Internal Linking Audit

Internal Linking Audit

A link in the body of a page carries materially more weight than the same link in the footer or the main nav. This audit measures that placement instead of assuming it.

Input

A page URL. If the user gave a site rather than a page, ask which page, or run the audit on the pages that matter most from get_search_analytics.

Steps

1. Call internal_links_audit on the target URL. No auth needed, no quota consumed.
2. Read footer_only_targets first. These are internal pages linked from nav, footer or aside and from the body of no page. This is the highest-value finding.
3. Check body_links against demoted_links. A page whose internal links are almost all structural has no editorial linking at all.
4. Read generic_anchors and empty_anchors. The anchor is a ranking signal for the target page, so "en savoir plus" wastes it.
5. Read nofollow_internal. An internal link marked nofollow throws away the weight it would otherwise pass, and it is almost always unintentional.

Cross-reference before recommending

Do not recommend adding links blind. Pull seo_striking_distance for the site first. A page sitting at position 11 to 20 with no body link pointing at it is where an internal link pays off fastest. A page already at position 3 does not need one.

Same rule in reverse: before calling a page orphaned, confirm with get_search_analytics that it actually has impressions worth rescuing.

Output format

Verdict: healthy or issues_found, with the counts behind it.

Placement: body links vs nav/footer/aside links, and what that ratio says.

Targets linked only from footer or nav: Path | Zones | Current anchor

For each one, say where a body link should go instead, naming the source page.

Anchor problems: URL | Current anchor | Suggested anchor

Priority list:

1. Critical: a page with search impressions and no body link anywhere
2. High: an important target that lives only in the footer
3. Medium: generic or empty anchors on pages that matter
4. Low: internal nofollow, self-links

Every recommendation names a source page, a target page, and the anchor to use. "Improve internal linking" is not a recommendation.