diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ed52c90..316649d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,3 +70,28 @@ Notes:
 - Skips likely binary files and files > 2 MiB.
 - Uses a browser-like User-Agent to reduce false negatives.
 
+### .slinkignore
+
+Place a `.slinkignore` file at the repository root to exclude paths and/or specific URLs from scanning and reporting. The format is JSON with two optional arrays:
+
+```json
+{
+  "ignorePaths": [
+    "**/vendor/**",
+    "**/*.bak"
+  ],
+  "ignoreURLs": [
+    "https://example.com/this/path/does/not/exist",
+    "*localhost:*",
+    "*internal.example.com*"
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+- ignorePaths: gitignore-style patterns evaluated against repository-relative paths (uses doublestar `**`).
+- ignoreURLs: patterns applied to the full URL string. Supports exact matches, substring contains, and doublestar-style wildcard matches.
+
+Examples:
+- Ignore generated folders: `"**/dist/**"`, backups: `"**/*.bak"`.
+- Ignore known example or placeholder links: `"*example.com*"`, `"https://example.com/foo"`.
+
diff --git a/cmd/check.go b/cmd/check.go
index af40c8c..f8ff310 100644
--- a/cmd/check.go
+++ b/cmd/check.go
@@ -178,6 +178,8 @@ func init() {
 			go web.CheckURLs(ctx, urls, urlToFiles, results, nil, cfg)
 
 			var total, okCount, failCount int
+			totalURLs := len(urls)
+			lastPctLogged := 0
 			var failures []SerializableResult
 			var failedResults []web.Result
 
@@ -188,6 +190,14 @@ func init() {
 				} else {
 					failCount++
 				}
+				// Progress notices every 5%
+				if totalURLs > 0 {
+					pct := (total * 100) / totalURLs
+					for pct >= lastPctLogged+5 && lastPctLogged < 100 {
+						lastPctLogged += 5
+						fmt.Printf("::notice:: Checking progress: %d%% (%d/%d)\n", lastPctLogged, total, totalURLs)
+					}
+				}
 				// Emit GitHub Actions debug log for each URL.
 				// These lines appear only when step debug logging is enabled via the
 				// repository/organization secret ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG=true.
diff --git a/internal/fsurls/fsurls.go b/internal/fsurls/fsurls.go
index 68ac136..9f971c3 100644
--- a/internal/fsurls/fsurls.go
+++ b/internal/fsurls/fsurls.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package fsurls
 
 import (
 	"bufio"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"net/url"
@@ -60,6 +61,8 @@ func CollectURLs(rootPath string, globs []string, respectGitignore bool) (map[st
 	if !isFileRoot && respectGitignore {
 		ign = loadGitIgnore(cleanRoot)
 	}
+	// Load optional .slinkignore config
+	slPathIgnore, slURLPatterns := loadSlinkyIgnore(cleanRoot)
 
 	var patterns []string
 	for _, g := range globs {
@@ -109,7 +112,7 @@ func CollectURLs(rootPath string, globs []string, respectGitignore bool) (map[st
 			}
 			return nil
 		}
-		if ign != nil && ign.MatchesPath(rel) {
+		if (ign != nil && ign.MatchesPath(rel)) || (slPathIgnore != nil && slPathIgnore.MatchesPath(rel)) {
 			return nil
 		}
 		info, ierr := d.Info()
@@ -166,6 +169,9 @@ func CollectURLs(rootPath string, globs []string, respectGitignore bool) (map[st
 			if u == "" {
 				continue
 			}
+			if isURLIgnored(u, slURLPatterns) {
+				continue
+			}
 			fileSet, ok := urlToFiles[u]
 			if !ok {
 				fileSet = make(map[string]struct{})
@@ -205,6 +211,7 @@ func CollectURLsProgress(rootPath string, globs []string, respectGitignore bool,
 	if !isFileRoot && respectGitignore {
 		ign = loadGitIgnore(cleanRoot)
 	}
+	slPathIgnore, slURLPatterns := loadSlinkyIgnore(cleanRoot)
 
