Free Tools / Free Chrome extension
HeadingSweep
See your page structure. Check where its links lead.
HeadingSweep puts a page outline and link checker beside your website in Chrome’s side panel. Review headings, jump to a section and highlight link-check results directly on the page, without losing sight of the content you are checking.
No account or subscription is required. Install from the ZIP and open the extension on the page you want to review.
Explore the heading outline
See H1–H6 headings and headings identified through accessibility attributes in a structured outline. Search the list, collapse branches, include hidden headings if needed, or copy the outline.
Click a heading to scroll to it. Prompts flag missing or multiple H1s and jumps between heading levels so you can review the structure.
Check and locate page links
Check visible links from the current page, then see their status in the panel and as highlights on the website. Filter results, locate each occurrence of a link and export a CSV.
Choose a cap of 100, 300 or 500 unique web URLs. Duplicate destinations are checked once.
How to use HeadingSweep
- Open a normal webpage in desktop Chrome and click HeadingSweep’s toolbar icon. Its side panel opens beside the page.
- In Headings, search or browse the outline. Click a heading to find it, or use Copy outline to paste the structure elsewhere.
- Switch to Links, choose your maximum number of unique URLs and click Check links.
- Allow access to the linked websites when Chrome asks. No network link checks run before you start a check and grant access.
- Filter the report, use Locate to find links on the page, or choose Export CSV. Use Stop to end a check and Clear colours to remove the highlights.
What the link colours mean
- Green — working: a successful web response or an existing anchor on the current page.
- Red — broken or failed: confirmed missing pages or same-page anchors, or a server error that may be temporary.
- Amber — unverified: access was blocked, the request timed out or the destination could not be verified.
- Grey — unchecked or skipped: the link has not been checked or is outside the check’s scope.
Use the results as evidence to review
A green result confirms a successful response, not that a page’s content is correct. Login screens and error messages can still return a successful status. Heading-level prompts also need context; they are not definitive accessibility failures.
HeadingSweep checks the current page’s outline and links. For contact-detail consistency across a website, try BusinessCheck.
Install HeadingSweep in desktop Chrome
- Download the HeadingSweep ZIP and extract it into a folder you will keep on your computer.
- Type
chrome://extensionsinto Chrome’s address bar. - Turn on Developer mode, then choose Load unpacked.
- Select the extracted folder containing
manifest.json, not the ZIP itself. - Refresh any webpages already open. Pin the extension from Chrome’s Extensions menu if you want easier access.
Keep the extracted folder in place. See Chrome’s installation guidance. To update, replace the files in that folder, reload the extension in Chrome’s extensions manager and refresh the website.
After updating HeadingSweep, close and reopen its side panel. Chrome’s own settings control whether the panel appears on the left or right.
Privacy and permissions
HeadingSweep has no accounts, analytics, external checking service or saved browsing history. Headings and results stay in the current panel and page memory.
- Current-tab access and scripting: inspect the page after you click the toolbar icon, find headings and links, and show highlights.
- Side panel: keeps the outline and report beside your webpage.
- Clipboard writing: used when you choose Copy outline. No clipboard-reading permission is requested.
- Optional website access: requested for the linked destinations selected for a check, rather than all websites at installation. Granted permissions remain until you remove them in Chrome’s extension settings.
Link checks send requests directly to the destination websites without sign-in cookies. Those websites receive ordinary requests and your network address. CSV exports are saved locally when you request them.
Useful things to know
Does it inspect every part of a page?
It inspects visible headings and links in the main document, with an option to include hidden headings. Embedded frames and shadow-root content are not included. Dynamic page changes refresh the outline and link inventory, but newly appearing links stay unchecked until another check.
What happens when I change tabs or close the panel?
Switching tabs clears the previous tab’s colours. Click the toolbar icon on a new site to allow inspection. Refreshing the webpage resets highlights. Closing the panel stops network checks, and reopening it starts a fresh report.
Why might a working link remain amber?
A private destination can require sign-in cookies that checks deliberately omit. Access restrictions, timeouts, network errors and redirects to websites without permission can also prevent verification. These results are not labelled as confirmed dead pages.
Does it check email, phone and action links?
Email and phone links appear in the inventory, but delivery and calls are not tested. Known logout, unsubscribe, delete, payment, checkout and other action URLs are skipped. Forms are never submitted. Fragment targets on other pages are not inspected; text fragments remain unverified.
How does it limit requests?
The checker uses two concurrent requests, pauses between them and a ten-second timeout per URL. It checks response headers first and uses a GET fallback when needed, including confirming 404 or 410 responses. A 403 or 429 stops further queued requests to that destination’s origin; requests already in progress may finish.
What changed in version 1.0.1?
Heading indentation is now consistent at every H1–H6 level, including headings without children and pages that skip a level.
Questions or feedback?
I built these tools to make everyday digital work easier. If you spot a problem or have a suggestion, email me with the extension version, Chrome version and a description of what happened.