Most WordPress website owners publish content consistently, optimize their focus keywords, and work on getting backlinks but rarely examine the internal link structure that connects all of their content together. This is a significant missed opportunity.
- Why You Need to Audit Your Internal Links
- Free Tools to Audit Internal Links on WordPress
- Problem 1: Orphan Pages
- Problem 2: Broken Internal Links
- Problem 3: Generic Anchor Text
- Problem 4: Over-Linked Pages
- Problem 5: Under-Linked Important Pages
- Problem 6: Keyword Cannibalization Through Links
- How Often to Audit and How to Automate Ongoing Linking
- Conclusion
A single internal linking audit can reveal dozens of fixable problems that are actively preventing pages from ranking on Google orphan pages that Google cannot find, broken links that waste authority, generic anchor text that passes no keyword signals, and important pages buried so deep in the site that Google barely notices them.
This guide walks you through how to audit your WordPress internal links from scratch using free tools and exactly how to fix the six most common problems you will find.
Why You Need to Audit Your Internal Links
Internal links change every time you publish a new post, update an old one, change a URL, or delete content. What was a well-linked site six months ago may be full of problems today. Common issues that develop over time include:
- New posts published without any internal links pointing to them instant orphan pages
- Old posts updated or deleted, leaving broken internal links across the site
- Important pages buried 4 or 5 clicks from the homepage where Google rarely crawls
- The same pages receiving dozens of internal links while others receive none
- Anchor text accumulated over years of manual linking that has no strategy or consistency
A regular internal link audit, ideally monthly for active blogs and quarterly for smaller sites, catches and fixes these problems before they silently drag down your rankings.
Key fact: Every major ranking improvement that SEO professionals see from internal linking comes from fixing structure, not adding new content. The pages are already there. The links are what is missing or broken.
Free Tools to Audit Internal Links on WordPress
| Tool | What It Finds | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | Orphan pages, crawl errors, indexed pages, links to your pages | Free |
| Screaming Frog (free version) | All internal links, broken links, redirect chains, anchor text up to 500 URLs | Free up to 500 pages |
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | Orphan pages, link distribution, anchor text profile | Free with site verification |
| RankMath Link Counter | Which posts have too few or too many internal links inside WordPress | Free plugin |
| WordPress admin search | Find posts mentioning specific keywords for manual linking opportunities | Free |
Problem 1: Orphan Pages
What it is
An orphan page is any page on your WordPress site that has no internal links pointing to it from other pages. Google discovers pages by following links. A page with no internal links may never be found, crawled, or indexed, making all the content on it invisible in Google search results.
How to find it
In Google Search Console, go to Pages → Not indexed and look for pages that should be indexed but are not. Cross-reference with Screaming Frog run a crawl of your site and export the list of pages with zero incoming internal links.
How to fix it
1. Identify the topic of the orphan page. Read the post and note its main topic and target keyword.
2. Search your site for related content. In your WordPress admin, search for the main keyword of the orphan page. Find 2 to 4 existing posts that are topically related.
3. Add internal links from those posts. Edit each related post and add a contextual internal link to the orphan page using descriptive anchor text.
4. Use an automatic linker going forward. A plugin like Auto Internal Linker by KentDevTools automatically links every new post to relevant existing content, preventing orphan pages from ever forming in the first place.
Problem 2: Broken Internal Links
What it is
A broken internal link points to a page that no longer exists typically because a post was deleted, a URL was changed, or a slug was edited. Broken internal links waste link equity, confuse visitors, and waste Google’s crawl budget on dead ends.
How to find it
Run Screaming Frog on your site and filter for 404 response codes on internal URLs. Every broken internal link will appear in the results with the source page that contains it. Google Search Console also reports crawl errors under Coverage → Not found (404).
How to fix it
- If the destination page was moved to a new URL: set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one using a plugin like Redirection or Rank Math’s redirect manager
- If the destination page was deleted permanently: find the broken link in the source post and either remove it or replace it with a link to a different relevant page
- If the URL slug was changed: update the internal link to point to the new URL
Problem 3: Generic Anchor Text
What it is
Generic anchor text means using phrases like “click here,” “read more,” “this article,” or “learn more” as the clickable text in internal links. These phrases carry no keyword signal to Google; they effectively waste the SEO value of every link that uses them.
How to find it
In Screaming Frog, run a crawl and go to the Anchor tab. Sort by anchor text and look for “click here,” “read more,” “here,” “this,” “more,” and similar generic phrases. Export the list with their source pages.
How to fix it
For each generic anchor text link, open the source post and replace the anchor text with a descriptive phrase that includes the target keyword of the destination page. For example, replace “Click here to learn about our plugin” with “Auto Internal Linker plugin for WordPress.”
