# Link health (/docs/brands/videos/link-health)

How Bloss spots dead links and changed or unreachable creator accounts, what each badge means, and what it deliberately doesn't flag.

Posts disappear: creators delete or archive them, set them to private, or a platform takes them down. Creators also change their usernames. Link health tells you when that happens, so your reports don't send a client to a broken link and your syncs keep finding new posts.

<Callout title="Link health never changes views or pay">

  A post with a dead link keeps the views it had and whatever it earned. Nothing
  about pay or qualification reads these flags. If you want to stop paying for a
  set, [mark it unpaid](/docs/brands/videos/custom-pay#mark-a-set-unpaid) or
  [mark its posts irrelevant](/docs/brands/videos/irrelevant-videos).

</Callout>

## Dead links [#dead-links]

A <Term id="dead-link">dead link</Term> is a post that no longer opens on its platform. It carries a **Link dead** badge. Hover it to see why and when Bloss first noticed:

| Reason shown               | What the platform reported                                                  |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **deleted by the creator** | The creator deleted the post (TikTok reports this).                         |
| **set to private**         | The post is private now (TikTok reports this).                              |
| **removed or archived**    | The post can't be found — deleted, archived, or taken down by the platform. |
| **no longer reachable**    | The post is gone, with no more detail.                                      |

Bloss words these carefully: "removed or archived" doesn't blame the creator, because the platform may have taken the post down.

<Screenshot name="brands/link-dead-badge" alt={"A video card with the Link dead badge"} />

### How a link is confirmed dead [#how-a-link-is-confirmed-dead]

Bloss doesn't flag a post as soon as it's missing from the creator's profile. It checks in two steps:

1. During each sync, Bloss notes posts that weren't listed on the creator's profile.
2. If a post stays missing on later syncs, Bloss checks the post directly. Only a clear "this post doesn't exist" (or deleted, or private) answer marks it dead.

A badge can take a few days to appear. When many of a creator's posts are missing at once, Bloss works through them over several nights.

If a dead post shows up on the creator's profile again — say, they un-archive it — the badge comes off.

### What isn't flagged [#what-isnt-flagged]

- **Posts that are only missing from the profile.** Platforms routinely leave live posts out of a creator's profile listing, so missing alone is never treated as dead.
- **Temporary errors.** If a platform doesn't give a clear answer, nothing is marked.
- **A profile that failed to load or came back empty.** That says nothing about individual posts. It's handled by [account alerts](#account-alerts) instead.
- **Posts you've marked irrelevant.** You've already excluded them, so they get no badge.

### Where you'll see it [#where-youll-see-it]

- On video cards in the **Video Vault** and on a creator's **Videos** tab.
- In the Vault's **Sets** view, per platform.
- In payout CSV exports, in a link health column (**No issues detected**, or which link is dead).
- To your creators, worded for them, in their own portal.

### Filter by link health [#filter-by-link-health]

In the **Video Vault** and **Analytics**, the **Link health** filter offers:

- **Has a dead link** — only sets where at least one post no longer opens.
- **No dead links** — hides any set with a post confirmed dead. Sets whose links were never checked are kept.

The filter works on whole sets: if one post in a set is dead, the whole set is kept or dropped together, including its live posts' views.

### Get alerted [#get-alerted]

Webhooks can tell your Discord or your own system when a tracked video's link is confirmed dead. See [Webhooks](/docs/developers/webhooks).

## Account alerts [#account-alerts]

Sometimes the problem is the account, not one post. When Bloss can't load a creator's profile on a platform, it checks one of their recent posts to find out why:

| Alert                   | When                                                      | What it means                                                                                                                     |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Handle changed**      | The post still works, but now shows a different username. | The creator renamed their account. Bloss shows the new handle.                                                                    |
| **Account unreachable** | The post is gone too.                                     | The account may have been suspended, deleted or set to private — platforms report all three the same way, so Bloss doesn't guess. |

If the posts still work under the username on file, the failed profile load is ignored and no alert is raised.

An "i" marker appears next to the handle on the **Creators** table, the creator's **Connections** card and other places the handle shows. Hover it for the details. Until it's fixed, **new posts from that account stop coming through**. Posts already tracked, and their pay, are unchanged.

Individual posts can also show a **Handle changed** badge: "Now posted by @newhandle — the creator appears to have changed their handle."

### Fix an account alert [#fix-an-account-alert]

<Steps>
<Step>

#### Update the handle [#update-the-handle]

Open the creator's profile and edit **Connections**. Enter the new username, or remove the account if the creator no longer uses it.

</Step>
<Step>

#### Sync [#sync]

Click **Sync Data**, or wait for the nightly sync. Once the handle loads, the alert clears by itself.

</Step>
</Steps>

Alerts also clear on their own if the account comes back.

<Callout title="Facebook">

  Bloss can tell when a Facebook page is unreachable, but it can't detect a
  Facebook rename, so you won't see **Handle changed** for Facebook.

</Callout>

## Related [#related]

- [Video Vault](/docs/brands/videos/video-vault)
- [Syncing](/docs/brands/videos/syncing)
- [Webhooks](/docs/developers/webhooks)