diff --git a/extension.json b/extension.json
index 9fa0cda..32f2a4d 100644
--- a/extension.json
+++ b/extension.json
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
         },
         "AutoloadClasses": {
                 "LinkTitles\\Extension": "includes/Extension.php",
+                "LinkTitles\\Linker": "includes/Linker.php",
                 "LinkTitles\\Targets": "includes/Targets.php",
                 "LinkTitles\\Delimiters": "includes/Delimiters.php",
                 "LinkTitles\\Config": "includes/Config.php",
diff --git a/includes/Extension.php b/includes/Extension.php
index a716202..4edb097 100644
--- a/includes/Extension.php
+++ b/includes/Extension.php
@@ -27,26 +27,6 @@ namespace LinkTitles;
  * Provides entry points for the extension.
  */
 class Extension {
-	/// A Title object for the page that is being parsed.
-	private static $currentTitle;
-
-	/// A Title object for the target page currently being examined.
-	private static $targetTitle;
-
-	// The TitleValue object of the target page
-	private static $targetTitleValue;
-
-	/// The content object for the currently processed target page.
-	/// This variable is necessary to be able to prevent loading the target
-	/// content twice.
-	private static $targetContent;
-
-	/// Holds the page title of the currently processed target page
-	/// as a string.
-	private static $targetTitleText;
-
-	public static $ltConsoleOutput;
-	public static $ltConsoleOutputDebug;
 
 	/// Event handler that is hooked to the PageContentSave event.
 	public static function onPageContentSave( &$wikiPage, &$user, &$content, &$summary,
@@ -61,13 +41,13 @@ class Extension {
 			// Only process if page is in one of our namespaces we want to link
 			// Fixes ugly autolinking of sidebar pages
 			if ( in_array( $title->getNamespace(), $wgLinkTitlesNamespaces )) {
-					$text = $content->getContentHandler()->serializeContent( $content );
-					if ( !\MagicWord::get( 'MAG_LINKTITLES_NOAUTOLINKS' )->match( $text ) ) {
-						$newText = self::parseContent( $title, $text );
-						if ( $newText != $text ) {
-								$content = $content->getContentHandler()->unserializeContent( $newText );
-						}
+				$text = $content->getContentHandler()->serializeContent( $content );
+				if ( !\MagicWord::get( 'MAG_LINKTITLES_NOAUTOLINKS' )->match( $text ) ) {
+					$newText = Linker::linkContent( $title, $text );
+					if ( $newText != $text ) {
+						$content = $content->getContentHandler()->unserializeContent( $newText );
 					}
+				}
 			}
 		};
 		return true;
@@ -86,96 +66,11 @@ class Extension {
 		// Only process if page is in one of our namespaces we want to link
 		if ( !\MagicWord::get( 'MAG_LINKTITLES_NOAUTOLINKS' )->match( $text ) &&
 				in_array( $title->getNamespace(), $wgLinkTitlesNamespaces ) ) {
-			$text = self::parseContent( $title, $text );
+			$text = Linker::linkContent( $title, $text );
 		}
 		return true;
 	}
 
-	/// Core function of the extension, performs the actual parsing of the content.
-	/// @param Parser $parser Parser instance for the current page
-	/// @param $text          String that holds the article content
-	/// @returns string: parsed text with links added if needed
-	private static function parseContent( $title, &$text ) {
-
-		// Configuration variables need to be defined here as globals.
-		global $wgLinkTitlesFirstOnly;
-		global $wgLinkTitlesSmartMode;
-		global $wgCapitalLinks;
-
-		( $wgLinkTitlesFirstOnly ) ? $limit = 1 : $limit = -1;
-		$limitReached = false;
-		self::$currentTitle = $title;
-		$newText = $text;
-
-		$config = new Config();
-		$delimiters = Delimiters::default( $config );
-		$targets = Targets::default( $title, $config );
-
-		// Iterate through the page titles
-		foreach( $targets->queryResult as $row ) {
-			self::newTarget( $row->page_namespace, $row->page_title );
-
-			// Don't link current page
-			if ( self::$targetTitle->equals( self::$currentTitle ) ) { continue; }
-
-			// split the page content by [[...]] groups
-			// credits to inhan @ StackOverflow for suggesting preg_split
-			// see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10672286
-			$arr = preg_split( $delimiters->splitter, $newText, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE );
-
-			// Escape certain special characters in the page title to prevent
-			// regexp compilation errors
-			self::$targetTitleText = self::$targetTitle->getText();
-			$quotedTitle = preg_quote( self::$targetTitleText, '/' );
-
-			self::ltDebugLog( 'TargetTitle='. self::$targetTitleText, 'private' );
-			self::ltDebugLog( 'TargetTitleQuoted='. $quotedTitle, 'private' );
-
-			// Depending on the global configuration setting $wgCapitalLinks,
-			// the title has to be searched for either in a strictly case-sensitive
-			// way, or in a 'fuzzy' way where the first letter of the title may
-			// be either case.