 	var patterns []string
 	for _, g := range globs {
@@ -249,7 +256,7 @@ func CollectURLsProgress(rootPath string, globs []string, respectGitignore bool,
 			}
 			return nil
 		}
-		if ign != nil && ign.MatchesPath(rel) {
+		if (ign != nil && ign.MatchesPath(rel)) || (slPathIgnore != nil && slPathIgnore.MatchesPath(rel)) {
 			return nil
 		}
 		info, ierr := d.Info()
@@ -303,6 +310,9 @@ func CollectURLsProgress(rootPath string, globs []string, respectGitignore bool,
 			if u == "" {
 				continue
 			}
+			if isURLIgnored(u, slURLPatterns) {
+				continue
+			}
 			fileSet, ok := urlToFiles[u]
 			if !ok {
 				fileSet = make(map[string]struct{})
@@ -558,3 +568,53 @@ func loadGitIgnore(root string) *ignore.GitIgnore {
 	}
 	return ignore.CompileIgnoreLines(lines...)
 }
+
+// .slinkignore support
+type slinkyIgnore struct {
+	IgnorePaths []string `json:"ignorePaths"`
+	IgnoreURLs  []string `json:"ignoreURLs"`
+}
+
+func loadSlinkyIgnore(root string) (*ignore.GitIgnore, []string) {
+	cfgPath := filepath.Join(root, ".slinkignore")
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(cfgPath)
+	if err != nil || len(b) == 0 {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	var cfg slinkyIgnore
+	if jerr := json.Unmarshal(b, &cfg); jerr != nil {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	var ign *ignore.GitIgnore
+	if len(cfg.IgnorePaths) > 0 {
+		ign = ignore.CompileIgnoreLines(cfg.IgnorePaths...)
+	}
+	var urlPatterns []string
+	for _, p := range cfg.IgnoreURLs {
+		p = strings.TrimSpace(p)
+		if p != "" {
+			urlPatterns = append(urlPatterns, p)
+		}
+	}
+	return ign, urlPatterns
+}
+
+func isURLIgnored(u string, patterns []string) bool {
+	if len(patterns) == 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+	for _, p := range patterns {
+		if p == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+		// simple contains or wildcard suffix/prefix match
+		if p == u || strings.Contains(u, p) {
+			return true
+		}
+		// doublestar path-like match for full URL string
+		if ok, _ := doublestar.PathMatch(p, u); ok {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/internal/fsurls/fsurls_test.go b/internal/fsurls/fsurls_test.go
index 3006c10..a0221e8 100644
--- a/internal/fsurls/fsurls_test.go
+++ b/internal/fsurls/fsurls_test.go
@@ -39,4 +39,18 @@ func TestCollectURLs_FromTestFiles(t *testing.T) {
 	if len(srcs) == 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("expected sources for https://example.com, got none")
 	}
+
+	// Verify .slinkignore URL ignores
+	if _, ok := urls["https://example.com/this/path/does/not/exist"]; ok {
+		t.Fatalf("expected URL ignored by .slinkignore to be absent")
+	}
+
+	// Verify .slinkignore path ignores: file under ignore-me should not contribute
+	for u, files := range urls {
+		for _, f := range files {
+			if strings.Contains(f, "ignore-me/") {
+				t.Fatalf("file %s should have been ignored via .slinkignore, but contributed to URL %s", f, u)
+			}
+		}
+	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/report/markdown.go b/internal/report/markdown.go
index 47f6493..0d1b6f3 100644
--- a/internal/report/markdown.go
+++ b/internal/report/markdown.go
@@ -151,7 +151,6 @@ func WriteMarkdown(path string, results []web.Result, s Summary) (string, error)
 				buf.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("  - [%s](./%s)\n", escapeMD(fn), escapeLinkPath(fn)))
 			}
 		}
-		buf.WriteString("\n")
 	}
 
 	f, err := os.Create(path)
diff --git a/testdata/.slinkignore b/testdata/.slinkignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18019b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/.slinkignore
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  "ignorePaths": [
+    "**/ignore-me/**",
+    "**/*.bak"
+  ],
+  "ignoreURLs": [
+    "https://example.com/this/path/does/not/exist",
+    "*notarealwebsite.com*"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/testdata/ignore-me/ignored.md b/testdata/ignore-me/ignored.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23c9be3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/ignore-me/ignored.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This file should be ignored entirely. URL here should not be collected: https://example.com/ignored