Free internal linking tool: The links between your pages, checked and completed

Why your site needs an internal linking tool

You publish a new article, and no other page links to it. Google finds it late, and your readers never see it. An internal linking tool shows these gaps across your site in under a minute.

B2B sites usually grow page by page. Each new page adds a few links, but nobody checks the whole picture. After a few years, your offer pages sit 4 clicks deep and your blog hides orphan articles.

The fixes are simple once you see the problems. You need a list of weak pages, the right anchor text and the exact sentence where each link goes.

What internal linking is

Internal linking is the set of links between the pages of the same website. Each link has a source page, a target page and an anchor text: the clickable words your reader sees.

Navigation links are internal links too, and they repeat on every page. The links inside your text carry more context, because the words around them describe the target.

Why internal links matter for SEO

For internal links, SEO comes down to 4 jobs.

They help Google find your pages

Google discovers pages by following links. A page with no link pointing to it can stay unseen, even if it sits in your sitemap. Each link you add opens 1 more path.

They help Google understand your pages

The anchor text and the sentence around the link describe the target page. When 5 articles link to your onboarding guide with clear words, Google reads the same topic 5 times.

They spread authority between your pages

Some pages earn backlinks, often your home page or a popular article. Internal links pass part of that authority to the pages you want to push. A page that receives no links gets none of it.

They guide the reader to the next step

A reader who finishes an article wants to know what to do next. A link to a related guide or an offer page gives them that step. When your links serve the reader, Google follows the same paths.

Common internal linking problems and how to spot them

Orphan pages

An orphan page appears in your sitemap but receives no link from your other pages. It often happens with old campaign pages or articles published in a rush. To spot it, compare your sitemap with the pages that receive at least 1 link.

Pages buried too deep

Each click away from the home page makes a page harder to reach. To spot these pages, count the clicks from the home page to each page. As a rough guide, keep your important pages within 3 clicks.

Generic anchors

"Click here", "read more" and "learn more" tell Google nothing about the target page. They also force your reader to guess where the link goes. To spot them, list every anchor text and flag the ones that would fit any page.

Broken links

A broken link points to a page that no longer exists or returns an error. It wastes your reader's click and sends Google to a dead end. To spot them, check the status code of every internal link target. Pages that moved need a redirect or an updated link.

Important pages with too few links

Your offer pages and key guides should receive more links than a minor news post. Often the opposite happens, because blog articles link to each other by habit. To spot them, count the links each page receives and compare with your list of important pages.

How to build your internal linking strategy in 7 steps

1. List your important pages. Pick the 10 to 20 pages that matter for your business, such as offers, key guides and your demo page. Write them down with their target keyword.
2. Count the links each one receives. Use an internal link checker to count the pages that link to each one, then compare the numbers with your list. Your top pages should not sit at the bottom of the count.
3. Connect the orphan pages. For each orphan page, find 2 or 3 pages on the same topic. Add a link from each one, in a sentence that already talks about the subject. If the orphan page has no value, redirect it or remove it.
4. Bring deep pages closer to the home page. Link your deep pages from pages that sit 1 or 2 clicks from the home page. A category page, a hub article or the main menu can do this job.
5. Write descriptive anchors. Replace each generic anchor with words that describe the target page. Your reader should know where the link goes before they click.
6. Link the pages of the same topic. Group your pages by topic, then link them to each other and to 1 main guide. The guide links back to each article in the group.
7. Check every quarter. New pages create new orphans, and redesigns often remove old links. Run a check every 3 months and after each site migration, and keep a short log of the links you add.

Choosing anchor text for internal links

Follow these 6 rules:

1. Describe the target page in 2 to 6 words.
2. Use the words your reader would search for, close to the target keyword.
3. Vary the anchors that point to the same page.
4. Keep the anchor inside a natural sentence.
5. Never use "click here", "read more" or a bare address.
6. Keep each anchor for 1 target: the same words that lead to 2 pages blur the message.

An internal linking example with Routelane

Routelane is a fictional company: its pages, addresses and figures are invented for this example. Routelane sells fleet management software to small businesses. Its blog has 40 articles, and the site also has a home page, 3 offer pages and a demo page.

3 findings

1. An orphan page. The article "How to cut fuel costs for a small fleet" appears in the sitemap, but no page on the site links to it.
2. Generic anchors. 12 links on the blog use "read more" or "click here". None of them tells Google what the target page covers.
3. An offer page buried too deep. The "Fleet tracking for small businesses" page sits 4 clicks from the home page, and only 2 old articles link to it.

4 links to add

The first 2 links connect the orphan article. The last 2 bring the offer page to 1 click from the home page. Each link sits on a sentence that is already on the page, so Routelane only turns a few words into a link. It then rewrites its 12 generic anchors with descriptive text.

Mistakes to avoid

• Adding the same link 5 times on 1 page. A single link per target is usually enough.
• Using the exact keyword as the anchor of every link to the same page.
• Linking only from the menu or the footer, with no link in your content.
• Pointing links to pages that redirect, instead of the final address.
• Linking pages that share no topic, just to add more links.
• Adding links once, then never checking again after new pages go live.

How the free internal linking tool works

1. Enter your address. Type the address of your site or of a page. If you want, add the address of a page you want to push: Mark looks first for the pages that can link to it.
2. Mark reads your site. It reads your robots.txt and your sitemap, then up to 40 pages in the same language, skipping the ones your robots.txt closes. For each page, it records the title, the H1, the word count and the internal links with their anchor text, in the text or in the menus. It also reads, for their links only, the category and pagination pages they link to: they may hold the only links to your older posts.
3. Mark analyzes your links. It counts the pages linking to each page and the clicks from the home page. It finds orphan pages, weakly linked pages, deep pages and vague anchors, then scores your internal links out of 100 in 4 parts: linked pages, incoming links, anchors and depth.
4. Mark suggests the links to add. For each page that lacks links, it looks for the pages read that talk about the same topic and don't link to it from their text yet. An AI picks the sentence where the link goes and the words to link, and Mark checks that the sentence and the words stand word for word on the page.

You get a score out of 100, your orphan pages, your weakly linked pages, your vague anchors and up to 10 link suggestions, each with the page, the sentence and the words to link. You can also export the pages read as a CSV file. The tool is free, needs no sign-up and returns the result in under a minute.

What the tool doesn't do

• It doesn't change your site: you add each link yourself.
• It reads 40 pages at most. On a large site, a page flagged as unlinked may get a link from a page it didn't read: check before you act.
• It doesn't test every link of your pages: it flags the pages read that answer an error.
• It can't see the pages your robots.txt closes, and it doesn't measure your traffic or your rankings.

After the audit: link your pages with Mark

1. Run the free tool on your site and download the CSV.
2. Add the suggested links in the source pages, starting with your orphan pages.
3. Rewrite the vague anchors that point to your important pages.
4. Book a check every 3 months in your calendar.

Want to go further? With a Mark AI account, you get every link suggestion, page by page. Mark also writes the articles you need to link your isolated pages, in your brand voice and with their internal links. Your team reviews before publishing.

Once your pages are linked, check their tags with the title tag and meta description checker, then plan your next articles with the content calendar generator.

Frequently asked questions about internal linking