-			if ( $config->capitalLinks && ( $quotedTitle[0] != '\\' )) {
-				$searchTerm = '((?i)' . $quotedTitle[0] . '(?-i)' .
-					substr($quotedTitle, 1) . ')';
-			}	else {
-				$searchTerm = '(' . $quotedTitle . ')';
-			}
-
-			$regex = '/(?<![\:\.\@\/\?\&])' . $delimiters->wordStart . $searchTerm . $delimiters->wordEnd . '/S';
-			for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $arr ); $i+=2 ) {
-				// even indexes will point to text that is not enclosed by brackets
-				$arr[$i] = preg_replace_callback( $regex,
-					'LinkTitles\Extension::simpleModeCallback', $arr[$i], $limit, $count );
-				if ( $config->firstOnly && ( $count > 0 ) ) {
-					$limitReached = true;
-					break;
-				};
-			};
-			$newText = implode( '', $arr );
-
-			// If smart mode is turned on, the extension will perform a second
-			// pass on the page and add links with aliases where the case does
-			// not match.
-			if ( $config->smartMode && !$limitReached ) {
-				$arr = preg_split( $delimiters->splitter, $newText, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE );
-
-				for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $arr ); $i+=2 ) {
-					// even indexes will point to text that is not enclosed by brackets
-					$arr[$i] = preg_replace_callback( '/(?<![\:\.\@\/\?\&])' .
-						$delimiters->wordStart . '(' . $quotedTitle . ')' .
-						$delimiters->wordEnd . '/iS', 'LinkTitles\Extension::smartModeCallback',
-						$arr[$i], $limit, $count );
-					if ( $config->firstOnly && ( $count > 0  )) {
-						break;
-					};
-				};
-				$newText = implode( '', $arr );
-			} // $wgLinkTitlesSmartMode
-		}; // foreach $res as $row
-		return $newText;
-	}
-
 	/// Automatically processes a single page, given a $title Title object.
 	/// This function is called by the SpecialLinkTitles class and the
 	/// LinkTitlesJob class.
@@ -190,7 +85,7 @@ class Extension {
 		$content = $page->getContent();
 		if ( $content != null ) {
 			$text = $content->getContentHandler()->serializeContent($content);
-			$newText = self::parseContent($title, $text);
+			$newText = Linker::linkContent($title, $text);
 			if ( $text != $newText ) {
 				$content = $content->getContentHandler()->unserializeContent( $newText );
 				$page->doEditContent(
@@ -235,142 +130,11 @@ class Extension {
 	///	by simply returning the text between the tags (if any).
 	///	See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Tag_extensions#How_do_I_render_wikitext_in_my_extension.3F
 	public static function doAutolinksTag( $input, array $args, \Parser $parser, \PPFrame $frame ) {
-		$withLinks = self::parseContent( $parser->getTitle(), $input );
+		$withLinks = Linker::linkContent( $parser->getTitle(), $input );
 		$output = $parser->recursiveTagParse( $withLinks, $frame );
 		return $output;
 	}
 
-	// Build an anonymous callback function to be used in simple mode.
-	private static function simpleModeCallback( array $matches ) {
-		if ( self::checkTargetPage() ) {
-			self::ltLog( "Linking '$matches[0]' to '" . self::$targetTitle . "'" );
-			return '[[' . $matches[0] . ']]';
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			return $matches[0];
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Callback function for use with preg_replace_callback.
-	// This essentially performs a case-sensitive comparison of the
-	// current page title and the occurrence found on the page; if
-	// the cases do not match, it builds an aliased (piped) link.
-	// If $wgCapitalLinks is set to true, the case of the first
-	// letter is ignored by MediaWiki and we don't need to build a
-	// piped link if only the case of the first letter is different.
-	private static function smartModeCallback( array $matches ) {
-		global $wgCapitalLinks;
-
-		if ( $wgCapitalLinks ) {
-			// With $wgCapitalLinks set to true we have a slightly more
-			// complicated version of the callback than if it were false;
-			// we need to ignore the first letter of the page titles, as
-			// it does not matter for linking.
