AI Internal Linking: Build Links That Actually Move Rankings

You’ve published 20 articles. Traffic is flat. Rankings stuck on page 3.

Meanwhile, sites with worse content rank above you.

The difference isn’t backlinks. It’s internal linking. Those sites have connected content networks. Yours is a pile of disconnected pages.

Internal links are the one SEO lever that works immediately and costs nothing. No outreach. No begging for guest posts. No budget. You control them completely.

Here’s what proper internal linking does for a content business:

• Moves money pages up in rankings - Authority flows from your strongest pages to pages that convert
• Shortens the path to revenue - Readers find your offers faster
• Gets new content indexed in days, not weeks - Critical when you’re publishing regularly
• Turns random articles into a content machine - Topics reinforce each other

I’ve watched pages jump from page 3 to page 1 just by adding 5-10 strategic internal links. No new backlinks. No content updates. Just links from authoritative pages on the same site.

Here’s how to build internal linking with AI - from auditing what you have, to finding opportunities at scale, to maintaining it as your site grows.

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How Internal Links Actually Work

Two pages. Same content quality. Completely different results.

Page A: Your best article, no internal links pointing to it

• Google finds it eventually (maybe)
• Zero authority passed from your other pages
• Stuck on page 3 despite being better than competitors
• Makes you $0

Page B: Same content, but 10 internal links from your authoritative pages

• Google finds it within days
• Authority flows from your homepage and popular content
• Competing for page 1 positions
• Capturing traffic and revenue

Same writing. Different internal linking. Different outcomes.

What Google Sees

Think of your site as a city. Internal links are roads. Pages with many roads leading to them are easy to find and clearly important. Pages with no roads? Ghost towns that Google rarely visits - and customers never find.

The Math: PageRank Distribution

Skip this section if you want. But understanding this math lets you make smarter linking decisions than 90% of content site owners.

Google’s PageRank algorithm (still used in modified form) distributes authority through links. The formula directly affects which of your pages rank.

The Basic Formula

If a page has 6 points of authority and links to 3 other pages, each linked page receives:

6 / 3 = 2 authority points each

The critical insight:

If that same page links to 10 pages instead of 3:

6 / 10 = 0.6 authority points each

More outgoing links = less authority per link.

This is why a link from your homepage (your most authoritative page) to your main offer page moves rankings. And why a link from a blog post with 50 other links barely registers.

Factors That Affect Link Value

Your Linking Strategy

1. Identify your power pages - Homepage, pillar content, pages with backlinks. These should link to pages you want to rank.
2. Keep links focused - A page with 100 outgoing links dilutes each one. Link intentionally.
3. Prioritize in-content links - Links in your article body pass more value than navigation.
4. 3-click rule - Important pages (especially money pages) should be within 3 clicks of your homepage.

Internal Linking Fundamentals

Get these basics right before automating anything.

Link Placement Types

In-content links matter most because:

• They’re surrounded by relevant context (Google reads what’s around the link)
• Users actually click them
• They signal topical relevance more strongly

If you had to choose between 10 footer links and 3 in-content links, take the in-content links. Every time.

Link Attributes

Rule: Don’t nofollow your own internal links. You want authority flowing through your site. Only exception: login pages, cart pages, or other non-indexable pages.

How Many Links Per Page?

No hard limit exists. Google handles hundreds of links per page. But every link should be useful to the reader. Forced links that don’t make sense hurt user experience - and eventually, rankings.

Auditing Your Current Links

You can’t fix what you don’t measure.

Before building new links, audit what you have. You’re looking for:

• Orphan pages (no incoming links) - these are invisible to link equity
• Broken links (404 errors) - dead ends that hurt UX and waste crawl budget
• Under-linked money pages - the pages that should rank but don’t have support
• Over-linked low-value pages - authority going to the wrong places

Using Screaming Frog for Link Audits

Screaming Frog is what most SEOs use for internal link analysis. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs - plenty for most new content sites.

Step 1: Crawl Your Site

1. Open Screaming Frog
2. Enter your domain URL
3. Click “Start”
4. Wait for the crawl to complete

Step 2: Check Link Depth

Go to the Internal tab, look at the Crawl Depth column.

Your money pages should be within 3 clicks of your homepage. If your offer page or best converting content is at depth 4 or 5, add internal links to bring them closer.

Step 3: Find Orphan Pages

1. Connect Google Search Console and your sitemap in Screaming Frog
2. Go to Bulk Export > Sitemaps > Orphan URLs
3. These are pages in your sitemap with zero internal links pointing to them

Orphan pages receive zero link equity. Google might find them through the sitemap, but they’re competing with one hand tied behind their back.

