diff --git a/linkcheck/configuration/confparse.py b/linkcheck/configuration/confparse.py
index 42db70cc..dc7facd8 100644
--- a/linkcheck/configuration/confparse.py
+++ b/linkcheck/configuration/confparse.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ except ImportError: # Python 2
     from ConfigParser import RawConfigParser
 import os
 from .. import LinkCheckerError, get_link_pat, LOG_CHECK, log, fileutil, plugins, logconf
+from builtins import str
 
 
 def read_multiline (value):
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ class LCConfigParser (RawConfigParser, object):
             self.read_plugin_config()
         except Exception as msg:
             raise LinkCheckerError(
-              _("Error parsing configuration: %s") % unicode(msg))
+              _("Error parsing configuration: %s") % str(msg))
 
     def read_string_option (self, section, option, allowempty=False):
         """Read a string option."""
diff --git a/linkcheck/containers.py b/linkcheck/containers.py
index 2037d50c..2cbcf253 100644
--- a/linkcheck/containers.py
+++ b/linkcheck/containers.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Special container classes.
 """
 
 from collections import namedtuple
+from past.builtins import basestring
 
 class AttrDict (dict):
     """Dictionary allowing attribute access to its elements if they
diff --git a/tests/configuration/test_config.py b/tests/configuration/test_config.py
index 5eb8bf86..3c6a007b 100644
--- a/tests/configuration/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/configuration/test_config.py
@@ -21,14 +21,15 @@ Test config parsing.
 import unittest
 import os
 import linkcheck.configuration
+from builtins import str
 
 
 def get_file (filename=None):
     """Get file name located within 'data' directory."""
     directory = os.path.join("tests", "configuration", "data")
     if filename:
-        return unicode(os.path.join(directory, filename))
-    return unicode(directory)
+        return str(os.path.join(directory, filename))
+    return str(directory)
 
 
 class TestConfig (unittest.TestCase):
diff --git a/tests/test_dummy.py b/tests/test_dummy.py
index b29859a0..ba410937 100644
--- a/tests/test_dummy.py
+++ b/tests/test_dummy.py
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@
 Test dummy object.
 """
 
+import sys
 import unittest
+
+from builtins import bytes, str
+
 import linkcheck.dummy
 
 
@@ -60,4 +64,5 @@ class TestDummy (unittest.TestCase):
         del dummy[2:3]
         str(dummy)
         repr(dummy)
-        unicode(dummy)
+        if sys.version_info.major == 2:
+            unicode(dummy)
diff --git a/tests/test_updater.py b/tests/test_updater.py
index 2cd32005..06abcf18 100644
--- a/tests/test_updater.py
+++ b/tests/test_updater.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Test update check functionality.
 import unittest
 from tests import need_network
 import linkcheck.updater
+from builtins import str
 
 
 class TestUpdater (unittest.TestCase):
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ class TestUpdater (unittest.TestCase):
             if isinstance(value, tuple):
                 self.assertEqual(len(value), 2)
                 version, url = value
-                self.assertTrue(isinstance(version, basestring), repr(version))
-                self.assertTrue(url is None or isinstance(url, basestring), repr(url))
+                self.assertTrue(isinstance(version, str), repr(version))
+                self.assertTrue(url is None or isinstance(url, str), repr(url))
         else:
             self.assertTrue(isinstance(value, unicode), repr(value))