Which internal links should you prioritise during an audit?

During an internal link audit, prioritise links that connect relevant, valuable pages to the rest of your site, particularly important commercial pages, high-value informational resources, pages with limited internal authority and pages supporting key user journeys. Deal with broken, misleading, excessive or technically inaccessible links alongside these opportunities, because they can waste crawl paths and make the site structure harder to understand.

A useful priority is determined by the relationship between the source page, the destination page and the purpose of the link. A link should not be added simply because a destination page needs more internal links. It should be placed where it is genuinely useful to someone reading the source content and where it helps search engines understand how the pages relate.

Start with important destination pages

Review pages that matter most to the business and to the site’s organic search objectives. These commonly include:

• Commercial landing pages for core products or services
• High-value category, solution or location pages
• Detailed guides that attract relevant search demand and support conversion journeys
• Pages that explain important concepts before a visitor reaches a commercial page
• Pages with strong organic performance that can naturally direct users to related areas of the site

These pages should have clear, relevant routes from suitable parts of the website. Check whether they are linked from related articles, category pages, navigation elements and other pages that receive meaningful visits or internal authority. A commercially important page that is only accessible through a generic navigation item may need more contextual links from closely related content.

This does not mean linking to every important page from every possible source. Repetition can make links less useful, dilute the focus of a page and create an untidy experience. Prioritise the most relevant sources and use the link placement and surrounding copy to explain why the destination is useful.

Next, find pages receiving too little internal support

Compare the pages you want to promote with the internal links they currently receive. A page may be technically indexable and included in the XML sitemap but still be difficult for crawlers and users to discover through the site’s internal structure. Pages with few relevant incoming links, or links only from low-value areas, deserve attention when they are commercially or editorially important.

Look beyond the raw number of links. Assess:

• Whether the incoming links come from genuinely related pages
• Whether the source pages themselves are accessible and useful
• Whether the destination is linked in a prominent, contextual position
• Whether the anchor text accurately describes the destination
• Whether the destination is several clicks away from important sections of the site
• Whether the page is being overlooked because its topic is described using different terminology elsewhere

A small number of highly relevant contextual links may be more valuable than a large number of repeated links in templates or unrelated content. Treat internal authority reports as a way to identify candidates for review, not as an instruction to add links without editorial judgement.

Prioritise pages that are close to achieving an important objective

Internal links can be particularly useful for pages that already show signs of organic visibility but are not performing as well as expected for their target topic. Review pages ranking just below the desired positions, pages receiving impressions but limited clicks, and pages with strong relevance that have not yet gained sufficient visibility.

For each candidate, check whether related pages already mention the subject but fail to link to it. Add a link where the destination provides a fuller explanation, a supporting service, a relevant category or the next logical step. Avoid forcing links into pages that only share a keyword. The relationship should make sense to a reader without knowledge of the audit.

Internal links are only one possible reason for weak performance. Before treating them as the main solution, check content quality, search intent, technical accessibility, competition and the page’s overall relevance. A stronger internal structure can improve discovery and clarify relationships, but it cannot compensate for a page that does not meet the needs of its intended audience.

Protect important user journeys

Some links should be prioritised because they help people complete a task, even when their direct SEO value is difficult to measure. Map the expected journey through key sections of the site. For example, an educational article may need to link to a relevant service page, while a service page may need links to supporting evidence, implementation information, frequently asked questions or a contact route.

Check that visitors can move logically between:

• Broad topics and more specific subtopics
• Informational content and relevant commercial pages
• Category pages and individual services or products
• Problem-focused content and practical solutions
• Supporting information and the action the visitor is expected to take

Prioritise missing links that leave a clear gap in this journey. Also review whether existing links use vague wording, appear too late in a long page or direct users to a page that does not match the promise made by the anchor text.

Fix broken and technically ineffective links promptly

Broken internal links are usually high-priority fixes because they fail both the user and the site structure. Review links that return an error, lead to a removed page or redirect through an unsuitable destination. Replace them with the most relevant live page, update the source content where necessary or remove the link if no suitable destination exists.

Also investigate links that are technically present but ineffective. These can include links blocked from crawling, links pointing to non-canonical URL variants, links dependent on interactions that may not be rendered reliably, and links that lead to pages excluded from indexing when an indexable equivalent exists. A link should be assessed in context rather than treated as fixed merely because it has a valid URL.

Redirected URLs are not always urgent, particularly where the redirect is direct and intentional, but they should be reviewed at scale. Updating internal references to the final destination reduces unnecessary steps and keeps the site’s architecture cleaner. Remove chains, loops and links to outdated URL versions wherever practical.

Review irrelevant, duplicated and excessive links

An audit should identify links to add as well as links to change or remove. An irrelevant link can confuse users and weaken the topical relationship between pages. Multiple links to the same destination within a short section may also add little value, especially when they use identical wording and compete for attention.

Keep a link when it provides a distinct purpose, such as introducing a topic and then offering a relevant next step. Consider consolidating or removing links when they are repeated without helping navigation, inserted only to influence internal authority, or placed on pages where the destination is not genuinely relevant.

Be careful with sitewide links, footer links and heavily repeated navigation links. These may be appropriate for essential navigation, but they should not be used as a substitute for well-placed contextual links. A structural link and a contextual link serve different purposes, so assess both separately.

Use a consistent prioritisation process

Record each recommended change with enough information to make implementation straightforward. At minimum, capture the source URL, destination URL, proposed action, reason for the change, suggested anchor text and any relevant technical issue. Then classify the recommendation according to its likely value and implementation effort.

1. Resolve broken, looping or misleading links that affect access to important content.
2. Support important pages that currently have weak or unclear internal pathways.
3. Improve links between closely related pages that support organic visibility or user journeys.
4. Strengthen pages with a realistic opportunity to improve their performance for relevant topics.
5. Clean up duplicated, excessive or low-value links after the higher-impact issues are addressed.

Where several recommendations have similar value, implement the changes that can be made safely without altering the intended information architecture. For larger changes, group links by topic or site section and review the resulting structure after deployment.

Measure the result after implementation

Re-crawl the site after changes to confirm that the new links are accessible, the destinations are correct and no redirect chains or broken references have been introduced. Review changes in internal link coverage, the number of pages with weak incoming support, crawl access and the movement of relevant pages through the site structure.

Monitor organic visibility and engagement over time, but do not judge an internal linking change by rankings alone. Check whether users are reaching the intended next pages, whether important content is easier to discover and whether the revised structure remains accurate as the site grows. Repeating this process keeps internal links aligned with current services, content priorities and user needs.