An internal linking audit looks at three things: which pages link where, what the anchor text says, and how many clicks each page sits from the homepage. Below are the steps, tools and metrics, and how to decide which fixes come first.
The foundations of an internal linking audit
An internal linking audit evaluates how your pages pass authority, how clear your site architecture is, and where users and crawlers get stuck. Focus on link destinations, anchor text relevance, and the paths that connect category, hub and product pages.
Internal links and site structure
Internal links connect your pages and shape crawl paths that search engines follow. Check every link type (navigation, contextual links in the body copy, breadcrumbs and footer links) to confirm each one points to the most relevant page and that no page is left orphaned.
Pay attention to link equity flow: high-authority pages should pass value to priority pages through concise, descriptive anchors. Use a spreadsheet or crawler to export link counts, follow/nofollow status, and anchor text distribution for every URL.
Assess your site structure for depth and breadth. Keep key pages within three clicks of the homepage where possible. Deep pages often receive little authority; surface them with links from category or hub pages so they get crawled and indexed.
The role of hub pages and pillar pages
Hub pages and pillar pages act as concentrated sources of authority for topics and categories. A pillar page usually covers a broad topic and links to detailed cluster pages; hub pages perform similarly but may focus on category-level navigation or commercial intent.
Identify which pages serve as pillars or hubs by traffic, backlinks, and internal inlinks. Treat these as primary targets in your internal link strategy and make sure they receive internal links from category pages, topically related posts, and high-authority pages.
Use consistent anchor text rules when linking to hubs and pillars. Prefer keyword-rich but natural anchors for topic signals, and vary phrasing to avoid over-optimisation. Also check that pillar pages link back to cluster pages to create a coherent link graph that distributes authority both ways.
Mapping site architecture and link graphs
Map your site architecture visually and as a link graph to reveal link bottlenecks and orphaned pages. Start with a sitemap export (site.com) and crawl results, then generate a graph that shows nodes (pages) and edges (internal links).
Look for structural issues: many weak inbound links to an important category page, or a single hub with too few outbound links to its cluster. Use metrics like in-degree, out-degree and PageRank estimates from your crawl tool to prioritise fixes.
Implement practical changes from the map: add contextual links from high-authority pages to underperforming category or authority pages, adjust anchors for clarity, and restructure menus or breadcrumb trails if they misrepresent the site hierarchy. Re-run the graph after each round of changes to see whether the bottlenecks have cleared.
Anchor text strategy
Focus anchor text on clear signals for both users and search engines: use descriptive phrases that match the destination’s intent, avoid repetitive exact-match phrases, and balance generic with keyword-rich anchors across the site.
Descriptive and keyword-rich anchor text
Use descriptive anchor text that tells the reader exactly what the linked page covers. Prefer short phrases (two to six words) that include the primary topic or natural synonyms rather than a long sentence.
For example: “content inventory template” or “internal linking audit checklist” communicates intent better than “click here”.
When you add keywords, make them relevant to the landing page’s main subject and user intent. Combine primary keywords with modifiers: “local SEO anchor text examples” instead of repeating the single keyword across dozens of links.
Check pages that already rank well: mimic the user-facing phrase they target to reinforce relevance without forcing an exact match.
Use anchor text to clarify topical relationships inside content hubs. For hub-to-spoke links, include the hub’s category term plus a specific angle. That helps crawlers and readers alike.
Keep anchor length and tone consistent across a section for better readability and predictable user experience.
Generic anchors versus exact match
Generic anchors like “read more” or “learn more” have a place for UI clarity, but they shouldn’t dominate your internal linking. Generic anchors provide neutral UX cues when the surrounding context explains the link target.
Reserve them for repeated CTAs, or for navigation where space is short.
Exact match anchor text directly uses the exact keyword you want the target page to rank for. Use exact match sparingly for internal links to avoid over-optimisation signals.
If every internal link uses exact match, search engines may treat the pattern as manipulative and users may find the language repetitive.
Aim to mix anchor types by context: use exact or near-exact match for cornerstone links from high-authority pages, and generic or descriptive anchors for supporting or navigational links.
Monitor changes in rankings and click behaviour after adjustments to detect any negative impact from heavy exact-match use.
Anchor text distribution and ratios
Balance anchor text distribution across your site to avoid signalling manipulation. Track anchor text frequency per target URL and keep the most common anchor under a reasonable share. As a rule of thumb, no single anchor should account for more than 20 to 30% of the internal links pointing to that page.
This prevents unnatural concentration while allowing clear thematic signals.