Step 4: Identify Link Score Distribution

The Link Score column (0-100) shows relative internal authority for each page. Look for:

• High-value pages with low link scores (your money pages need more incoming links)
• Low-value pages with high link scores (authority going to the wrong places)

Step 5: Find Broken Internal Links

1. Click Response Codes tab
2. Filter by Client Error (4xx)
3. Fix these immediately

Broken links waste crawl budget and create dead ends. Users hit them, bounce, and your conversions suffer.

Visualization

Screaming Frog has two visualization tools worth using:

Force-Directed Crawl Diagram shows how pages connect. Clusters reveal your actual site structure. Disconnected nodes are problems.

Crawl Tree Graph shows click depth in a hierarchical view. Spot pages buried too deep at a glance.

Both are under Visualisations in the menu.

AI Tools for Internal Linking

Manual internal linking works when you have 20 pages. Once you hit 50+, you need automation or you’ll spend hours on link management instead of building your business.

Here’s what actually works:

Link Whisper (WordPress)

Link Whisper is the most popular WordPress plugin for internal linking.

What it does:

• Scans content in real-time as you write
• Suggests relevant internal link opportunities
• Shows orphan pages and link reports
• One-click link insertion

Cost: $77/year for single site

Best for: WordPress sites that want simple, integrated suggestions. If you’re on WordPress and have 50+ posts, this pays for itself in time saved.

Surfer SEO

Surfer’s Internal Linking Tool offers two modes:

1. Semantic Internal Linking - AI-powered, uses content embeddings to find contextual matches
2. Basic Internal Linking - Faster, simpler pattern matching

Best for: Sites already using Surfer for content optimization. Don’t get it just for linking.

LinkStorm

LinkStorm integrates with Google Search Console to combine ranking data with link analysis.

What it does:

• Creates unified view of page metrics + internal links
• Auto-link feature can add links automatically
• Prioritizes opportunities by potential impact

Best for: When you want data-driven decisions about which links matter most.

Linkter

Linkter uses Claude AI for semantic analysis.

What it does:

• Analyzes content meaning, not just keywords
• Generates contextually relevant anchor text
• Can rewrite sentences to include natural links

Best for: Sites that want AI-generated anchor text that actually reads naturally.

DIY with Claude (Free Option)

Don’t want to pay for tools yet? Use Claude or ChatGPT directly. The prompts in the next section work with any capable LLM.

The tradeoff: More manual work exporting/importing content. But zero subscription cost while you’re building.

This is what I recommend when starting out. Pay for tools once your site has 100+ pages and the manual work becomes a bottleneck.

AI Prompts for Link Discovery

Here’s exactly how to use AI to find internal linking opportunities. Copy these prompts, paste your content, and get actionable recommendations.

Prompt 1: Bulk Link Opportunity Analysis

Use this when you have a list of pages and want to find all possible connections.

I'm going to give you a list of pages from my website. Analyze them and create an internal linking plan.

PAGES:
[Paste your page list with URLs and titles]

For each page, identify:

1. PAGES THIS SHOULD LINK TO
- Target page URL
- Anchor text suggestion
- Reason for the link

2. PAGES THAT SHOULD LINK TO THIS
- Source page URL
- Where in that content the link fits
- Anchor text suggestion

3. PRIORITY SCORE (1-10)
Based on:
- Search intent alignment
- Topical relevance
- Current link gaps

Output as a table:
| Source Page | Target Page | Anchor Text | Priority | Reason |

Prompt 2: Content-Level Link Insertion

Use this when you have specific content and want to find exact link opportunities.

Analyze this article and identify internal linking opportunities.

ARTICLE TO ANALYZE:
[Paste full article text]

PAGES AVAILABLE TO LINK TO:
[List your other pages with brief descriptions]

Find:

1. EXACT PHRASES that could become links
For each opportunity:
- The exact text to turn into a link
- Which page it should link to
- Why this makes sense for the reader

2. SENTENCES TO MODIFY
If no natural phrase exists, suggest a sentence rewrite that creates a natural link opportunity.

3. LINK PLACEMENT PRIORITY
- Which links should go early (for users who skim)
- Which can go later (for readers who go deep)

Do NOT suggest generic "click here" or "read more" anchors.

Prompt 3: Priority Page Booster

Use this for your most important pages that need more incoming links.

I need to increase internal links to this priority page:

TARGET PAGE:
- URL: [URL]
- Title: [Title]
- Target keyword: [Main keyword]
- Current incoming internal links: [Number]

MY CONTENT INVENTORY:
[List all your pages with topics]

Find the 10 best pages that should link to this target.