-			if ( self::checkTargetPage() ) {
-				self::ltLog( "Linking (smart) '$matches[0]' to '" . self::$targetTitle . "'" );
-				if ( strcmp(substr(self::$targetTitleText, 1), substr($matches[0], 1)) == 0 ) {
-					// Case-sensitive match: no need to bulid piped link.
-					return '[[' . $matches[0] . ']]';
-				} else  {
-					// Case-insensitive match: build piped link.
-					return '[[' . self::$targetTitleText . '|' . $matches[0] . ']]';
-				}
-			}
-			else
-			{
-				return $matches[0];
-			}
-		} else {
-			// If $wgCapitalLinks is false, we can use the simple variant
-			// of the callback function.
-			if ( self::checkTargetPage() ) {
-				self::ltLog( "Linking (smart) '$matches[0]' to '" . self::$targetTitle . "'" );
-				if ( strcmp(self::$targetTitleText, $matches[0]) == 0 ) {
-					// Case-sensitive match: no need to bulid piped link.
-					return '[[' . $matches[0] . ']]';
-				} else  {
-					// Case-insensitive match: build piped link.
-					return '[[' . self::$targetTitleText . '|' . $matches[0] . ']]';
-				}
-			}
-			else
-			{
-				return $matches[0];
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	/// Sets member variables for the current target page.
-	private static function newTarget( $ns, $title ) {
-		self::$targetTitle = \Title::makeTitleSafe( $ns, $title );
-		self::ltDebugLog( 'newtarget='.  self::$targetTitle->getText(), "private" );
-		self::$targetTitleValue = self::$targetTitle->getTitleValue();
-		self::ltDebugLog( 'altTarget='. self::$targetTitleValue->getText(), "private" );
-		self::$targetContent = null;
-	}
-
-	/// Returns the content of the current target page.
-	/// This function serves to be used in preg_replace_callback callback
-	/// functions, in order to load the target page content from the
-	/// database only when needed.
-	/// @note It is absolutely necessary that the newTarget()
-	/// function is called for every new page.
-	private static function getTargetContent() {
-		if ( ! isset( $targetContent ) ) {
-			self::$targetContent = \WikiPage::factory(
-				self::$targetTitle)->getContent();
-		};
-		return self::$targetContent;
-	}
-
-	/// Examines the current target page. Returns true if it may be linked;
-	/// false if not. This depends on the settings
-	/// $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect and $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord
-	/// and whether the target page is a redirect or contains the
-	/// __NOAUTOLINKTARGET__ magic word.
-	/// @returns boolean
-	private static function checkTargetPage() {
-		global $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord;
-		global $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect;
-
-		// If checking for redirects is enabled and the target page does
-		// indeed redirect to the current page, return the page title as-is
-		// (unlinked).
-		if ( $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect ) {
-			$redirectTitle = self::getTargetContent()->getUltimateRedirectTarget();
-			if ( $redirectTitle && $redirectTitle->equals(self::$currentTitle) ) {
-				return false;
-			}
-		};
-
-		// If the magic word __NOAUTOLINKTARGET__ is enabled and the target
-		// page does indeed contain this magic word, return the page title
-		// as-is (unlinked).
-		if ( $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord ) {
-			if ( self::getTargetContent()->matchMagicWord(
-					\MagicWord::get('MAG_LINKTITLES_NOTARGET') ) ) {
-				return false;
-			}
-		};
-		return true;
-	}
-
-	/// Local Debugging output function which can send output to console as well
-	public static function ltDebugLog($text) {
-		if ( self::$ltConsoleOutputDebug ) {
-			print $text . "\n";
-		}
-		wfDebugLog( 'LinkTitles', $text , 'private' );
-	}
-
-	/// Local Logging output function which can send output to console as well
-	public static function ltLog($text) {
-		if (self::$ltConsoleOutput) {
-			print $text . "\n";
-		}
-		wfDebugLog( 'LinkTitles', $text , 'private' );
-	}
 }
 
 // vim: ts=2:sw=2:noet:comments^=\:///
diff --git a/includes/Linker.php b/includes/Linker.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fa5c06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/includes/Linker.php
@@ -0,0 +1,269 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * The LinkTitles\Linker class does the heavy linking for the extension.
+ *
+ * Copyright 2012-2017 Daniel Kraus <bovender@bovender.de> ('bovender')
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston,
+ * MA 02110-1301, USA.
+ *
+ * @author Daniel Kraus <bovender@bovender.de>
+ */
+namespace LinkTitles;
+
+/**
+ * Provides entry points for the extension.
+ */
+class Linker {
+	/// A Title object for the page that is being parsed.
+	private static $currentTitle;
+
+	/// A Title object for the target page currently being examined.
