- Free, no sign-up
- Orphans, depth, anchors
- Where to add links
Free Internal Link Checker
Crawl your site and see how its pages link to each other: links in and out of every page with the anchor text, the orphans your sitemap lists but no page links to, how deep each page sits, generic anchors, nofollow and redirecting internal links, and the strongest pages that could link to a starved one. Up to 500 pages, no sign-up.
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How to use it
Check your internal links in three steps
Enter the site
Pick the page cap (100, 250 or 500) and leave "compare with the sitemap" on for the orphan check. We crawl as a polite bot, honouring robots.txt, and keep every internal link with its anchor text and place.
Read the starved, the orphans, the deep
Pages with fewer than three content links pointing at them, sitemap URLs no page links to, pages more than three clicks from home, and the anchor problems: generic words, one phrase sent to two pages, a page with no exact-match anchor.
Add links from the pages that matter
For each starved page the tool names the strongest pages that do not link to it yet and proposes an anchor. Add the link in a sentence about the page, re-run to confirm.
Built for"Page 2" pages that need linksAfter a redesign or menu changeGrowing blogsThe audit's links stepAgencies
Quick answer
What is an internal link checker?
An internal link checker crawls your site and counts the links between its pages: how many point at each page and from where, with what anchor text, how many clicks from the home page each page sits, and which pages in your sitemap no page links to (orphans). This one crawls up to 500 pages, reads the sitemap for the orphan check, flags generic and clashing anchors, nofollow and redirecting internal links, and for every starved page names the strongest pages that could link to it. Internal links are how you tell Google which pages matter; a page with none is one Google may never rank.
What the numbers mean
Links in, depth, anchors
| Number | What it is | What to aim for |
|---|---|---|
| Links in (content) | Links to the page from inside other pages' text, not menus or footers | One from a relevant page is the floor; three is comfortable; the Zyppy data rises to about 45 to 50 and then falls |
| Links in (all) | Every link, including menu and footer | A high "all" with a low "content" means the page lives in a template, not in your writing |
| Depth | Clicks from the home page along the shortest path | Three or under for pages that earn money or traffic (our rule of thumb; Google publishes no number) |
| Orphan | In the sitemap, reachable by no link | Link it, or remove it from the sitemap and let it go |
| Anchor text | The words of each link to the page | Descriptive and fairly short; at least one exact-match anchor; not the same phrase sent to two pages |
| Nofollow in | Internal links marked nofollow | None; nofollow on internal links throws the link away |
| Redirecting in | Internal links pointing at a URL that redirects | None; edit the links to the final URL |
These are correlations and rules of thumb from our guides, not ranking factors. Important pages get more links because they are important, so the arrow points both ways; the lesson that holds is that pages with almost no internal links do worse.
Orphans
The two lists, and the four
An orphan is found by comparing two lists: the crawl from the home page (every page reachable by links) and your sitemap (every page you say matters). Anything in the second list and not in the first is an orphan. The tool does both lists for sites up to 500 pages. On a large site use four lists, because each catches orphans the others miss: the crawl, the sitemaps, Search Console's indexed pages and pages with impressions, and the server logs. Then link each orphan you want to keep from a relevant page, and redirect or remove the ones you do not.
Common mistakes
The internal linking mistakes the checker catches
Pages only the sitemap knows
After a menu change or a redesign, old landing pages and posts live on in the sitemap with no link to them. Orphans, listed with the fix.
Money pages four clicks deep
Reachable only through pagination. Depth per page, with the deep ones flagged and the pages that could link them up.
"Read more" everywhere
Generic anchors say nothing; one phrase sent to two pages says the wrong thing. Both are listed per target with the fix.
Footer links counted as linking
Three hundred footer links do not make a page well linked. Content links are counted apart from menus and footers.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is an internal link?
A link from one page of your site to another. Google reliably follows only normal a-href links; a "read more" built from a script on a span may never be followed.
How many internal links should a page have?
There is no rule. In the largest public study, clicks rose with the number of internal links pointing at a page up to about 45 to 50 and then fell. One link from a relevant page is the floor; three is comfortable. The tool counts content links apart from menus and footers.
What is an orphan page?
A page with no internal links pointing to it. Google may still find it through your sitemap, but you have told it the page does not matter, and visitors cannot reach it at all.
How do I find orphan pages?
Compare the crawl from the home page with your sitemap. The tool does both for sites up to 500 pages; on a larger site add Search Console and the server logs.
What is click depth and does it matter?
The number of clicks from the home page along the shortest path. Google publishes no number; our rule of thumb is three for pages that earn money or traffic, because depth is a decent proxy for how many internal links reach a page.
Does anchor text matter for internal links?
Yes. Descriptive, fairly short anchors tell Google what the page is about; "click here" tells it nothing. One exact-match anchor per target helps; the same phrase sent to two different pages confuses.
Should internal links be nofollow?
Almost never. Nofollow on an internal link throws the link away. The tool lists them so you can remove the setting.
Do internal links help rankings?
They tell Google which pages matter and how topics connect, and pages with almost no internal links do worse. It is the cheapest SEO work there is: an hour with your own pages.
How do I see internal links in Search Console?
Links report, then Internal links: a count per page for your verified site, no anchors, no depth. This tool adds the anchors, the places and the depth.
How is this different from the Broken Link Checker?
Same crawl, two faces. That one lists dead and redirecting targets to fix; this one lists every page's links in and out, the orphans, the depth and the anchors, and where to add links.
Does it count links in the menu and footer?
Yes, marked by place, and counted apart. The content count is the one that matters: a page with 300 footer links and no content links is not well linked.
Is it free, and how many pages?
Free, no sign-up, up to 500 pages a run. For a bigger site, run it a folder at a time, or use a desktop crawler such as Screaming Frog's free version.
Keep going
More free SEO tools and guides
- Broken Link Checker: the same crawl, listing the dead and redirecting targets.
- XML Sitemap Generator: the crawl written as a sitemap, with the same comparison.
- Hyperlink Generator: a correct link with the anchor and rel you need.
- Internal links (Intermediate, chapter 8) and site architecture (Advanced, chapter 5).
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Every page you care about, linked from the pages that matter
Links in and out, orphans, depth, anchors, and where to add the next link. Free, up to 500 pages.