Internal Link Fixes: Shaping How Your Site Connects
Internal links are the one part of search optimisation you fully control. They decide how visitors move from page to page, how easily crawlers find your content, and which pages your own site signals as most important.
The Internal Link Analysis maps every internal link across your crawled pages, measures how many clicks each page sits from the homepage, rates how descriptive the anchor text is, counts links in and out of each page, and identifies orphans, broken links and over-linked pages. This page explains how to read that map, which guide fixes each finding, and how to link different types of page well.
Reading the link map
The analysis gives you numbers per page. On their own they mean little; compared with how important each page is to your business, they tell a clear story.
Start by writing down your ten or so most important pages: the ones that bring enquiries, sales or sign-ups. Then look up each in the report and note three figures.
- Incoming internal links: how many pages on your site link to it. Your key pages should be among the most linked. If a minor blog post has more internal links than your main service page, your structure is pointing attention the wrong way.
- Click depth: the fewest clicks needed to reach it from the homepage. Important pages should be shallow.
- Anchor text received: the words used in the links pointing to it. Do they describe what the page is about, or do they say "click here"?
Then look at the other end of the list. Pages with zero incoming links are orphans. Pages with hundreds of outgoing links are usually template bloat: huge menus or footers that link to everything from every page.
The link map is not a score to maximise. More links are not always better, and a page does not need hundreds of internal links to do well. What matters is that links are relevant, that important pages are easy to reach, and that the words in each link describe where it goes.
The fix guides
The guides are split into structural problems, link-level problems and advice for particular kinds of page.
Structure: can pages be reached?
Fixing orphan pages covers pages with no internal links at all and how to decide whether each should be linked in, merged or retired, using its traffic and purpose as the guide. Fixing pages too deep from the homepage covers bringing valuable pages within a few clicks, and when a flatter or a more layered structure suits a site better. Fixing broken internal links covers finding and correcting links to missing pages in bulk, updating links that go through redirects, and automated checks before publishing.
Distribution: where does importance flow?
Fixing poor link equity flow explains in plain English how links pass importance between pages, and how to direct more of it towards the pages that earn money. Fixing over-linking and link bloat covers mega-menus, footer link farms and related-content widgets that list dozens of items, and how to prune to the links that help. Building topical link clusters covers pillar pages and supporting articles that link to each other, so a site shows depth on a subject.
Link details
Fixing vague anchor text covers replacing
"read more" and "click here" with words that describe the destination, without forcing the same exact
phrase every time. Fixing accidental
nofollow on internal links covers themes and plugins that add rel="nofollow" to your
own links and the few places it makes sense.
By page type
The homepage guide covers using your strongest page to point at key sections. The blog post guide covers contextual links within the article body to both commercial and informational pages. The product page guide covers breadcrumbs, related products and cross-sells, balancing sales focus with helpful links.
Which findings to fix first
| Order | Finding | Why now |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broken internal links | Visitors hit dead ends and it looks careless. Each fix is quick and certain. |
| 2 | Accidental nofollow | Often a single theme or plugin setting that affects every page at once. |
| 3 | Orphaned important pages | A page that matters to the business but has no links pointing to it is being left out of your structure. |
| 4 | Key pages too deep | Bringing them closer through navigation or hub pages benefits both people and crawlers. |
| 5 | Weak links to money pages | Add contextual links from relevant, popular content. |
| 6 | Vague anchor text | Rewrite on your most important links first; the rest can be tidied during normal editing. |
| 7 | Over-linked templates | Pruning navigation is a design decision, so plan it rather than rushing it. |
| 8 | Topic clusters | A longer project that builds on everything above. |
Orphans that are not important can wait, or be removed. Not every orphan deserves rescuing; old test pages, expired offers and duplicates are better redirected or deleted than linked in.
Writing good anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable wording of a link. It tells a visitor what they will get before they click, it tells screen reader users where a link goes when they list the links on a page, and it gives search engines a strong clue about the destination's topic.
| Weak | Better |
|---|---|
| To book, click here. | Book a boiler service online in under two minutes. |
| We cover lots of areas. Read more. | See the towns we cover around Chesterfield. |
| This page explains our prices. | Our boiler servicing prices are fixed and include parts. |
A few guidelines keep anchors natural:
- Describe the destination, not the action. "Boiler servicing prices" beats "view prices" because it says what the page is about.
- Vary the wording. Using the identical phrase for every link to a page reads awkwardly. Close variations and natural phrasing work well.
- Keep it short. A few words, not a whole sentence.
- Do not link images without alt text. For an image link, the alt text acts as the anchor text.
- Make each link distinct. Several links on one page all saying "learn more" but going to different places are confusing for everyone.