Create a simple tracking table to audit distribution:
- Column A: Target URL
- Column B: Anchor text phrase
- Column C: Count of internal links
- Column D: Percentage of total links to the URL
Prioritise varied but relevant anchors: mix descriptive, keyword-rich, branded and generic phrases.
When you find orphan pages or over-reliance on one anchor, update surrounding content to include natural variations and long-tail synonyms that match page intent.
Analysing link depth, click paths and orphan pages
Focus on how far important content sits from your homepage, which pages receive few or no internal links, and where crawl resources get wasted. Use crawl data and site crawlers to prioritise fixes that reduce click depth, remove broken links and redirect chains, and surface orphaned pages for linking.
Evaluating link depth and click depth
Measure link depth (clicks from the homepage) for every page using a site crawler. Export depth values and sort by priority pages (product, category, cornerstone content) so you can see which key pages sit beyond three or four clicks. Pages deeper than 4 clicks often suffer from low crawl frequency and reduced indexation potential.
Check crawl depth and click path differences: a page might be 2 clicks from a category but 6 from the homepage due to a non-linear structure. Identify pages with high inbound internal links but high click depth; these usually indicate navigation or breadcrumb issues. Use this data to set target maximum click depth per content type and track changes after updates.
Surfacing orphan and under-linked pages
Run a full site crawl and compare against your sitemap and analytics to find orphan pages. Orphan pages have zero internal incoming links in crawl data and therefore receive poor crawl budget priority and limited user discovery. Prioritise orphan pages that earn organic traffic or contain important conversions.
Also flag under-linked pages (one or two internal links) and pages that link only via redirect chains or to 404 errors. Create a checklist: (1) add contextual internal links from topical hub pages, (2) replace links that point to 404 pages, and (3) remove or fix redirect chains and excessive 301 redirects that dilute link equity. Track fixes in a spreadsheet with URL, current incoming links, and action taken.
Optimising crawl paths and reducing clicks
Map the crawl paths to your key content and check that bots reach priority pages in a few clicks. Use your crawler to visualise crawl paths and spot long chains caused by redirects or deep nested folders. Shorten paths by updating navigation, adding hub links, and eliminating redirect chains and unnecessary intermediate pages.
Reduce crawl waste by fixing broken internal links and 404 errors, consolidating redirect chains, and making sure important pages appear in the XML sitemap and are linked from hub pages. Compare crawl frequency before and after the changes to see what moved.
Internal linking audit tools and measurement
Use a mix of automated crawlers, backlink tools and analytics to find broken or weak internal links, spot underperforming pages, and measure changes in impressions, organic traffic and rankings over time.
Tools and automation for internal link audits
Use Screaming Frog to crawl site structure and export inlinks, link depth, anchor text and response codes. Configure custom extraction to capture menu items, breadcrumb markup and nofollow attributes.
Combine that crawl with Ahrefs or SEMrush to overlay backlink data and identify pages with external links but poor internal linking. Majestic helps when you need historic link equity metrics for authority flow analysis.
Automate recurring crawls and weekly reports. Pull Google Search Console impressions, clicks and CTR by page to prioritise high-impression pages that lack internal links. Send data into a spreadsheet or BI tool to calculate inlink counts, average link depth and pages with zero inlinks so you can triage fixes.
Identifying and fixing common internal linking issues
Start by flagging pages with zero inlinks, excessive link depth (>4 clicks from the homepage), or orphaned product pages in ecommerce sites. Identify weak contextual links, such as generic anchors like “click here”, and replace them with descriptive keyword-rich anchors that match the target page’s topical cluster.
Look for duplicate or conflicting anchor text patterns and menu-driven links that dilute link equity. Fix broken links and redirect chains discovered by Screaming Frog or an SEO audit tool. Where relevant, add links from high-authority guides, archives or topical hub pages to underperforming pages to pass authority and give readers a clearer route through the site.
Tracking SEO performance and authority flow
Measure link equity flow with a simple dashboard: inlink count, average link depth, organic sessions, impressions and keyword rankings per page. Use Google Analytics (or GA4) to monitor changes in bounce rate and session duration after internal link changes. Track GSC impressions and clicks for targeted pages weekly to detect ranking impact.
For longer-term measurement, compare pages that received new contextual links against a control group. Record backlinks and external authority from Ahrefs/Majestic to separate gains from internal linking versus new backlinks. Review these metrics monthly and automate alerts for sudden drops in impressions or indexation issues so you can iterate on internal link building quickly.
If you want a second pair of eyes on your internal links, see our technical SEO service and SEO audit, along with organic marketing and paid ads.