+	private static $targetTitle;
+
+	// The TitleValue object of the target page
+	private static $targetTitleValue;
+
+	/// The content object for the currently processed target page.
+	/// This variable is necessary to be able to prevent loading the target
+	/// content twice.
+	private static $targetContent;
+
+	/// Holds the page title of the currently processed target page
+	/// as a string.
+	private static $targetTitleText;
+
+	public static $ltConsoleOutput;
+	public static $ltConsoleOutputDebug;
+
+	/// Core function of the extension, performs the actual parsing of the content.
+	/// @param Parser $parser Parser instance for the current page
+	/// @param $text          String that holds the article content
+	/// @returns string: parsed text with links added if needed
+	public static function linkContent( $title, &$text ) {
+
+		// Configuration variables need to be defined here as globals.
+		global $wgLinkTitlesFirstOnly;
+		global $wgLinkTitlesSmartMode;
+		global $wgCapitalLinks;
+
+		( $wgLinkTitlesFirstOnly ) ? $limit = 1 : $limit = -1;
+		$limitReached = false;
+		self::$currentTitle = $title;
+		$newText = $text;
+
+		$config = new Config();
+		$delimiters = Delimiters::default( $config );
+		$targets = Targets::default( $title, $config );
+
+		// Iterate through the page titles
+		foreach( $targets->queryResult as $row ) {
+			self::newTarget( $row->page_namespace, $row->page_title );
+
+			// Don't link current page
+			if ( self::$targetTitle->equals( self::$currentTitle ) ) { continue; }
+
+			// split the page content by [[...]] groups
+			// credits to inhan @ StackOverflow for suggesting preg_split
+			// see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10672286
+			$arr = preg_split( $delimiters->splitter, $newText, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE );
+
+			// Escape certain special characters in the page title to prevent
+			// regexp compilation errors
+			self::$targetTitleText = self::$targetTitle->getText();
+			$quotedTitle = preg_quote( self::$targetTitleText, '/' );
+
+			self::ltDebugLog( 'TargetTitle='. self::$targetTitleText, 'private' );
+			self::ltDebugLog( 'TargetTitleQuoted='. $quotedTitle, 'private' );
+
+			// Depending on the global configuration setting $wgCapitalLinks,
+			// the title has to be searched for either in a strictly case-sensitive
+			// way, or in a 'fuzzy' way where the first letter of the title may
+			// be either case.
+			if ( $config->capitalLinks && ( $quotedTitle[0] != '\\' )) {
+				$searchTerm = '((?i)' . $quotedTitle[0] . '(?-i)' .
+					substr($quotedTitle, 1) . ')';
+			}	else {
+				$searchTerm = '(' . $quotedTitle . ')';
+			}
+
+			$regex = '/(?<![\:\.\@\/\?\&])' . $delimiters->wordStart . $searchTerm . $delimiters->wordEnd . '/S';
+			for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $arr ); $i+=2 ) {
+				// even indexes will point to text that is not enclosed by brackets
+				$arr[$i] = preg_replace_callback( $regex,
+					'LinkTitles\Linker::simpleModeCallback', $arr[$i], $limit, $count );
+				if ( $config->firstOnly && ( $count > 0 ) ) {
+					$limitReached = true;
+					break;
+				};
+			};
+			$newText = implode( '', $arr );
+
+			// If smart mode is turned on, the extension will perform a second
+			// pass on the page and add links with aliases where the case does
+			// not match.
+			if ( $config->smartMode && !$limitReached ) {
+				$arr = preg_split( $delimiters->splitter, $newText, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE );
+
+				for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $arr ); $i+=2 ) {
+					// even indexes will point to text that is not enclosed by brackets
+					$arr[$i] = preg_replace_callback( '/(?<![\:\.\@\/\?\&])' .
+						$delimiters->wordStart . '(' . $quotedTitle . ')' .
+						$delimiters->wordEnd . '/iS', 'LinkTitles\Linker::smartModeCallback',
+						$arr[$i], $limit, $count );
+					if ( $config->firstOnly && ( $count > 0  )) {
+						break;
+					};
+				};
+				$newText = implode( '', $arr );
+			} // $wgLinkTitlesSmartMode
+		}; // foreach $res as $row
+		return $newText;
+	}
+
+	// Build an anonymous callback function to be used in simple mode.
+	private static function simpleModeCallback( array $matches ) {
+		if ( self::checkTargetPage() ) {
+			self::ltLog( "Linking '$matches[0]' to '" . self::$targetTitle . "'" );
+			return '[[' . $matches[0] . ']]';
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			return $matches[0];
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Callback function for use with preg_replace_callback.
