Overview
What it involves
Use Screaming Frog to identify orphan pages (no internal links pointing to them), pages with very few inbound internal links, and the overall site silo structure (how service pages, category pages, and blog content connect). Then add contextual internal links from related content into the priority landing pages, and ensure every indexable page has at least one internal link pointing to it.
Why it matters
Internal links control how authority (PageRank) flows around the site. An orphan page receives zero authority from the rest of the site and is deprioritised by Google regardless of how good the content is. Strengthening internal linking on priority pages is one of the highest-leverage technical SEO activities — it directly shifts ranking signals without requiring new content, new backlinks, or developer involvement.
Crawl and Export the Inlinks Data
Crawl and export the inlinks data
Run a full Screaming Frog crawl of the site.
After the crawl completes, go to the "Inlinks" view. This shows how many internal links point to each page.
Export: Bulk Export → All Inlinks. This gives a full list of every internal link on the site with source URL, destination URL, anchor text, and link type (text vs image vs navigation).
Also export the "Crawl Overview" — specifically the "Internal" tab showing pages by number of inlinks.
What to identify from the data
- Pages with 0 inlinks — these are orphan pages
- Pages with only 1–2 inlinks — near-orphans that need attention
- Pages with 50+ inlinks — check whether navigation is over-linking to non-priority pages
Identify and List Orphan Pages
Identify and list orphan pages
Filter the crawl export to pages with 0 internal inlinks. These are your orphans.
Cross-reference with the indexable pages list: only worry about orphans that are indexable (not noindexed, not blocked by robots.txt, not pagination). Noindexed pages don't need internal links.
For each orphan, ask: should this page be indexed? If yes — it needs at least one internal link. If the page is genuinely outdated, thin, or duplicated — consider whether it should be noindexed or consolidated instead of linked to.
Record in tracking spreadsheet
- URL of orphan page
- Current inlink count (0)
- Recommended fix: add link from [specific page], or noindex/consolidate
Map the Silo Structure
Map the silo structure
A silo groups topically related pages together so authority flows from parent to child.
Parent — main service or category page e.g. /services/roofing/ Children — sub-service or sub-category pages e.g. /services/roofing/tile-roofing/ /services/roofing/metal-roofing/ Supporting — blog posts linking up to the parent e.g. /blog/how-long-does-a-tile-roof-last/ /blog/metal-vs-tile-roofing-melbourne/
Draw (or describe in your spreadsheet) the existing silo structure for the client's 3–5 main service areas.
Gaps to identify
- Parent pages with no links from their children — the children aren't linking back up
- Blog posts or articles that discuss a service topic but don't link to the relevant service page
- Location pages that don't link to the relevant service page they support
Add Contextual Internal Links to Priority Pages
Add contextual internal links to priority pages
Work through the top 5–10 priority pages (from the keyword map). For each:
Find 3–5 other pages on the site that discuss related topics and could naturally reference this priority page.
Add a contextual in-content link in the body of those related pages — not in the footer, not in the navigation, but in the main content body where it makes sense to the reader.
Anchor text: use descriptive keyword-containing text. Not "click here" or "this page". Example: if linking to the pergola installation service page, use "pergola installation in Melbourne" as the anchor text.
Vary the anchor text slightly across different linking pages — use the primary keyword on one, a variant on another, a natural phrase on a third.
Per priority page
- 3–5 related pages identified as linking sources
- In-body contextual link added to each (not footer, not nav)
- Anchor text is descriptive and keyword-relevant
- Anchor text varied across linking pages — not identical each time
Fix Orphan Pages
Fix orphan pages
For each orphan identified in Step 2:
Find the most relevant page already on the site that could link to it. Add a contextual in-body link from that related page to the orphan.
If no related page exists that could naturally link to it: consider whether the orphan page needs to exist at all. Thin orphan pages add little value and dilute crawl budget.
After adding links: verify in Screaming Frog that the orphan now has at least 1 inlink (you may need to re-crawl or use the "Inlinks" check on individual URLs).
Anchor Text Rules
Anchor text rules for all internal links
- Descriptive: tells the reader (and Google) what the destination page is about
- Varied: don't link to the same page with exactly the same anchor text every single time — use the primary keyword, a synonym, a longer phrase, a natural sentence fragment
- Not generic: never use "click here", "read more", "this page", "here", or the destination URL as text
- Not stuffed: if a 500-word blog post links to the same service page 8 times, that's over-optimisation — one or two contextual links per page per destination is typical
Document and Log
Document and log
Create or update the internal linking spreadsheet with the following tabs or sections:
Spreadsheet contents
- Orphan log: URL, inlink count before fix, fix applied (linked from X page), inlink count after fix
- New links added: source page, destination page, anchor text used, section of page where link was added
- Silo structure notes: documented parent-child relationships and any gaps identified
Standards
Completion checklist
- Zero orphan pages on indexable URLs after fixes
- Every priority page (top 5–10 from keyword map) has at least 3 contextual internal links pointing to it
- All new anchor text is descriptive and keyword-relevant
- No "click here" or generic anchor text in newly added links
- Anchor text is varied across different linking pages — not identical on every link
- Silo structure documented in the spreadsheet
- Internal linking spreadsheet saved to client Drive
- Zoho comment posted with counts (orphans found, orphans fixed, new links added)
Common Mistakes
Mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Why it's a problem | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Adding internal links in the footer or sidebar only | Footer and sidebar links are often sitewide (same link appears on every page) which dilutes the signal. Contextual in-body links pass far more relevance. | Add links inside the main body content of related pages, not in the nav, footer, or sidebar widgets. |
| Using exact-match anchor text on every link to a page | "pergola installation melbourne" on every single link pointing to that page looks manipulative — the same way over-optimised external anchor text does. | Vary anchor text: primary keyword on some, a synonym or phrase variant on others, a natural sentence fragment on others. |
| Fixing orphans by adding them to the footer nav | A sitewide footer link creates hundreds of inlinks overnight, which looks unnatural and doesn't pass strong relevance signals. | Add one or two strong contextual in-body links from genuinely related pages. Quality over quantity. |
| Not recording which links were added | In 3 months when the client asks what changed, you have no record of the work done. | Log every link added: source page, destination page, anchor text, where on the page. |
| Ignoring orphan pages that "don't matter" | Every indexable URL that Google crawls costs crawl budget. Thin orphan pages are a drag on the whole site's crawl efficiency. | Fix or noindex every orphan. Leaving them is a slow leak. |