Internal linking: a step-by-step method and prompt

Internal linking is adding links between pages on your own site so readers and search engines can find related content and understand which pages matter most. Map your pages into topics, find orphan pages, then add descriptive links from strong, relevant pages to the ones you want to rank. Every new post should link out and receive links.

What it is

Internal links connect pages within one domain: navigation, footer links, and the contextual links inside your content. Contextual links do most of the SEO work because they carry topical meaning.

Google explains in its link best practices that it uses links to discover pages and that anchor text helps it understand them. That gives internal links three jobs:

1. Discovery. Crawlers find pages by following links.
2. Context. Anchor text and the surrounding sentence describe the target page.
3. Priority. Pages that receive many relevant links signal importance.

A simple structure is pillar and cluster. A pillar page covers a broad topic. Cluster pages cover subtopics in depth. Clusters link up to the pillar, the pillar links down to each cluster, and related clusters link to each other.

When to use it

• You publish a new article and need it found quickly
• Search Console shows pages discovered but not indexed
• Older posts rank well but newer ones get no traffic
• You built a topical map and need to connect it
• A site audit reports orphan pages

Step-by-step method

1. Inventory your pages. Export all indexable URLs from your sitemap or a crawler. Add the title, primary keyword and topic for each.
2. Group by topic. Assign each page to a pillar or cluster. Note which page is the main target for each keyword so two pages do not compete.
3. Find orphans and weak pages. Count inbound internal links per page. Flag pages with zero or one inbound link.
4. Find your strongest pages. Use Search Console to list pages with the most clicks and impressions. These are the best sources for new links.
5. Choose link spots. In each source page, find the sentence where the target topic naturally comes up. Add the link there, not in a list at the bottom.
6. Write descriptive anchors. Use 2 to 6 words that describe the target, such as "UTM naming conventions", not "this post". Vary anchors across pages.
7. Link new content both ways. Each new post links to its pillar and two or three related posts, and gets at least two links from existing pages.
8. Recheck monthly. Fix broken internal links, update links after URL changes, and confirm there are no new orphans.

Ready-to-use prompt

You are an SEO specialist planning internal links.

Site: [DOMAIN]
Page list (URL, title, primary keyword, topic):
[PASTE_PAGE_LIST]
Pages to boost: [TARGET_URLS]
Top pages by clicks from Search Console: [TOP_PAGES]
Content of source pages (optional): [PASTE_TEXT]

Tasks:
1. Group the pages into pillars and clusters.
2. Flag any two pages that target the same keyword.
3. For each target page, suggest 3 source pages that are topically relevant and strong.
4. For each suggestion give: source URL, target URL, the sentence where the link belongs (quote it or write a new one), and anchor text of 2 to 6 words.
5. Vary anchor text across sources and avoid generic anchors.
6. Output as a table: source | target | anchor | placement sentence.

Rules: only link where it helps the reader, no more than 1 link to the same target per source page, no em dashes.

Checklist

• Full list of indexable pages exported
• Every page assigned to a topic
• One main page per keyword
• Orphan pages identified and linked
• Strong pages used as link sources
• Links placed in relevant sentences
• Anchor text descriptive and varied
• New posts link out and receive links
• Broken internal links fixed monthly

How Thig automates it

The Writer agent adds internal links to every draft from your own page list, and the SEO agent flags orphan pages in its site audit. Both show up in your feed for approval. Make sure new pages are discoverable with the Sitemap.xml Generator.