Written by Joel CariñoLike other SEO approaches, internal links are crucial to any holistic SEO campaign. Strategically using internal links improves users’ search experience by providing related content and helps web crawlers determine a site’s internal linking structure.
The question is: how can you quickly find the internal links on a page?
For example, if you build a topical cluster and want to add links between the pillar page and each piece of cluster content, or when you revamp your website and wish to reclaim the displaced or broken internal links.
Stay tuned because this resource shows how you can find internal links on your site.
Which Class of Internal Link Matters Most SEO-wise?
There are various types of internal links, each playing a distinctive role in an internal linking campaign. For instance, navigational and sidebar links are present site-wide, helping users find specific areas around your website.
However, in the grand scheme of internal linking, contextual links within the page’s body will play a much bigger role in your internal linking strategy. Contextual links take users to relevant content and may be used to direct customers to important pages on your site.
Not maximizing your internal linking efforts is one of the biggest internal linking mistakes you can make. Conversely, taking charge of your internal links opens up a wealth of benefits for your website.
Related: The Complete Guide to Internal Linking
6 Reasons to Find Internal Links On A Website
Reason #1: To help you understand the site structure better
Internal links are the connections that provide depth and structure to a website.
To put it into perspective, you may liken your website to a large pyramid with the homepage occupying the apex. Every pillar page occupies the middle portion, and the content clusters are the building blocks making up the base.
A well-interlinked site creates a perfect pyramid structure where each web page is relevant. Placing pertinent internal links helps users understand each page’s topical relevance and contextual relationship.
Reason #2: To increase crawlability and indexing
A good internal linking structure is beneficial not only for users but also for web crawlers. Search engine crawlers use internal links to crawl your website and index new web pages.
A web page becomes orphaned if no internal link is pointing to it. This orphaned page (or pages) is inaccessible to Googlebot, rendering it unable to be included in Google’s index. Here is an illustration showing orphaned pages on a website:
Even with intense optimization or over-the-top keyword research, content from orphan pages cannot rank on Google search. In other words, people will not see them even if they search the page’s seed keyword.
Moreover, internal linking allows users and search engines to rediscover stale or old content. These pieces of content tend to get buried underneath newly published pages. With internal linking, you can trim down the click depth for easier access to old and important pages.
Reason #3: To strategically distribute PageRank across web pages
Aside from being entry points for Googlebot, internal links are also used to transfer link juice. Finding internal links on a site effectively helps webmasters control which page receives the most PageRank.
The number of internal links pointing to a page influences how much link equity it receives, resulting in a bump in the linked page’s SEO performance.
Concerning the previous point, internal links from orphaned pages do not pass authority to the target page since they are unindexed to begin with. Search engine crawlers use contextual relevance between web pages to assign an appropriate link equity value for internal links to your pages.
Reason #4: To improve user experience on your site
A single Google search or web page is often enough to satisfy a user’s inquiry. However, in some cases, it may take several pieces of content to gain a holistic understanding if a user wishes to dive deep into a subject matter. This is where internal links shine through.
Effectively finding internal links on a page can boost your reader’s search experience on your site.
Beyond their SEO value, internal links are originally intended to provide relevant information to readers while keeping them glued to your site.
While internal links are crucial for passing valuable PageRank, their main goal is to boost your site’s user experience. Internal links do this by leading users to visit another page that supports their search journey.
Reason #5: To drive sales and conversions
Not every page on your website should be conversion-oriented. Sales-y copy, when used excessively, can overwhelm users, scaring them off from ever stepping foot into your site. That’s why many online businesses create dedicated transactional pages to do the selling that informational pages don’t.
Bridging the gap between informational pages and sales pages is a good internal linking practice. Anchor text optimization and internal linking is all it takes to drive leads to high-converting pages.
With effective copywriting, this can potentially translate into sales and revenue.
Reason #6: To keep track of internal links after site restructuring
We’ve established that internal links are considered golden opportunities for websites to transfer PageRank to the target URL, provide additional value to readers, and help Googlebot better understand the site’s structure.
However, finding internal links can also be a damage-control affair.
Internal links may be lost when a site is restructured. For instance, if the target page’s URL is changed or is moved to a different location, the internal link will lead to a broken page.
In this case, finding internal links becomes a hide-and-seek activity, leaving you to scour your entire website to identify lost internal links.
But that’s what LinkStorm is here for. Below, we’ll share actionable tips to help you find internal links throughout your domain.
How to Find Internal Linking Opportunities on Your Website
1. Manual approach
The most straightforward, no-nonsense approach for finding internal link opportunities is to perform a manual checkup. However, this is the slowest and most tedious process. We recommend doing this only if you have a few posts to deal with.
Here’s how you can find internal link opportunities and do an internal link audit manually:
- Explore the website: Dive into your website as a user would, starting from the homepage. Click through different sections, menus, and content categories.
