do either with the local checker? * If not, can the authors please introduce a way to exclude 403 from being reported? Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) * Plugin Support [Jair – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport15/) * (@wpmudevsupport15) * [2 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exclude-http-status-403/#post-18851919) * Hello [@galbaras](https://wordpress.org/support/users/galbaras/) * At this moment, the Local version of Broken Link Checker doesn’t have a function to exclude notifications or alerts when the plugin can’t access a link with a 403 error message. Usually this error message appears when the crawler can’t load a page because the access is forbidden. For the Cloud-based Link Checker, this can be solved by adding the Broken Link Checker IP addresses found in our documentation: [https://wpmudev.com/docs/getting-started/wpmu-dev-ip-addresses/](https://wpmudev.com/docs/getting-started/wpmu-dev-ip-addresses/) * The Local Link Checker works inside your site, as a plugin, it shouldn’t be blocked by the site or a firewall of the site when it checks links of your site. But it can be occasions where you have a link pointing to another site, and the crawler can’t check it because that other site blocks it. In the case you get a notification like that, confirm that the link effectively loads for you, and then add that link in the exclusion list by going to Link Checker -> Settings -> Which Links to Check -> Exclusion list. * If that doesn’t work for you, please share us more information about what kind of errors or alerts are you getting, if the broken link is from your site or an external site, and if adding that link to the exclusion list doesn’t work. * Kind regards, Jair. * Thread Starter [Gal Baras](https://wordpress.org/support/users/galbaras/) * (@galbaras) * [2 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exclude-http-status-403/#post-18852393) * Well, it seems like many popular sites, like freepik.com, pixabay.com and news sites, block the local checker, even when it checks a single page. This could mean that the user agent is deemed to be a bot and disallowed, but this type of error has never been real in years of running the plugin. * If the plugin cannot filter out 403 errors right now, please add this option, because I will happily use it. * This can be added as a PHP filter for advanced users, if you’re concerned about novices making mistakes. * Thank you. * Plugin Support [Amin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudev-support2/) * (@wpmudev-support2) * [2 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exclude-http-status-403/#post-18852976) * Hi [@galbaras](https://wordpress.org/support/users/galbaras/) * I will share your feedback with our development team. I hope we can implement it in future updates. * However I can’t give you any promises or ETAs. * Best Regards Amin * Plugin Support [Nithin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport11/) * (@wpmudevsupport11) * [2 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exclude-http-status-403/#post-18863692) * Hi [@galbaras](https://wordpress.org/support/users/galbaras/) * Since we have acknowledged this will be improved in a future update, I’ll mark it as resolved for now. * For new feature updates, you can get notifications on our progress by subscribing to our roadmap at [https://wpmudev.com/roadmap/](https://wpmudev.com/roadmap/) * Once new versions are released, any pertinent changes will be described in the changelog, which you can find at: * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/#developers](https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/#developers) * Kind Regards, * Nithin Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fexclude-http-status-403%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to reply to this topic. * ![](https://ps.w.org/broken-link-checker/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2900468) * [Broken Link Checker](https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/reviews/) * 5 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [Nithin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport11/) * Last activity: [2 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exclude-http-status-403/#post-18863692) * Status: resolved