diff --git a/src/Elastic.Markdown/Myst/InlineParsers/DiagnosticLinkInlineParser.cs b/src/Elastic.Markdown/Myst/InlineParsers/DiagnosticLinkInlineParser.cs
index b75885d89..15ff98b50 100644
--- a/src/Elastic.Markdown/Myst/InlineParsers/DiagnosticLinkInlineParser.cs
+++ b/src/Elastic.Markdown/Myst/InlineParsers/DiagnosticLinkInlineParser.cs
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ private bool ValidateBasicUrl(LinkInline link, InlineProcessor processor, string
 	{
 		if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(url))
 		{
-			processor.EmitWarning(link, "Found empty url");
+			processor.EmitError(link, "Found empty url");
 			return false;
 		}
 
diff --git a/tests/authoring/Inline/InlineLinks.fs b/tests/authoring/Inline/InlineLinks.fs
index 10a9d6285..4792dcbd5 100644
--- a/tests/authoring/Inline/InlineLinks.fs
+++ b/tests/authoring/Inline/InlineLinks.fs
@@ -46,3 +46,15 @@ type ``inline link with mailto not allowed external host`` () =
 
     [<Fact>]
     let ``has warning`` () = markdown |> hasWarning "External URI 'mailto:fake-email@somehost.co' is not allowed."
+
+type ``empty link should result in an error`` () =
+
+    static let markdown = Setup.Markdown """
+[email me]()
+"""
+
+    [<Fact>]
+    let ``has no errors`` () = markdown |> hasError "Found empty url"
+
+    [<Fact>]
+    let ``has warning`` () = markdown |> hasNoWarnings