For each suggestion:
| Source Page | Relevance Score | Suggested Anchor Text | Where to Place Link |

Prioritize:
1. Topically related content
2. Pages with high authority (many incoming links)
3. Natural placement opportunities

Avoid:
- Forced or awkward placements
- Duplicate anchor text across sources
- Links that don't serve the reader

Prompt 4: Silo Structure Mapping

Use this to plan links within content clusters.

Map an internal linking structure for this content silo:

SILO TOPIC: [Main topic]

PILLAR PAGE: [URL and title]

CLUSTER PAGES:
[List all pages in this topic cluster]

Create a linking map showing:

1. PILLAR → CLUSTER links
Which cluster pages should the pillar link to and with what anchor text?

2. CLUSTER → PILLAR links
How should each cluster page link back to the pillar?

3. CLUSTER → CLUSTER links
Which cluster pages should link to each other?

4. CROSS-SILO OPPORTUNITIES
Are there natural connections to other topic areas on the site?

Output as a visual diagram using text:

PILLAR | ├──→ Cluster A ←──→ Article A1 | ↑ Article A2 | └──────────────┘

Prompt 5: New Content Integration

Use this every time you publish new content.

I just published new content and need to integrate it into my site's internal linking structure.

NEW PAGE:
- URL: [URL]
- Title: [Title]
- Topic: [Brief description]
- Target keyword: [Keyword]

EXISTING CONTENT:
[List of existing pages]

Provide:

1. OUTGOING LINKS FOR NEW PAGE
Which existing pages should this new content link to?
| Target | Anchor Text | Where in new content |

2. INCOMING LINKS TO ADD
Which existing pages should now link to this new content?
| Source Page | Anchor Text | Where to add the link |

3. IMPLEMENTATION ORDER
Which links to add first based on:
- Authority of source page
- Relevance to new content
- Ease of implementation

Anchor Text Strategy

The words you use for links are ranking signals. Get this wrong and you either confuse Google or trigger over-optimization filters.

Anchor Text Types

The Distribution Rule

For any target page, your incoming anchor text should be varied:

• 5-10% exact match (your target keyword exactly)
• 40-60% partial match (contains keywords naturally)
• 10-20% branded (includes your site/brand name)
• 20-30% natural phrases (describes content without keywords)

If 90% of links to a page use identical anchor text, Google sees that as manipulation. Vary it.

Anchor Text Rules

Do:

• Use descriptive text that tells readers what they’ll find
• Vary anchors across different source pages
• Make anchors read naturally in the sentence
• Include target keywords where it makes sense

Don’t:

• Use the same anchor text for every link to a page
• Stuff keywords into anchors unnaturally
• Use “click here” or “this article” as anchors
• Over-optimize with exact match on every link

AI Prompt for Anchor Text

Generate anchor text variations for internal links to this page:

TARGET PAGE:
- URL: [URL]
- Title: [Title]
- Primary keyword: [Keyword]
- Secondary keywords: [List]

I need 10 different anchor text options:
- 1 exact match
- 4 partial match variations
- 2 branded variations
- 3 natural phrase variations

For each, show:
| Anchor Text | Type | Example Sentence Using It |

Fixing Orphan Pages

Orphan pages are the silent killer of content site performance.

An orphan page has zero internal links pointing to it. Google might find it through your sitemap, but it receives no link equity from your site. It’s competing with one hand tied behind its back.

According to Conductor, orphan pages are cut off from PageRank distribution entirely. They can only get authority from external backlinks. For a new content site, that’s a death sentence.

How orphan pages happen

Site migrations lose links when URLs change. Content updates remove old links without adding new ones. New content gets published without any linking plan. CMS automation doesn’t always link properly. Pages get deleted, breaking the links that pointed to them.

Every content site has orphan pages. The question is whether you’re finding and fixing them.

Finding Orphan Pages

Method 1: Screaming Frog (Free)

1. Connect your Google Search Console
2. Add your sitemap as a URL source
3. Crawl your site
4. Go to Bulk Export > Sitemaps > Orphan URLs

This compares what’s in your sitemap vs. what’s linked internally.

Method 2: Google Search Console (Free)

1. Go to Links in the sidebar
2. Export both internal and external link reports
3. Compare - pages with backlinks but no internal links are orphans

Method 3: Ahrefs or Semrush

Both tools have site audit features that flag orphan pages automatically. Overkill for small sites, but useful once you scale.

Fixing Orphan Pages

For each orphan page, decide:

1. Is this page valuable? Does it rank? Get traffic? Serve a purpose?

If yes: Add internal links from relevant pages. Use the AI prompts above to find natural opportunities.

If no: Either:

• Delete it (301 redirect if it has backlinks)
• Noindex it (if it serves a purpose but shouldn’t rank)
• Consolidate it into another page

2. Add to navigation if appropriate. Category pages, resource hubs, or sidebar widgets can link to orphaned but valuable content.

