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MarekStryjenski
Level 2
September 15, 2025
Solved

AEM Cloud Service: Runtime Exclusion of External Links from Link Checker

  • September 15, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1203 views

I'm experiencing an issue where external links are incorrectly flagged as broken by AEM's Link Checker, as documented in KA-27042

 

I'm aware of two existing methods to exclude links from the Link Checker:

  1. HTML attribute approach:
   <a href="https://www.example.com" x-cq-linkchecker="skip">Link Text</a>
  1. OSGi configuration approach: Configure link checker service to exclude specific external domains via OSGi config.

 

Is there a content-author-friendly way to exclude external links from the Link Checker at runtime in AEM as a Cloud Service?

Specifically, I'm looking for a solution that would allow:

  • Content authors to exclude problematic links without developer intervention
  • Runtime exclusion when false positives are discovered in production
  • No code deployment required for link exclusions
Best answer by giuseppebaglio

hi @marekstryjenski, 

As suggested in KA-27042, a temporary workaround is to add a trailing slash (/) at the end of external URLs to prevent them from being flagged as broken links. 

 

Alternatively, if you cannot use the OSGi configuration approach, a more user-friendly solution would be to update the components where a link is utilized by adding a new property to set the attribute.

x-cq-linkchecker="skip"

 You should add to the dialog a checkbox:

<skipLinkChecker jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/foundation/form/checkbox" text="Skip Link Checker" name="./skipLinkChecker" value="{Boolean}false" />

Then on the HTL of the component:

<a data-sly-attribute.x-cq-linkchecker="${properties.skipLinkChecker}" href="${properties.linkHref}">${properties.linkLabel}</a>

 

For the RTE, you can extend the link modal to include the field as well: https://experience-aem.blogspot.com/2017/09/aem-63-touch-ui-extend-rich-text-link-dialog-add-rel-select.html 

 
 
 
 

2 replies

giuseppebaglio
giuseppebaglioAccepted solution
Level 10
September 15, 2025

hi @marekstryjenski, 

As suggested in KA-27042, a temporary workaround is to add a trailing slash (/) at the end of external URLs to prevent them from being flagged as broken links. 

 

Alternatively, if you cannot use the OSGi configuration approach, a more user-friendly solution would be to update the components where a link is utilized by adding a new property to set the attribute.

x-cq-linkchecker="skip"

 You should add to the dialog a checkbox:

<skipLinkChecker jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/foundation/form/checkbox" text="Skip Link Checker" name="./skipLinkChecker" value="{Boolean}false" />

Then on the HTL of the component:

<a data-sly-attribute.x-cq-linkchecker="${properties.skipLinkChecker}" href="${properties.linkHref}">${properties.linkLabel}</a>

 

For the RTE, you can extend the link modal to include the field as well: https://experience-aem.blogspot.com/2017/09/aem-63-touch-ui-extend-rich-text-link-dialog-add-rel-select.html 

 
 
 
 
    M
    MarekStryjenskiAuthor
    Level 2
    September 15, 2025

    Hi Giuseppebag,

    Thank you for the reply. In my opinion indeed component-level approach is more user friendly and is better solution for us. The OSGi method becomes impractical since we can't predict which external links might need exclusion in the future.

     

    Thank you for code snippets, they are really useful.

    Just small correction for future readers: I noticed a potential issue with the HTL code snippet. The x-cq-linkchecker attribute expects specific string values:

    • x-cq-linkchecker="skip"
    • x-cq-linkchecker="valid"

    In the current example:

    <a data-sly-attribute.x-cq-linkchecker="${properties.skipLinkChecker}" href="${properties.linkHref}">${properties.linkLabel}</a>

    If the checkbox is checked, this would output:

    <a x-cq-linkchecker="true" href="...">LinkLabel</a>

    But the Link Checker won't recognize "true" as a valid instruction.

    What should be in my opinion:

    <a data-sly-attribute.x-cq-linkchecker="${properties.skipLinkChecker ? 'skip' : ''}" 
   href="${properties.linkHref}">
   ${properties.linkLabel}
</a>

    This way, when the checkbox is checked, it outputs x-cq-linkchecker="skip", and when unchecked, the attribute is omitted entirely.

     

    Thanks again for pointing me toward this solution - it's exactly what we needed for runtime link exclusion without deployment cycles!

    Best regards, Marek

      Syed_Shaik
      Syed_Shaik
      Level 3
      September 16, 2025

      hi @marekstryjenski 

       

      Workaround for AEM Link Checker False Positives

      As described in KA-27042, a temporary workaround is to add a trailing slash (/) at the end of external URLs. This prevents them from being flagged as broken links by AEM’s link checker.

      Alternative: Skip Link Checker Attribute

      If you cannot apply the OSGi configuration, a more user-friendly approach is to enhance your components to support a “Skip Link Checker” property. This leverages the x-cq-linkchecker="skip" attribute.

      1. Update Component Dialog

      Add a checkbox to the component dialog so authors can explicitly skip link checking:

       

       
      <skipLinkChecker jcr:primaryType="nt: unstructured" sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/foundation/form/checkbox" text="Skip Link Checker" name="./skipLinkChecker" value="{Boolean}false" />

       

       

      2. Update HTL

      Update the component markup to include the attribute dynamically:

       

       
      <a data-sly-attribute.x-cq-linkchecker="${properties.skipLinkChecker ? 'skip' : ''}" href="${properties.linkHref}"> ${properties.linkLabel} </a> 
       

       Extend RTE Link Dialog (Optional)

      For links inserted through the Rich Text Editor, extend the RTE link modal to include the same “Skip Link Checker” option. A reference example is available here:
      👉 Extend RTE Link Dialog – Experience AEM

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