+	// This essentially performs a case-sensitive comparison of the
+	// current page title and the occurrence found on the page; if
+	// the cases do not match, it builds an aliased (piped) link.
+	// If $wgCapitalLinks is set to true, the case of the first
+	// letter is ignored by MediaWiki and we don't need to build a
+	// piped link if only the case of the first letter is different.
+	private static function smartModeCallback( array $matches ) {
+		global $wgCapitalLinks;
+
+		if ( $wgCapitalLinks ) {
+			// With $wgCapitalLinks set to true we have a slightly more
+			// complicated version of the callback than if it were false;
+			// we need to ignore the first letter of the page titles, as
+			// it does not matter for linking.
+			if ( self::checkTargetPage() ) {
+				self::ltLog( "Linking (smart) '$matches[0]' to '" . self::$targetTitle . "'" );
+				if ( strcmp(substr(self::$targetTitleText, 1), substr($matches[0], 1)) == 0 ) {
+					// Case-sensitive match: no need to bulid piped link.
+					return '[[' . $matches[0] . ']]';
+				} else  {
+					// Case-insensitive match: build piped link.
+					return '[[' . self::$targetTitleText . '|' . $matches[0] . ']]';
+				}
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				return $matches[0];
+			}
+		} else {
+			// If $wgCapitalLinks is false, we can use the simple variant
+			// of the callback function.
+			if ( self::checkTargetPage() ) {
+				self::ltLog( "Linking (smart) '$matches[0]' to '" . self::$targetTitle . "'" );
+				if ( strcmp(self::$targetTitleText, $matches[0]) == 0 ) {
+					// Case-sensitive match: no need to bulid piped link.
+					return '[[' . $matches[0] . ']]';
+				} else  {
+					// Case-insensitive match: build piped link.
+					return '[[' . self::$targetTitleText . '|' . $matches[0] . ']]';
+				}
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				return $matches[0];
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	/// Sets member variables for the current target page.
+	private static function newTarget( $ns, $title ) {
+		self::$targetTitle = \Title::makeTitleSafe( $ns, $title );
+		self::ltDebugLog( 'newtarget='.  self::$targetTitle->getText(), "private" );
+		self::$targetTitleValue = self::$targetTitle->getTitleValue();
+		self::ltDebugLog( 'altTarget='. self::$targetTitleValue->getText(), "private" );
+		self::$targetContent = null;
+	}
+
+	/// Returns the content of the current target page.
+	/// This function serves to be used in preg_replace_callback callback
+	/// functions, in order to load the target page content from the
+	/// database only when needed.
+	/// @note It is absolutely necessary that the newTarget()
+	/// function is called for every new page.
+	private static function getTargetContent() {
+		if ( ! isset( $targetContent ) ) {
+			self::$targetContent = \WikiPage::factory(
+				self::$targetTitle)->getContent();
+		};
+		return self::$targetContent;
+	}
+
+	/// Examines the current target page. Returns true if it may be linked;
+	/// false if not. This depends on the settings
+	/// $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect and $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord
+	/// and whether the target page is a redirect or contains the
+	/// __NOAUTOLINKTARGET__ magic word.
+	/// @returns boolean
+	private static function checkTargetPage() {
+		global $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord;
+		global $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect;
+
+		// If checking for redirects is enabled and the target page does
+		// indeed redirect to the current page, return the page title as-is
+		// (unlinked).
+		if ( $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect ) {
+			$redirectTitle = self::getTargetContent()->getUltimateRedirectTarget();
+			if ( $redirectTitle && $redirectTitle->equals(self::$currentTitle) ) {
+				return false;
+			}
+		};
+
+		// If the magic word __NOAUTOLINKTARGET__ is enabled and the target
+		// page does indeed contain this magic word, return the page title
+		// as-is (unlinked).
+		if ( $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord ) {
+			if ( self::getTargetContent()->matchMagicWord(
+					\MagicWord::get('MAG_LINKTITLES_NOTARGET') ) ) {
+				return false;
+			}
+		};
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	/// Local Debugging output function which can send output to console as well
+	public static function ltDebugLog($text) {
+		if ( self::$ltConsoleOutputDebug ) {
+			print $text . "\n";
+		}
+		wfDebugLog( 'LinkTitles', $text , 'private' );
+	}
+
+	/// Local Logging output function which can send output to console as well
+	public static function ltLog($text) {
+		if (self::$ltConsoleOutput) {
+			print $text . "\n";
+		}
+		wfDebugLog( 'LinkTitles', $text , 'private' );
+	}
+}
+
+// vim: ts=2:sw=2:noet:comments^=\:///