3. Update your content workflow. Every new page should have incoming and outgoing links planned before publishing.

Prevention: The Publishing Checklist

Build internal linking into your publishing workflow from day one:

BEFORE PUBLISHING:
- [ ] Identify 3-5 existing pages that should link to new content
- [ ] Plan 3-5 outgoing links from new content

AFTER PUBLISHING:
- [ ] Add outgoing links to new content
- [ ] Update existing pages with links to new content
- [ ] Verify all links work

MONTHLY:
- [ ] Run orphan page check
- [ ] Fix any new orphans

This takes 10 minutes per article. Skip it and you’ll spend hours fixing orphans later.

Ongoing Maintenance

Internal links aren’t set-and-forget. Your site changes. Content gets updated. Pages get deleted. Links break.

Set up a simple maintenance schedule and stick to it.

Monthly Checklist (30 minutes)

• Check for broken internal links (Screaming Frog or your tool of choice)
• Review orphan pages
• Add links from new content to older relevant content
• Add links from older content to new relevant content

Quarterly Checklist (2 hours)

• Full link distribution analysis
• Verify priority pages have adequate incoming links
• Check anchor text variety (not over-optimizing)
• Review cross-silo linking opportunities
• Update link documentation

AI Prompt for Link Audit

Conduct an internal link audit analysis.

CURRENT LINK DATA:
[Export of pages with incoming link counts]

PRIORITY PAGES:
[List of pages that should rank - money pages, pillar content]

Analyze and report:

1. UNDER-LINKED PRIORITY PAGES
| Page | Current Inlinks | Recommended Inlinks | Gap |

2. POTENTIAL ORPHANS
Pages with 0-1 incoming links that should have more

3. OVER-LINKED LOW-VALUE PAGES
Pages receiving more links than their importance warrants

4. ANCHOR TEXT ISSUES
Any pages with suspicious anchor text patterns (over-optimization)

5. TOP 5 QUICK WINS
Links that can be added immediately for high impact

Documentation Template

Keep a record so your linking strategy stays consistent as your site grows:

INTERNAL LINKING DOCUMENTATION

Last updated: [Date]

LINK TEMPLATES:
- Every article links to: [parent cluster, pillar page, 2-3 related articles]
- Every cluster page links to: [pillar, all supporting articles, 1-2 related clusters]
- Every pillar links to: [all clusters, key articles, relevant tools]

PRIORITY PAGES (need most incoming links):
| Page | Target Inlinks | Current Inlinks | Status |

ANCHOR TEXT GUIDELINES:
- Primary keywords: Use exact match max 10% of the time
- Vary anchors across source pages
- No "click here" or generic anchors

REVIEW SCHEDULE:
- Monthly: Broken links, orphans, new content integration
- Quarterly: Full audit, priority page review, documentation update

The Short Version

Internal links cost nothing and you control them completely. That makes them the highest-ROI SEO activity for a new content site.

The action items:

1. Audit first - You can’t fix what you don’t see. Run Screaming Frog (free).
2. Fix orphans immediately - Pages without links are invisible to Google’s link equity system.
3. Send authority to money pages - Your best content should link to pages that convert.
4. Build linking into your publishing workflow - 10 minutes per article now saves hours later.
5. Use AI once you hit 50+ pages - Manual linking doesn’t scale.
6. Maintain monthly - Links break. Content changes. Stay on top of it.

AI speeds up discovery and planning. But you still decide which pages deserve link equity and how your content should connect.

What to Do Next

You’ve got two options:

Option 1: Quick win (15 minutes)

1. Run Screaming Frog on your site
2. Find your orphan pages
3. Add 3-5 internal links to each from relevant content

Option 2: Full implementation (2-3 hours)

1. Complete the full audit using the steps above
2. Identify your priority pages (money pages, pillar content)
3. Use the AI prompts to map out a complete linking structure
4. Implement the links
5. Set up monthly maintenance

Either way, start today. Internal links compound over time. The sooner you build the structure, the faster everything ranks.

Recommended Reading

Building Journey:

• Previous: AI Silo Structure - Plan your content hierarchy before linking
• Next: Schema & JSON-LD Guide - Structured data for search engines
• Related: AI Site Architecture - The foundation your links build on

SEO:

• AI Keyword Optimization - Target the right terms
• AI Technical SEO Audit - Fix crawl issues that affect linking
• AI Content Structure - Structure pages for optimal linking

Tools:

• Screaming Frog - Free crawl up to 500 URLs
• Link Whisper - WordPress internal linking plugin
• LinkStorm - AI-powered link opportunities