This is a time-consuming fix on large sites, but the SEO improvement from replacing generic anchor text with keyword-rich alternatives is significant and worth the effort.
Problem 4: Over-Linked Pages
What it is
An over-linked page has so many internal links pointing to it that it receives a disproportionate share of your site’s internal link equity, leaving other important pages starved of authority. This often happens with homepages, about pages, and a handful of popular posts that accumulate links over years.
How to find it
In Screaming Frog or Ahrefs, export the list of pages sorted by number of incoming internal links. Look for pages receiving 50, 100, or more internal links compared to your average of 3 to 10.
How to fix it
You generally do not need to remove links to these pages; just make sure you are also building internal links to other important pages that are receiving fewer links than they deserve. The goal is a more balanced internal link distribution across your most important content.
Note: It is normal and expected for your homepage and main pillar pages to receive more internal links than average. The problem is only when the link distribution is extreme, with some pages receiving hundreds of internal links while others receive none.
Problem 5: Under-Linked Important Pages
What it is
Your most commercially important pages, product pages, service pages, and money-making posts receive far fewer internal links than their importance warrants. This means they receive less authority from the rest of your site and rank lower than they should.
How to find it
Make a list of your 10 most important pages, the ones you most want to rank highly on Google. Check how many internal links each one receives using Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. If any important page has fewer than 5 to 10 internal links, it is under-linked.
How to fix it
1. Identify your most important pages. List the pages you most want to rank for products, services, and high-value pillar posts.
2. Find related content across your site. For each important page, find all existing posts that mention related topics.
3. Add contextual internal links Edit related posts to include a natural internal link to the important page using keyword-rich anchor text.
4. Add to your auto-linker keyword map Add the important page’s URL and keywords to your automatic internal linking plugin so it gets linked automatically from all future relevant content.
Problem 6: Keyword Cannibalization Through Links
What it is
Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages on your site compete for the same search term. Internal linking can make this worse if you use the same anchor text to link to multiple different pages — confusing Google about which page should rank for that term.
How to find it
In Google Search Console, go to Performance → Search results and look for queries where 2 or more of your pages appear. If different posts share the same primary keyword and both receive internal links with that keyword as anchor text, you have a cannibalization problem.
How to fix it
- Choose one page as the primary page for each keyword and focus your internal links there
- Update or consolidate the competing pages: either merge them into one comprehensive post or differentiate them with clearly different focus keywords
- Update your internal links and anchor text to consistently point to the single chosen primary page for each keyword
How Often to Audit and How to Automate Ongoing Linking
A full internal link audit is not a one-time task. Your site structure changes constantly as you publish new content. Here is a realistic schedule that keeps your internal linking healthy without overwhelming you:
| Task | Frequency | Time Required |
|---|---|---|
| Check for new orphan pages | Monthly | 15 minutes |
| Fix broken internal links | Monthly | 20-30 minutes |
| Add links from new posts to older content | Every new post | 10 minutes per post |
| Full anchor text audit | Quarterly | 1-2 hours |
| Check link distribution balance | Quarterly | 30 minutes |
| Keyword cannibalization check | Quarterly | 30 minutes |
To reduce the ongoing time investment significantly, use an automatic internal linking plugin like Auto Internal Linker by KentDevTools. Once configured with your keyword-to-URL map, it eliminates orphan pages, ensures consistent linking to your most important pages, and applies keyword-rich anchor text automatically handling the majority of ongoing internal linking work without any manual effort.
Internal Link Audit Checklist
- All published posts have at least 2 internal links pointing to them
- No pages return 404 errors when followed internally
- Zero use of “click here” or “read more” as anchor text
- Most important pages have 5 to 15 internal links
- No two pages compete for the same keyword in internal anchor text
- All pages are within 3 clicks of the homepage
- New posts are automatically linked from relevant existing content
- Anchor text is varied not identical for every link to the same page
Conclusion
A regular internal link audit is one of the most effective and underused SEO activities available to WordPress bloggers. The problems it uncovers orphan pages, broken links, generic anchor text, under-linked important pages are all fixable, and fixing them produces real, measurable ranking improvements without creating any new content.
Start with a Google Search Console check for orphan pages and a Screaming Frog crawl for broken links. Fix the critical issues first. Then work through the anchor text and link distribution improvements over the following weeks.
For ongoing prevention, an automatic internal linking plugin eliminates the most common problems before they occur ensuring every page you publish is immediately connected to your site’s link structure, linked with keyword-rich anchor text, and never left as an orphan that Google cannot find.
