diff --git a/laravel/app/Http/Controllers/ShortlinkController.php b/laravel/app/Http/Controllers/ShortlinkController.php
index cf2b632..132e94b 100644
--- a/laravel/app/Http/Controllers/ShortlinkController.php
+++ b/laravel/app/Http/Controllers/ShortlinkController.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ namespace App\Http\Controllers;
 
 use Illuminate\Http\Request;
 use App\Models\Shortlink;
+use GuzzleHttp\Client;
 
 class ShortlinkController extends Controller
 {
@@ -18,6 +19,21 @@ class ShortlinkController extends Controller
             ]);
     
             //check if url returns 200 at its final redirect
+            $guzzle = new Client([
+                'timeout' => 5
+            ]);
+            try {
+                $response = $guzzle->get($request->url, ['allow_redirects' => ['track_redirects' => true]]);
+                if ($response->getStatusCode() != 200) {
+                    return back()->withErrors([
+                        'error' => 'The URL provided did not return a valid response'
+                    ]);
+                }
+            } catch (\Exception $e) {
+                return back()->withErrors([
+                    'error' => 'The URL provided did not return a valid response'
+                ]);
+            }
 
             $shortlink = new Shortlink();
             $shortlink->create($request->url, auth()->id());
@@ -27,7 +43,6 @@ class ShortlinkController extends Controller
                 'error' => $e->getMessage()
             ]);
         }
-
     }
 
     public function goto(Request $request, $id) {
diff --git a/laravel/composer.json b/laravel/composer.json
index 4b7e183..2e83355 100644
--- a/laravel/composer.json
+++ b/laravel/composer.json
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
     "license": "MIT",
     "require": {
         "php": "^8.2",
+        "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.8",
         "laravel/framework": "^11.9",
         "laravel/tinker": "^2.9"
     },
diff --git a/laravel/composer.lock b/laravel/composer.lock
index 974116e..1d44cca 100644
--- a/laravel/composer.lock
+++ b/laravel/composer.lock
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
         "Read more about it at https://getcomposer.org/doc/01-basic-usage.md#installing-dependencies",
         "This file is @generated automatically"
     ],
-    "content-hash": "7e8c3c14ff33b199b4a0838993eb8423",
+    "content-hash": "55d18cb1b7b1ab5b14edeb92768c4021",
     "packages": [
         {
             "name": "brick/math",