diff --git a/build/main.sh b/build/main.sh
index 1da22e1e..bc46dfdf 100755
--- a/build/main.sh
+++ b/build/main.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ if [ "$TRAVIS_BRANCH" == "master" ]; then
         echo "link validation failed!"
         exit 1
     else
+        if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" == "false" ]; then
+            echo "no links to check on $TRAVIS_BRANCH branch - script failure!"
+        fi
         echo "link validation passed!"
     fi
 fi
diff --git a/build/validate_links.rb b/build/validate_links.rb
index a3f318e2..5bf27cae 100755
--- a/build/validate_links.rb
+++ b/build/validate_links.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ raw_links.each do |link|
         links.push(link)
     end
 end
+if links.length <= 0
+    puts "no links to check"
+    exit(0)
+end
 fails = []
 # Fail on any duplicate elements
 dup = links.select{|element| links.count(element) > 1}