- Create a spreadsheet: While this process is optional, having a database of all your content is useful to guide your internal linking efforts. Include the article title, category, URL, seed keyword, and excerpt. It’s also helpful to categorize relevant articles into tabs to help build your topical clusters.
- Page-by-page inspection: Systematically review each page on your website, paying close attention to the content itself. By carefully reading the content, you will better grasp which content is best suited to be interlinked. You may go back to your spreadsheet for reference. The excerpt portion will be useful for a quick read of the content before linking.
- Link identification: As you navigate each page, pay attention to all the clickable elements you encounter. These include text links, buttons, and image carousels with links. Note whether the destination pages still work or if they lead to broken 404 error pages.
- Highlight completed pages: During your manual inspection, you might lose track of your progress and review the same pages several times. Highlight all the web pages you’ve finished creating new internal links and the ones you have fixed.
Remember that manual check-ups take a lot of time and effort. The only upside is that this process is free and can be done without hiring external help. However, this is probably the least effective and efficient strategy if time is not on your side.
2. Use Google Search Console
Google Search Console can also help you check the internal links to a page.
To do this, visit your GSC dashboard, scroll down the sidebar menu, and click the Links tab, as shown below:
This will display all the links (external and internal) throughout your website. Click the ‘more’ button under the Internal Links board to reveal all the internal links throughout the website.
The resulting page should look like this, with all the top linked pages arranged in order of most internal links:
When you click on one of the links shown, GSC will display the list of all internal links pointing to it.
This is how you find the internal links that go to web pages on your domain.
Google Search Console is the search engine’s free-to-use knowledge hub for website owners looking to stay on top of their websites.
However, if you’re an SEO who handles multiple clients, this might not be the best approach, as you will need login access to every client’s search console dashboard.
3. Use LinkStorm’s Opportunities Tab
The best way to find internal links effectively and efficiently is to use a tool. LinkStorm is an all-in-one internal linking toolkit for locating all internal links throughout a website. It can do anything from suggesting linking opportunities to identifying internal linking issues.
It’s no secret that manually scouring the website, finding viable anchor texts, and building internal links can be a slow and tedious process. LinkStorm’s Opportunities tab speeds up this process by using AI-powered algorithms to suggest pertinent internal linking opportunities:
The Semantic Similarity option uses AI machine learning to analyze a website’s content and find viable internal linking possibilities through semantic and contextual analysis.
On the other hand, the Content Matching option finds ‘seed keywords’ within each content and suggests viable links for those anchor texts.
Clicking on one of the two algorithms reveals a dashboard featuring all possible and pertinent contextual linking opportunities that would have otherwise been buried in hindsight. Users may toggle the Google Search Console data to integrate additional information like:
- Impressions
- Average positions
- Click-through rates
Users may then reject or accept the semantic similarity opportunities under the Status column. Once a suggestion is accepted, you can check the checkboxes after you have completed the internal link on your WordPress or CMS dashboard.
4. Use LinkStorm’s Issues Tab
LinkStorm’s issues report shows all the internal link issues on your website.
Here’s how users can visit the issues tab. Click the Issues option from the sidebar menu, which will take you to the Issues dashboard. There, you will find three types of internal linking issues:
- Broken links
- Redirects
- Nofollow links
One of the common struggles when manually checking a website for internal links is finding issues that hamper the site’s SEO performance.
For instance, the only way to identify no-follow links is to review the page’s HTML, which adds an additional layer of difficulty to the process. LinkStorm reveals all mistakenly tagged internal links with no-follow attributes in a single dashboard.
LinkStorm also identifies broken links. This is particularly useful for recently restructured sites. Changes in site layout or content can cause previously valid links to lead to errors. LinkStorm helps you quickly detect these issues, ensuring all internal links are current and functional.
5. Use LinkStorm’s Links Tab
Finally, the last option for finding links using LinkStorm is its Links tab. By clicking the Links tab, users can access the site’s internal and external links and the anchor text used for those links. The search bar also allows users to filter their search by rel attributes, link types, or seed keywords.
While the Opportunities tab suggests potential links on the site, the Links tab offers perspective on the website’s existing links.
In the Links tab, you can see the original target URL of internal links. If a target link has been restructured, users can use the Links tab to find and replace those broken links on the website.
LinkStorm Makes Finding Internal Links Easier!
Creating internal links is one of the most effective and budget-friendly approaches for optimizing websites for search. For one, you can manage your internal links even without professional help. Secondly, your site benefits from the PageRank transmitted by the links.
While anyone can perform internal linking manually, a reliable all-in-one toolkit removes the hassle and speeds up the process! LinkStorm is the premier ally of SEOs and website owners for internal linking needs.
From identifying SEO-damaging issues to finding internal linking opportunities, LinkStorm has you covered.
Interested in elevating your internal linking efforts to the next level
See LinkStorm’s pricing schemes to learn which plan is best for your business.
Also, all plans come with unlimited websites, so you can ethically spy on your competitor’s internal linking campaign!
Happy linking!