diff --git a/blogex/lib/blogex/blog.ex b/blogex/lib/blogex/blog.ex
index 7926dbc..7741d70 100644
--- a/blogex/lib/blogex/blog.ex
+++ b/blogex/lib/blogex/blog.ex
@@ -153,9 +153,7 @@ defmodule Blogex.Blog do
   def _validate_links(posts, blog_id) do
     Enum.each(posts, fn post ->
       case Blogex.LinkValidator.validate_body(post.body, blog_id, post_id: post.id) do
-        :ok ->
-          :ok
-
+        :ok -> :ok
         {:error, errors} ->
           raise Blogex.LinkError,
             blog: blog_id,
@@ -163,7 +161,5 @@ defmodule Blogex.Blog do
             errors: errors
       end
     end)
-
-    :ok
   end
 end
diff --git a/blogex/lib/blogex/link_validator.ex b/blogex/lib/blogex/link_validator.ex
index bb84416..48c0779 100644
--- a/blogex/lib/blogex/link_validator.ex
+++ b/blogex/lib/blogex/link_validator.ex
@@ -50,39 +50,27 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidator do
   `/blog/{engineering|releases}/{slug}`. External links and non-blog
   internal links are ignored.
 
-  Handles both markdown link syntax `[text](url)` and HTML `<a href="url">`.
+  Handles markdown link syntax `[text](url)`.
 
   ## Examples
 
-      iex> extract_links("<p>[link](/blog/engineering/post)</p>")
+      iex> extract_links("[link](/blog/engineering/post)")
       ["/blog/engineering/post"]
 
-      iex> extract_links("<p><a href=\"/blog/engineering/post\">link</a></p>")
-      ["/blog/engineering/post"]
-
-      iex> extract_links("<p>See [GitHub](https://github.com)</p>")
+      iex> extract_links("See [GitHub](https://github.com)")
       []
   """
   @spec extract_links(String.t()) :: [String.t()]
   def extract_links(body) when is_binary(body) do
-    markdown_links =
-      ~r/\[([^\]]+)\]\(([^)]+)\)/
-      |> Regex.scan(body)
-      |> Enum.map(fn [_, _, path] -> path end)
-
-    html_links =
-      ~r/<a\s+href=["']([^"']*)["']/i
-      |> Regex.scan(body)
-      |> Enum.map(fn [_, path] -> path end)
-
-    (markdown_links ++ html_links)
-    |> Enum.uniq()
+    ~r/\[([^\]]+)\]\(([^)]+)\)/
+    |> Regex.scan(body)
+    |> Enum.map(fn [_, _, path] -> path end)
     |> Enum.filter(&internal_blog_link?/1)
   end
 
   defp internal_blog_link?(path) do
     case parse_blog_link(path) do
-      {_blog_id_str, _slug, _query, _fragment} -> true
+      {_, _} -> true
       nil -> false
     end
   end
@@ -109,7 +97,7 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidator do
       nil ->
         {:error, "not a blog link: #{link}"}
 
-      {blog_id_str, slug_part, _query, _fragment} ->
+      {blog_id_str, slug_part} ->
         case Map.fetch(@valid_blog_ids, blog_id_str) do
           {:ok, _blog_atom} -> validate_slug(slug_part)
           :error -> {:error, "unknown blog ID: #{blog_id_str}"}
@@ -186,53 +174,29 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidator do
     end
   end
 
+
   # --- Private helpers ---
 
   @doc false
-  @spec parse_blog_link(String.t()) ::
-          {String.t(), String.t(), String.t() | nil, String.t() | nil} | nil
+  @spec parse_blog_link(String.t()) :: {String.t(), String.t()} | nil
   def parse_blog_link(path) do
-    # Parse /blog/{id}/{slug} with optional query string and/or fragment
-    with ["", "blog", blog_id, rest] <- String.split(path, "/", parts: 4),
-         {slug, query_fragment} <- String.split_at(rest, slug_slug_end(rest)),
-         {query, fragment} <- parse_query_fragment(query_fragment) do
-      case Map.fetch(@valid_blog_ids, blog_id) do
-        {:ok, _blog_atom} -> {blog_id, slug, query, fragment}
-        :error -> {blog_id, slug, query, fragment}
-      end
+    with ["", "blog", blog_id, rest] <- String.split(path, "/", parts: 4) do
+      slug = String.slice(rest, 0, slug_end(rest))
+      {blog_id, slug}
     else
       _ -> nil
     end
   end
 
