diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index b5a2b84934a..3cee32b2d64 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -2939,7 +2939,8 @@ Options for the linkcheck builder
 
    Otherwise, ``linkcheck`` waits for a minute before to retry and keeps
    doubling the wait time between attempts until it succeeds or exceeds the
-   ``linkcheck_rate_limit_timeout``. By default, the timeout is 5 minutes.
+   ``linkcheck_rate_limit_timeout``. By default, the timeout is 300 seconds
+   and custom timeouts should be given in seconds.
 
    .. _Retry-After: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7231#section-7.1.3