How to track internal links?

Tracking internal links is essential for understanding how they contribute to your site’s SEO performance and user experience. Monitoring internal links allows you to assess whether your linking strategy is working effectively, identify underlinked pages, and ensure that your internal links are contributing to improved rankings and traffic flow. Here’s how to track and analyze your internal links using various tools and methods.

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a powerful, free tool for tracking internal links and other SEO metrics. It provides insights into how Google views your internal link structure and allows you to identify which pages receive the most internal links.

• How to Track Internal Links with Google Search Console:
  1. Log in to Google Search Console and select your website.
  2. On the left-hand menu, go to Links under the “Experience” section.
  3. Under the Internal Links section, you’ll see a list of your top internally linked pages. This shows you which pages have the most internal links pointing to them.
  4. Click on any of the URLs to see how many internal links point to that page and from which source pages.
• What to Look For:
  Check for important pages that aren’t receiving enough internal links. Also, ensure that your top pages—such as service pages or cornerstone content—have a good number of internal links pointing to them.
• Benefits:
  By using Google Search Console, you can ensure that the right pages are being prioritized with internal links, and adjust your strategy accordingly to maximize SEO impact.

2. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a desktop-based SEO tool that can crawl your website and provide detailed information about your internal link structure. It allows you to see how many internal links point to each page and whether there are any broken or redirecting links.

• How to Track Internal Links with Screaming Frog:
  1. Download and install Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
  2. Enter your website’s URL and click Start to begin crawling your site.
  3. Once the crawl is complete, go to the Internal tab in the top menu. This tab provides detailed information on all internal links within your site.
  4. You can filter the results to see status codes, link types, and destination pages.
• What to Look For:
  Identify which pages have the fewest internal links and are underlinked. Look for broken internal links or links leading to redirects that can negatively affect SEO.
• Benefits:
  Screaming Frog provides a comprehensive internal link audit, helping you find any broken links, identify orphaned pages (pages without any internal links), and optimize your overall internal linking structure.

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another powerful SEO tool that allows you to track and analyze internal links. Its Site Audit feature provides detailed insights into your internal link structure, including pages that are overlinked, underlinked, or have issues with internal links.

• How to Track Internal Links with Ahrefs:
  1. Log in to Ahrefs and navigate to the Site Audit tool.
  2. After running a crawl of your site, go to the Internal Pages section under the “Reports” tab.
  3. You’ll see an internal link report that shows how many internal links each page has, the source of the links, and the target pages.
  4. Ahrefs also highlights orphan pages (pages with no internal links), which can be improved with added internal links.
• What to Look For:
  Use Ahrefs to find pages that are underlinked, meaning they have fewer internal links pointing to them than more authoritative pages. Also, ensure that your important pages have the highest number of internal links.
• Benefits:
  Ahrefs makes it easy to visualize your entire internal linking structure and ensure that all pages—especially important ones—are properly linked within your website.

4. SEMrush

SEMrush is another popular SEO tool that includes internal link tracking as part of its Site Audit feature. It gives a detailed analysis of your internal linking, identifying broken links, missing links, and orphaned pages.

• How to Track Internal Links with SEMrush:
  1. Log in to SEMrush and access the Site Audit tool.
  2. Set up a project for your website and run an audit to crawl your entire site.
  3. Once the audit is complete, go to the Internal Linking section, where SEMrush will display the total number of internal links for each page and highlight issues such as broken or missing links.
• What to Look For:
  Use SEMrush to check whether your important pages are getting enough internal links. Ensure there are no broken internal links and that links are evenly distributed across your website.
• Benefits:
  SEMrush provides a clear overview of your internal link structure, helping you optimize your pages for better SEO performance by improving link flow to important or underlinked pages.

5. Internal Link Audits

Conducting regular internal link audits is a best practice for maintaining an effective internal linking strategy. An audit involves manually reviewing your website’s key pages to ensure they are properly linked and that the links are relevant and valuable to users.

• How to Conduct an Internal Link Audit:
  1. Identify your website’s most important pages (product pages, cornerstone content, services, etc.).
  2. Review your site’s content to see if these important pages are adequately linked from other pages.
  3. Ensure that all internal links use keyword-rich anchor text and are relevant to the context of the page they’re on.
  4. Look for broken internal links and links that point to outdated or irrelevant content.
• What to Look For:
  Ensure that every important page has multiple internal links pointing to it, and remove or update any broken links. Also, verify that the anchor text you’re using for internal links is optimized for SEO without being overstuffed with keywords.
• Benefits:
  Conducting a manual internal link audit helps you spot missed opportunities for internal linking and ensures your links are relevant, helpful to users, and contribute positively to your SEO strategy.

6. Google Analytics

While Google Analytics isn’t specifically designed for internal link tracking, you can use it to track user behavior related to internal link clicks. By setting up Event Tracking or using In-Page Analytics, you can see which internal links users are clicking and which pages they’re navigating to.

• How to Track Internal Links with Google Analytics:
  1. Set up Event Tracking in Google Analytics to monitor clicks on specific internal links.
  2. Alternatively, use In-Page Analytics (found in Behavior > In-Page Analytics) to see a visual overlay of where users are clicking on your pages, including internal links.
  3. Analyze user behavior to see which internal links are driving the most traffic to other pages on your site.
• What to Look For:
  Use the data to see which internal links are getting clicked the most and which ones are being ignored. This helps you adjust your link placement to improve engagement and navigation.
• Benefits:
  Tracking internal link clicks through Google Analytics gives you valuable insight into how users interact with your internal links, helping you optimize user experience and improve site navigation.

Tracking your internal links is crucial for ensuring that your website is properly structured, easy to navigate, and optimized for SEO. Tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, and SEMrush provide in-depth insights into your internal link structure, allowing you to spot issues such as broken links, underlinked pages, and orphaned content. Regularly auditing your internal links ensures that your important pages are getting the visibility and link equity they need to rank higher in search results. By combining these tools and best practices, you can maintain a strong internal linking strategy that supports your overall SEO goals.