Buttons such as "Add to basket" or "Contact us" are fine; they describe an action the visitor understands. The problem is generic text on links whose purpose is to lead to another page of content.
Nofollow, menus and what not to worry about
Internal linking attracts a lot of old advice. Some of it no longer applies.
- PageRank sculpting does not work. Adding
rel="nofollow"to some of your own links in the hope of pushing more importance through the rest stopped working many years ago. The nofollowed links still count towards how a page's importance is shared out; they just pass nothing on. Remove nofollow from your internal links unless there is a specific reason. - Legitimate internal nofollow is rare. Links to login, basket or account pages can
carry it, although a simple
noindexon those pages usually achieves more. Since 2020, Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict instruction. - Navigation links count. Menu, breadcrumb and footer links are real links. They are not as descriptive as a link inside a paragraph, but they do help crawlers and visitors reach pages.
- Links in the body carry context. A link in a paragraph about the subject, surrounded by relevant words, gives far more information about the destination than a link in a list of fifty footer items.
- Links need to be real links. Search engines follow
<a href>elements. Navigation built from buttons or scripts without proper anchors may not be followed at all.
If the analysis shows a sudden drop in followed internal links, check for a recent theme or plugin update. Some add nofollow to links automatically, such as in comment sections or related-post widgets, and the setting can spread further than intended. The Backlinks Guide covers how links from other sites fit into the same picture.
Order of work
- Run the Internal Link Analysis and list your ten most important pages with their incoming links, depth and anchors.
- Correct broken internal links and update links that go through redirects so they point directly at the final URL.
- Remove accidental nofollow from internal links at the theme or plugin level.
- Deal with orphans: link important ones in from two or three relevant pages, and redirect or remove the rest.
- Bring deep key pages closer through navigation, category or hub pages.
- Add contextual links from popular content to the pages that matter commercially, with descriptive anchors.
- Review menus, footers and widgets for bloat, and cut links that nobody uses.
- Plan topic clusters around your main subjects, then re-run the analysis to compare.
The example report shows the analysis on a real site, the beginner tutorial walks through a first run, and the Internal Links Guide is the full reference for every metric.
1. How many internal links should a page have?
There is no correct number. Google has said a page can have many links, and the useful question is whether each link helps the reader. A short service page might link to five or six related pages; a long guide might link to twenty. Problems start when templates add hundreds of links to every page, which makes each individual link less meaningful and the page harder to use. Aim for relevant links in the content plus clear navigation.
2. What is an orphan page and does it matter?
An orphan page is one that no other page on your site links to. Visitors cannot reach it by browsing, and search engines can only find it through the sitemap or external links, with no internal signal that it is important. It matters if the page is useful: link to it from relevant pages. If it is an old test, an expired offer or a duplicate, it is better to redirect or remove it than to link it in.
3. Is it bad to use the same anchor text for every link to a page?
It is not harmful in itself for internal links, but it is usually a sign of mechanical linking and it reads poorly. Natural writing produces variation: a link to a boiler servicing page might say boiler servicing, annual boiler service or book a service depending on the sentence. Variation also gives search engines a fuller picture of what the page covers. The real problem to avoid is vague text such as click here or read more.
4. Should I add nofollow to internal links?
Almost never. Nofollow on your own links does not redirect importance to other pages, a technique known as PageRank sculpting that stopped working many years ago. It simply means those links pass nothing on. The occasional exception is links to pages that have no value in search, such as login or basket pages, though noindex on those pages is usually more useful. If a theme or plugin is adding nofollow to your internal links, turn it off.
5. What is a topic cluster?
A topic cluster is a group of pages on one subject that link to each other in a planned way. A broad pillar page gives an overview of the topic and links out to more detailed pages on each part of it, and those detailed pages link back to the pillar and to each other where relevant. The structure helps visitors explore a subject and helps search engines see that the site covers it in depth.
6. Do links in menus and footers count as internal links?
Yes. Search engines follow links in navigation, breadcrumbs and footers just as they follow links in the main content. The difference is context. A link inside a paragraph about the subject, with descriptive text around it, tells search engines much more about the destination than one of forty links in a footer. Use navigation to make key sections easy to reach, and use contextual links in the content to connect related pages meaningfully.
7. How is internal linking different from backlinks?
Internal links connect pages within your own site, and you control all of them. Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, which you can earn but not control. Backlinks bring importance into your site from outside; internal links decide how that importance is shared between your pages once it arrives. A page that attracts many backlinks, often the homepage or a popular article, is a good place to add links to the pages you most want to strengthen.
The Internal Link Analysis maps every internal link across your crawled pages, measures click depth, rates anchor text, counts links in and out of each page and finds orphans, broken links and over-linked pages.
Run the Internal Link Analysis →