From f4d934801dfbd16494ce7e8cdafe74da639df83c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: shenxianpeng <xianpeng.shen@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 19:41:58 +0300
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Add validation for excluded page links in build tests

---
 mkdocs/structure/pages.py   |  5 ++++-
 mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mkdocs/structure/pages.py b/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
index b5115fdd..477c4160 100644
--- a/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
+++ b/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 from mkdocs import utils
 from mkdocs.structure import StructureItem
+from mkdocs.structure.files import InclusionLevel
 from mkdocs.structure.toc import get_toc
 from mkdocs.utils import (
     _removesuffix,
@@ -533,10 +534,12 @@ def path_to_url(self, url: str) -> str:
         if target_file.inclusion.is_excluded():
             if self.file.inclusion.is_excluded():
                 warning_level = logging.DEBUG
-            else:
+            elif target_file.inclusion is InclusionLevel.DRAFT:
                 warning_level = min(
                     logging.INFO, self.config.validation.links.not_found
                 )
+            else:
+                warning_level = self.config.validation.links.not_found
             warning = (
                 f"Doc file '{self.file.src_uri}' contains a link to "
                 f"'{target_uri}' which is excluded from the built site."
diff --git a/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py b/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py
index 1d2461c2..bd842a4f 100644
--- a/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py
+++ b/mkdocs/tests/build_tests.py
@@ -703,6 +703,29 @@ def test_draft_pages_with_invalid_links(self, site_dir, docs_dir):
 
             self.assertPathNotExists(site_dir, ".zoo.html")
 
+    @tempdir(
+        files={
+            "index.md": "[asdf](./asdf.md)",
+            "asdf.md": "excluded content",
+        }
+    )
+    @tempdir()
+    def test_excluded_page_link_uses_not_found_validation_level(
+        self, site_dir, docs_dir
+    ):
+        cfg = load_config(
+            docs_dir=docs_dir,
+            site_dir=site_dir,
+            validation=dict(links=dict(not_found="warn")),
+            exclude_docs="/asdf.md",
+        )
+
+        expected_logs = """
+            WARNING:Doc file 'index.md' contains a link to 'asdf.md' which is excluded from the built site.
+        """
+        with self._assert_build_logs(expected_logs):
+            build.build(cfg)
+
     @tempdir(
         files={
             "foo/README.md": "page1 content",

From 7a2cd3f5f8d8a72ad0c3d796931b692dc604ea93 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: shenxianpeng <xianpeng.shen@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 19:51:30 +0300
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Fix validation message for excluded pages in release
 notes

Co-authored-by: Copilot <copilot@github.com>
---
 docs/about/release-notes.md | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/docs/about/release-notes.md b/docs/about/release-notes.md
index b0e1ef60..2ace8d11 100644
--- a/docs/about/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/about/release-notes.md
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ The current members of the MkDocs-NG team.
 ### Fixed
 
 * Fix anchor link validation so `mkdocs build -v --strict` still fails when missing anchors are reported as warnings. #30
+* Fix `validation.links.not_found` is always reported as INFO for excluded pages. #32
 
 ### Maintenance