diff --git a/.github/workflows/merge.yml b/.github/workflows/merge.yml
index fa8c10e7..2db3d6b5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/merge.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/merge.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: run merge script
         run: |
-
           python merge/EBeam_merge.py
 
       - name: move merge output files to new folder
@@ -44,47 +43,81 @@ jobs:
             cp "/home/runner/work/openEBL-2024-02/openEBL-2024-02/merge/$file" merge_output/
           done
 
-      - name: upload artifact
+      - name: upload merge artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         id: artifact-upload
         with:
           name: merge-files
           path: merge_output/
       
-      - name: get artifact url
+      - name: add vars needed for merge artifact url to a txt file
         run: |
           IFS='/' read -ra REPO <<< "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY"
           OWNER="${REPO[0]}"
           REPO_NAME="${REPO[1]}"
-          echo "Owner: $OWNER"
-          echo "Repository: $REPO_NAME"
-          
           RUN_ID=${{ github.run_id }}
           ARTIFACT_ID=${{ steps.artifact-upload.outputs.artifact-id }}
-          ARTIFACT_URL="https://github.com/$OWNER/$REPO_NAME/actions/runs/$RUN_ID/artifacts/$ARTIFACT_ID"
-          echo "Artifact URL: $ARTIFACT_URL"
+
+          # add vars to txt file
+          echo "$ARTIFACT_ID" > url_info.txt
+          echo "$RUN_ID" >> url_info.txt
+          echo "$OWNER" >> url_info.txt
+          echo "$REPO_NAME" >> url_info.txt
+
+      - name: upload txt file as an artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: url-info
+          path: url_info.txt
+        
+  # seperate job needed so we can check out and change code from gh-pages branch
+  update-url:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+  
+    needs: merge
+  
+    steps:
+      - name: checkout repo content
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        with:
+          ref: gh-pages
+        
+      - name: download url-info artifact
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: url-info
+          path: .
           
-          echo "ARTIFACT_URL=$ARTIFACT_URL" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      - name: get vars from url_info.txt file
+        run: |
+          ARTIFACT_ID=$(head -1 url_info.txt)
+          RUN_ID=$(sed -n '2p' url_info.txt)
+          OWNER=$(sed -n '3p' url_info.txt)
+          REPO_NAME=$(sed -n '4p' url_info.txt)
+
+          echo "ARTIFACT_ID=$ARTIFACT_ID" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "RUN_ID=$RUN_ID" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo "OWNER=$OWNER" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "REPO_NAME=$REPO_NAME" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+      - name: delete url-info artifact
+        uses: geekyeggo/delete-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          name: url-info
           
-      - name: update url in runner README 
+      - name: update index.html with new merge artifact link
         run: |
-          start_delim="<!-- start-link -->"
-          end_delim="<!-- end-link -->"
-          
-          # remove current URL
-          sed -i "/$start_delim/,/$end_delim/d" README.md
-          
-          # add new URL
-          printf "$start_delim\n$ARTIFACT_URL\n$end_delim\n" >> README.md
-          
-      # merge script always runs on any PR, this ensures link is only updated after a PR is merged into SiEPIC
-      - name: commit and push changes to README if we are in SiEPIC repo
+          echo "New artifact URL: https://github.com/$OWNER/$REPO_NAME/actions/runs/$RUN_ID/artifacts/$ARTIFACT_ID"
+          sed -i 's|URL=https://github.com/'"$OWNER"'/'"$REPO_NAME"'/actions/runs/.*|URL=https://github.com/'"$OWNER"'/'"$REPO_NAME"'/actions/runs/'"$RUN_ID"'/artifacts/'"$ARTIFACT_ID"'">|' index.html
+          sed -i 's|href="https://github.com/'"$OWNER"'/'"$REPO_NAME"'/actions/runs/.*|href="https://github.com/'"$OWNER"'/'"$REPO_NAME"'/actions/runs/'"$RUN_ID"'/artifacts/'"$ARTIFACT_ID"'">|' index.html
+  
+      # merge script always runs on any PR, the if statement ensures link is only updated after a PR is merged into SiEPIC
+      - name: push changes to gh-pages branch
         run: |
-          git diff
-          git config --local user.email "${{ github.actor }}@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git config --local user.name "${{ github.actor }}"
-          git add README.md
-          git commit -m "update README with new artifact url $ARTIFACT_URL"
+          git config user.name "${{ github.actor }}"
+          git config user.email "${{ github.actor }}@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git add index.html
+          git commit -m "Update index.html to redirect to new merge artifact url"
           git push 
         if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'SiEPIC'}}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-verification.yml b/.github/workflows/run-verification.yml
index 6a5428d7..4aa008d1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-verification.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-verification.yml
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ jobs:
           IFS=$'\n'
         
           # run verification on all files
-          for file in "$FILES"; do
+          for file in $FILES; do
 
             echo "Running verification on $file"