9 Best Online Services to Test If a Link Is Safe

This morning we wrote about the easiest method of determining whether a link is bad or safe. Hovering over the link and see the target address in status bar is a good idea but it can not catch all the aspects of a bad link or a bad website. Luckily there are several web applications available to test how safe a link is.

Before we present the link testing websites, you need to learn how to copy the target of a link because you will need to tell these websites the URL to you want to test.

Right click on the link you want to test. A menu will appear.

Select Copy link address (Google Chrome) or Copy link location (Mozilla Firefox) or Copy shortcut (Internet Explorer). Target of the link will be copied in memory of your computer and now you can paste it anywhere.

Now that you have the suspicious link copied, you can use any of the following services to check it for safety.

1. Norton Safe Web : This service offers you a simple verdict whether a link is safe or not. It also gives a summary of threats by mentioning the number of Computer Threats, Identity Threats and Annoyance factors found on the link provided by your.
2. WebAdvisor (by McAfee) : McAfee’s solution tells you whether the link in question downloads anything on your computer. It also gives a list of out-bound links that your link has on it. A look at this list is also useful in determining the kind of website you are dealing with.
3. Sucuri : Sucuri gives you a detailed report on the website whose domain name you provide. It tells you blacklisting of the website, outdated software used by the website, presence of malware, malicious javascript, malicious iFrames, drive-by downloads, anomaly detection, IE-only attacks, suspicious redirections and presence of spam:
4. Unmask Parasites : Gives a basic report and a verdict as the site is clean or not.
5. Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic: It is an advisory tool provided by Google. The Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic tells you about the Google’s perception of the link you provide. You can use this tool here on TechWelkin.
6. PhishTank : Phishing is any trick used by hackers to steal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity. PhishTank has a database of websites that use phishing and thus you can test your link against the PhishTank database.
7. Browser Defender : This service gives a quick decision on whether a website is safe for browsing. If you believe that BrowserDefender’s decision is wrong –you can report a web domain.
8. URL Void : Gives you detailed report from various databases on blacklisting of websites. Among other information, it also reports alexa rank, google pagerank, social activity, site speed, IP address information etc.
9. Online Link Scan : This services uses many of the above mentioned services to scan a link provided by you. And then it gives a verdict about link’s safety.

I hope this was useful for you. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I will be happy to try and help you. Thank you for using TechWelkin.