Internal Link Analysis + Generation

What This Skill Does

Two functions:

Mode	Input	Output
Analysis Mode	Website URL	Internal link issues report
Generation Mode	New article + site structure	Link suggestions (where to link, anchor text)

Good internal linking:

• Helps Google find all your pages
• Distributes "link juice" (ranking power) to important pages
• Guides users through your content

Why Internal Links Matter

• Orphan pages (no internal links) = Google can't find them = not indexed
• Deep pages (6+ clicks from homepage) = Google thinks they're not important
• Link hoarding (homepage links to everything) = diluted equity per link
• Poor anchor text = Google doesn't understand what the linked page is about

Check Categories

1. Orphan Pages

Pages with ZERO internal links pointing to them.

How to find:

1. Crawl entire site to find all pages
2. Check which pages have no inbound internal links
3. Cross-reference with sitemap (orphan pages often only accessible via sitemap)

Severity:

• Orphan + in sitemap = Medium (Google can find via sitemap, but weak)
• Orphan + not in sitemap = Critical (Google may never find it)

2. Click Depth Analysis

Depth	Meaning	SEO Impact
1 click	Linked from homepage	Highest priority
2 clicks	Linked from main sections	High priority
3 clicks	Standard content	Normal priority
4+ clicks	Buried content	Lower priority
6+ clicks	Too deep	Likely not indexed well

Rule: Important pages should be within 3 clicks of homepage.

3. Internal Link Distribution

PageRank flow analysis:

• Which pages receive the most internal links?
• Which pages receive the fewest?
• Does distribution match business priority?

Common problems:

Problem	Description	Fix
Homepage hoarding	Homepage has 500 outlinks	Consolidate navigation, use hub pages
Orphan cluster	Group of pages only link to each other	Add links from main site sections
Dead ends	Pages with no outbound internal links	Add contextual links to related content
Link silos	Sections don't link between each other	Add cross-section contextual links

4. Anchor Text Analysis

Good anchor text:

• Descriptive of target page content
• Contains relevant keywords naturally
• Varies across different linking pages

Bad anchor text patterns:

Pattern	Example	Problem
Generic	"click here", "read more"	No keyword signal
Over-optimized	Every link = "best SEO tool"	Looks spammy
Naked URLs	"https://site.com/page"	Wastes keyword opportunity
Mismatched	Anchor = "dogs", target = cat page	Confusing signal

5. Broken Internal Links

Links pointing to 404 pages within your own site.

Impact:

• Wastes link equity
• Bad user experience
• Wastes crawl budget

6. Nofollow on Internal Links

Using rel="nofollow" on internal links = bad practice.

When it's wrong:

• Regular content links marked nofollow
• Navigation links marked nofollow

When it's acceptable:

• User-generated content (comments)
• Login/signup pages (PageRank sculpting is dead, but still ok)

7. Link Equity Sinks

Pages that receive lots of internal links but provide no value:

• Thank you pages
• Login pages
• Terms of service (linked from every page footer)

Solution: Add nofollow or reduce links to low-value pages.

8. Contextual vs Navigation Links

Type	Description	SEO Value
Navigation	Header, footer, sidebar	Lower (same on every page)
Contextual	Within article content	Higher (unique, topically relevant)

Goal: Important pages should have BOTH navigation AND contextual links.

Analysis Method

Step 1: Crawl Site

• Use crawler to discover all pages
• Record all internal links (source URL, target URL, anchor text)

Step 2: Build Link Graph

• Create adjacency matrix of page relationships
• Calculate inbound/outbound link counts per page

Step 3: Calculate Metrics

• Click depth: BFS from homepage
• Internal PageRank: Simplified PageRank calculation
• Orphan detection: Pages with 0 inbound links

Step 4: Cross-Reference with Goals

• Which pages should rank? (money pages, pillar content)
• Do those pages have strong internal link support?

Output Format

Internal Link Health Score: XX/100

Site Structure Overview

Total pages: XXX
Total internal links: XXX
Average links per page: XX
Max click depth: X

Link Distribution:
├── Depth 1: XX pages (XX%)
├── Depth 2: XX pages (XX%)
├── Depth 3: XX pages (XX%)
├── Depth 4+: XX pages (XX%)
└── Orphans: XX pages (XX%)

Critical Issues

Orphan Pages (XX found)

URL	In Sitemap?	Suggested Link From

Deep Pages (6+ clicks) (XX found)

| URL | Current Depth | Suggested Link From |

Broken Internal Links (XX found)

| Source URL | Broken Link | Suggested Fix |

Link Equity Analysis

Top 10 Pages by Internal Links

| URL | Inbound Links | Is Priority Page? |

Under-Linked Priority Pages

| URL | Current Links | Recommended Links |

Anchor Text Report

Over-Optimized Anchors

| Anchor Text | Count | Target Pages |

Generic Anchors (fix these)

| Anchor Text | Count | Better Alternative |

Recommendations

1. [Specific fix instructions based on findings]

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Part 2: Link Generation Mode

When to Use

After writing a new article and unsure where to link.

Input

1. New article content (or URL)
2. Site existing page list (or website URL to crawl)

Process

Step 1: Analyze New Article

• Extract article topic, keywords
• Identify linkable concepts/terms

Step 2: Match with Existing Pages

• Find existing pages related to new article topic
• Sort by relevance

Step 3: Generate Suggestions

Output 3 types of suggestions:

Type	Description
Outbound	Existing pages the new article should link to
Inbound	Existing pages that should add links to new article
Anchor Text	Suggested anchor text for each link

Output Format

# Internal Link Suggestions

## New Article Info
- Title: [Article title]
- URL: [Article URL]
- Topic: [Main topic]
- Keywords: [Keyword list]

## Outbound Links (New Article → Existing Pages)

| Link Location | Target Page | Suggested Anchor | Reason |
|---------------|-------------|------------------|--------|
| Paragraph 2 "SEO optimization" | /seo-guide | "SEO optimization guide" | Topic related |
| Paragraph 5 "keyword research" | /keyword-research | "keyword research methods" | Deep reading |
| Ending CTA | /services | "our services" | Conversion |

## Inbound Links (Existing Pages → New Article)

| Source Page | Suggested Location | Suggested Anchor |
|-------------|-------------------|------------------|
| /seo-guide | "internal links" related paragraph | "internal link strategy" |
| /blog-index | Latest articles list | [Article title] |

## Implementation Checklist

- [ ] Add link to /seo-guide in new article paragraph 2
- [ ] Add link to /keyword-research in new article paragraph 5
- [ ] Update /seo-guide to add backlink

Example

User: I wrote an article about "Core Web Vitals optimization", where should I link?

Claude: [Read article content]
        [Read site existing pages]
        [Match related pages]

Output:
- Link to /technical-seo ("technical SEO")
- Link to /page-speed ("page speed optimization")
- Link to /google-ranking-factors ("Google ranking factors")
- Suggest /technical-seo backlink to this new article

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Commands

Command	Mode
/seo internal-links https://example.com	Analysis mode
/seo internal-links suggest [new-article]	Generation mode

[PROTOCOL]: Update this header on changes, then check CLAUDE.md