   @doc false
-  @spec slug_slug_end(String.t()) :: integer()
-  defp slug_slug_end(str) do
+  @spec slug_end(String.t()) :: integer()
+  defp slug_end(str) do
     case String.split(str, ["?", "#"], parts: 2) do
       [slug | _] -> String.length(slug)
       _ -> String.length(str)
     end
   end
 
-  @doc false
-  @spec parse_query_fragment(String.t()) :: {String.t() | nil, String.t() | nil}
-  defp parse_query_fragment("") do
-    {nil, nil}
-  end
-
-  defp parse_query_fragment("?" <> query) do
-    case String.split(query, "#", parts: 2) do
-      [q, f] -> {q, f}
-      [q] -> {q, nil}
-    end
-  end
-
-  defp parse_query_fragment("#" <> fragment) do
-    {nil, fragment}
-  end
-
-  defp parse_query_fragment(_), do: {nil, nil}
-
   @doc false
   @spec validate_slug(String.t()) :: :ok | {:error, String.t()}
   defp validate_slug(slug) when slug == "" do
diff --git a/blogex/test/blogex/link_validator_test.exs b/blogex/test/blogex/link_validator_test.exs
index 5b72413..a68017c 100644
--- a/blogex/test/blogex/link_validator_test.exs
+++ b/blogex/test/blogex/link_validator_test.exs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidatorTest do
   describe "extract_links/1" do
     test "extracts internal blog links from markdown body" do
       body =
-        "<p>Check out [hello world](/blog/engineering/hello-world) and [release v1](/blog/releases/v1-0-0).</p>"
+        "Check out [hello world](/blog/engineering/hello-world) and [release v1](/blog/releases/v1-0-0)."
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == [
                "/blog/engineering/hello-world",
@@ -14,25 +14,25 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidatorTest do
     end
 
     test "ignores external links" do
-      body = "<p>See [GitHub](https://github.com) and [internal](/blog/engineering/post).</p>"
+      body = "See [GitHub](https://github.com) and [internal](/blog/engineering/post)."
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == ["/blog/engineering/post"]
     end
 
     test "ignores non-blog internal links" do
-      body = "<p>See [/about](/about) and [/blog/engineering/post](/blog/engineering/post).</p>"
+      body = "See [/about](/about) and [/blog/engineering/post](/blog/engineering/post)."
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == ["/blog/engineering/post"]
     end
 
     test "returns empty list when no internal blog links" do
-      body = "<p>Just external links: [GitHub](https://github.com).</p>"
+      body = "Just external links: [GitHub](https://github.com)."
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == []
     end
 
     test "handles multiple links on one line" do
-      body = "<p>[a](/blog/engineering/a) [b](/blog/releases/b) [c](/blog/engineering/c)</p>"
+      body = "[a](/blog/engineering/a) [b](/blog/releases/b) [c](/blog/engineering/c)"
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == [
                "/blog/engineering/a",
@@ -42,13 +42,13 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidatorTest do
     end
 
     test "handles links with query strings" do
-      body = "<p>[link](/blog/engineering/post?foo=bar)</p>"
+      body = "[link](/blog/engineering/post?foo=bar)"
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == ["/blog/engineering/post?foo=bar"]
     end
 
     test "handles links with anchor fragments" do
-      body = "<p>[link](/blog/engineering/post#section)</p>"
+      body = "[link](/blog/engineering/post#section)"
 
       assert LinkValidator.extract_links(body) == ["/blog/engineering/post#section"]
     end
@@ -190,19 +190,19 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidatorTest do
 
   describe "validate_body/2" do
     test "returns :ok when body has no internal blog links" do
-      body = "<p>Just text, no links.</p>"
+      body = "Just text, no links."
 
       assert LinkValidator.validate_body(body, :engineering) == :ok
     end
 
     test "returns :ok when all links are valid" do
-      body = "<p>[link](/blog/engineering/post)</p>"
+      body = "[link](/blog/engineering/post)"
 
       assert LinkValidator.validate_body(body, :engineering) == :ok
     end
 
     test "returns errors with post context" do
-      body = "<p>[link](/blog/unknown/post)</p>"
+      body = "[link](/blog/unknown/post)"
 
       assert LinkValidator.validate_body(body, :engineering) == {
                :error,
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ defmodule Blogex.LinkValidatorTest do
     end
 
     test "includes post_id in error tuples when provided" do
-      body = "<p>[link](/blog/unknown/post)</p>"
+      body = "[link](/blog/unknown/post)"
 
       assert LinkValidator.validate_body(body, :engineering, post_id: "test-post") == {
                :error,