diff --git a/rules/list-item.js b/rules/list-item.js
index 3316572..805c25b 100644
--- a/rules/list-item.js
+++ b/rules/list-item.js
@@ -102,21 +102,49 @@ function validateList(list, file) {
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		const [link, ...description] = paragraph.children;
-
-		if (link.type === 'text') {
+		if (paragraph.children[0].type === 'text') {
 			continue;
 		}
 
+		let [link, ...description] = paragraph.children;
+
+		// Might have children like: '{image} {text} {link} { - description}'
+		// Keep discarding prefix elements until we find something link-like.
+		while (link.type !== 'linkReference' && link.type !== 'link' && description.length > 1) {
+			link = description[0];
+			description = description.slice(1);
+		}
+
 		if (!validateListItemLink(link, file)) {
 			continue;
 		}
 
+		if (!validateListItemLinkChildren(link, file)) {
+			continue;
+		}
+
 		validateListItemDescription(description, file);
 	}
 }
 
+function validateListItemLinkChildren(link, file) {
+	for (const node of link.children) {
+		if (!listItemLinkNodeAllowList.has(node.type)) {
+			file.message('Invalid list item link', node);
+			return false;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
+
 function validateListItemLink(link, file) {
+	// NB. We need remark-lint-no-undefined-references separately
+	// to catch if this is a valid reference. Here we only care that it exists.
+	if (link.type === 'linkReference') {
+		return true;
+	}
+
 	if (link.type !== 'link') {
 		file.message('Invalid list item link', link);
 		return false;
@@ -133,13 +161,6 @@ function validateListItemLink(link, file) {
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	for (const node of link.children) {
-		if (!listItemLinkNodeAllowList.has(node.type)) {
-			file.message('Invalid list item link', node);
-			return false;
-		}
-	}
-
 	return true;
 }
 
@@ -168,11 +189,18 @@ function validateListItemDescription(description, file) {
 			return false;
 		}
 
-		if (/^\s*—/.test(prefixText)) {
-			file.message('List item link and description separated by invalid en-dash', prefix);
+		// Some editors auto-correct ' - ' to – (en-dash). Also avoid — (em-dash).
+		if (/^\s*[/\u{02013}\u{02014}]/u.test(prefixText)) {
+			file.message('List item link and description separated by invalid en-dash or em-dash', prefix);
 			return false;
 		}
 
+		// Might have image and link on left side before description.
+		// Assume a hyphen with spaces in the description is good enough.
+		if (/ - [A-Z]/.test(descriptionText)) {
+			return true;
+		}
+
 		file.message('List item link and description must be separated with a dash', prefix);
 		return false;
 	}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/list-item/0.md b/test/fixtures/list-item/0.md
index aa5ed77..a68d494 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/list-item/0.md
+++ b/test/fixtures/list-item/0.md
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ All list-items in this document should be linted as **valid**.
   - [foo](https://foo.com) - Valid sub-item.
   - [foo](https://foo.com) - Valid sub-item.
     - [foo](https://foo.com) - Valid sub-sub-item!!!!!
-- [foo](https://foo.com) - GitHub's descriptions can also be valid.	
+- [foo](https://foo.com) - GitHub's descriptions can also be valid.
+- [foo-bar](https://foo-bar.com) - Valid description.
+- 👍 [foo](https://foo-bar.com) - Valid description.
 
 ## Tutorials
 
@@ -133,9 +135,17 @@ These sub-lists use mixed indentation (spaces and tabs).
 
 - [why-is-node-running](https://github.com/mafintosh/why-is-node-running) - Node.js is running but you don't know why?
 
-<!--
-TODO: these list-items should possibly lint as valid, but they currently don't.
 
-- ![v3](img/vapor-3.png) [API Error Middleware](https://github.com/skelpo/APIErrorMiddleware) – Vapor middleware for converting thrown errors to JSON responses.
-- ![v2](img/vapor-2.png) ![v3](img/vapor-3.png) [Bugsnag](https://github.com/nodes-vapor/bugsnag) – Report errors with Bugsnag.
+- [gtkada] - Ada graphical toolkit based on Gtk3 components (issue #161 link reference below but checked by `remark-lint-no-undefined-references` not `rules/list-item.js`).
+- [*example* `code`][exampleref] - Another linkref but with children.
+- [foo](https://foo.com) ![stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/foo/foo.svg) - Valid description.
+- ![v3](img/vapor-3.png) [API Error Middleware](https://github.com/skelpo/APIErrorMiddleware) - Vapor middleware for converting thrown errors to JSON responses.
+- ![v2](img/vapor-2.png) ![v3](img/vapor-3.png) [Bugsnag](https://github.com/nodes-vapor/bugsnag) - Report errors with Bugsnag.
+- [ArcGIS location services - Postman Workspace](https://www.postman.com/arcgis-developer/workspace/arcgis-location-services) - Official Postman collections to work with the Geocoding & Search API, Routing & Directions API, Demographics & GeoEnrichment API, Data hosting and more (issue #146).
+- [rmw](https://github.com/ros2/rmw/tree/master/rmw) - Contains the ROS middleware API ![rmw](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/ros2/rmw.svg) (issue #49).
+<!-- TODO
+- [__Compiling machine learning programs via high-level tracing__. Roy Frostig, Matthew James Johnson, Chris Leary. _MLSys 2018_.](https://mlsys.org/Conferences/doc/2018/146.pdf) - This white paper describes an early version of JAX, detailing how computation is traced and compiled (issue #136)
 -->
+
+[gtkada]: https://github.com/AdaCore/gtkada
+[exampleref]: https://example.com
diff --git a/test/fixtures/list-item/1.md b/test/fixtures/list-item/1.md
index fbc00b8..48ded26 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/list-item/1.md
+++ b/test/fixtures/list-item/1.md
@@ -70,3 +70,7 @@ Test description's ending punctuation.
 
 - [foo](https://foo.com) - Quote-inducing double punctuation “end…”??!
 - [foo](https://foo.com) - Quote-inducing double punctuation “end?…...”…...?
+- [gtkada] - Reference link with no reference.
+- [*example* ![img](https://image.img)][exampleref] - Another linkref but with a bad child.
+
+[exampleref]: https://ref.com
diff --git a/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.md b/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.md
index fa75ba2..35b3d74 100644
--- a/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.md
+++ b/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.md
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Generated by [AVA](https://avajs.dev).
       },
       {
         line: 13,
-        message: 'List item link and description separated by invalid en-dash',
+        message: 'List item link and description separated by invalid en-dash or em-dash',
         ruleId: 'awesome-list-item',
       },
       {
@@ -279,6 +279,11 @@ Generated by [AVA](https://avajs.dev).
         message: 'List item description must end with proper punctuation',
         ruleId: 'awesome-list-item',
       },
+      {
+        line: 74,
+        message: 'Invalid list item link',
+        ruleId: 'awesome-list-item',
+      },
     ]
 
 ## list-item - invalid sublist punctuation
diff --git a/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.snap b/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.snap
index 3d2b7ba..021af8e 100644
Binary files a/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.snap and b/test/rules/snapshots/list-item.js.snap differ