Why Internal Links Matter
Internal links connect your pages together. They help Google discover new content, understand how topics relate, and pass authority from strong pages to newer ones.
They also guide readers to the next useful page, which keeps them on your site longer.
How to Use This Internal Link Checker
- Enter your domain so the tool can tell internal links from external ones. Relative links like
/about/count as internal. - Paste the HTML. Use the full page source, or just the article to ignore menus and footers.
- Review the report. Switch between All, Internal, External and Issues to focus on what needs fixing.
What the Checker Flags
- Generic anchor text like "click here" or "read more", which tells search engines nothing about the target page.
- Empty anchors, usually linked images with no alt text.
- Nofollow on internal links, which stops your own pages from sharing authority.
- Links using http instead of https, which add an extra redirect.
- External links opening in a new tab without
rel="noopener". - Repeated URLs, marked with a count so you can spot pages linked many times.
Internal Linking Best Practices
- Use descriptive anchor text that matches the topic of the target page.
- Link from strong, well ranked pages to the pages you want to grow.
- Add three to five relevant in body links per article rather than long link lists.
- Fix or update links to redirected pages so they point to the final URL.
Read more in our guides to internal linking best practices, anchor text optimization, and link equity. To check images on the same page, use the alt text checker.
Frequently Asked Questions
1What is an internal link?
An internal link points from one page on your website to another page on the same domain. Links to other websites are external links.
2Why is 'click here' bad anchor text?
It gives search engines and screen reader users no clue about the page being linked. Descriptive anchors like 'internal linking best practices' explain the destination.
3Does the internal link checker crawl my website?
No. It analyses only the HTML you paste, entirely in your browser. To check a whole site, run this on each key page or use a crawler like Screaming Frog.
4Should internal links be nofollow?
Almost never. Nofollow on internal links stops authority flowing between your own pages. Keep internal links followed unless the target is something like a login page.