diff --git a/.github/check_links.py b/.github/check_links.py
index 0f64228..9632f81 100644
--- a/.github/check_links.py
+++ b/.github/check_links.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import os
 import requests
 import sys
+from urllib3.util import Retry
 import yaml
 
 errors = []
@@ -9,17 +10,23 @@
 def check_links(links, index_yml_path):
     global error_occurred
     directory = os.path.dirname(index_yml_path)
+    session = requests.Session()
+    # Protect agaings transient errors by setting up retries
+    retries = Retry(total=3, backoff_factor=0.5)
+    session.mount('https://', requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter(max_retries=retries))
+    # Need to set a user agent different from requests' default to avoid 403 errors from some sites
+    headers = {'User-Agent': 'k8spatterns Link Checker 1.0' }
     for link in links:
         url = link['url']
         try:
-            response = requests.get(url, allow_redirects=True, timeout=10)
+            response = session.head(url, headers=headers, allow_redirects=True, timeout=10)
             print(f"{directory}: Checking {url} ... {response.status_code}")
             if response.status_code != 200:
                 errors.append((index_yml_path, url, link['title'], response.status_code))
                 error_occurred = True
         except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
             print(f"{directory}: Checking {url} ... ERROR")
-            errors.append((index_yml_path, url, str(e)))
+            errors.append((index_yml_path, url, link['title'], str(e)))
             error_occurred = True
 
 def process_directory(root, filenames):
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check_links.yml b/.github/workflows/check_links.yml
index 31ab26e..b01f001 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check_links.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check_links.yml
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
     - name: Set up Python 3.9
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v3
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: 3.9