Chapter 5: Step by Step — The Audit That Reveals Leaks and Opportunities

An internal linking audit is a systematic review of how your pages are connected. It reveals orphan pages, excessive click depth, wasted link equity, anchor text issues, and broken links. You need one because poor internal linking is invisible without data. Most sites have significant issues they don't know about.

For a small site under 500 pages, about 2-3 hours. For a medium site of 500-5,000 pages, about 4-6 hours. For a large site over 5,000 pages, plan for 8-12 hours spread over a few days. The time investment pays off in improved traffic and rankings.

The essential tool is Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free for up to 500 URLs). You'll also need Google Search Console for traffic and indexation data. For advanced analysis, Ahrefs or Moz for DR/DA data. Sitebulb is optional for visual reporting. All tools are covered in Chapter 6.

You can use Google Search Console's Internal Links report as a free alternative. It shows your most-linked pages and some link data. However, it's less comprehensive than Screaming Frog. For a full audit, Screaming Frog is highly recommended.

An orphan page is a page that receives no internal links from any other page on your site. It exists in your database but is disconnected. Googlebot may never discover it, or discovery may be delayed by weeks or months. Orphan pages often sit in "Discovered but not indexed" status.

In Screaming Frog, go to "Bulk Export" > "All Inlinks" and filter by "Unique Inlinks" = 0. Alternatively, use Google Search Console's Index report and look for pages in "Discovered but not indexed" status. Cross-reference both data sources for accuracy.

Three options: link to them from relevant existing pages (best for valuable content), merge them with another page (if content is redundant), or noindex them (if the page isn't valuable). Decide based on the page's content quality and business value.

Click depth is the number of clicks required to reach a page from your home page. It matters because Googlebot crawls shallow pages more frequently. PVNs should be within 3 clicks. Pages deeper than 3 clicks may not get crawled regularly, especially on large sites with limited crawl budget.

In Screaming Frog, look at the "Crawl Depth" column in the Internal tab. Sort by crawl depth to find your deepest pages. Export the data to analyze PVNs specifically. Pages with crawl depth greater than 3 need attention.

PVNs (Pages of Value to the Business) should have a crawl depth of 3 or less. Blog posts and other content can be deeper, but even they should ideally be within 4-5 clicks. The shallower the better for important pages.

Add links from shallower pages: your home page, category pages, or high-traffic blog posts. Direct links from the home page are most effective. You can also restructure your site architecture to flatten the hierarchy.

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a link. It signals to Google what the destination page is about. Auditing it reveals generic anchors like "click here" (wasted opportunities), over-optimized exact-match anchors (risk of filters), and broken anchors (links to 404s).

In Screaming Frog, go to the "Internal" tab and select "Anchor Text." You'll see all internal anchor texts used and which URLs they point to. Export the data and look for generic anchors, over-optimized anchors, and missing opportunities.

Generic anchor text uses phrases like "click here" or "learn more" that provide no context. Descriptive anchor text describes the destination, e.g., "our complete SEO audit guide." Exact-match anchor text uses the target keyword phrase exactly, e.g., "SEO audit services." A natural mix is best.

Replace generic anchors with descriptive text that includes relevant keywords. For example, change "click here" to "our step-by-step internal linking guide." This helps Google understand the destination and improves user experience.

Link equity is the authority passed from one page to another through a link. It's wasted when high-DR pages link to non-PVN pages (legal pages, contact forms, archive pages) instead of your most important business pages. This dilutes authority and reduces your PVNs' ranking potential.

Use Ahrefs or Moz to get the DR/PA of your top pages. Export your internal link data from Screaming Frog. Create a spreadsheet with URL, DR/PA, outgoing links, and destinations. Calculate what percentage of link equity from high-DR pages goes to PVNs vs. non-PVNs.

20% of your fixes will deliver 80% of the improvement. Focus on your PVNs and highest-DR pages first. Orphan PVNs and deep PVNs are your highest priority. Everything else can wait.

Quarterly for a full audit. Monthly for a quick check of orphan pages and PVN link counts. Weekly for new content linking (as part of your publishing process). Regular audits keep your site healthy and prevent issues from compounding.

Don't panic. Start with the orphans that are PVNs or have high-quality content. Those are your priority. Non-PVN orphans can be dealt with later or noindexed if they're not valuable. You don't need to fix everything at once.

Use this framework: High priority = PVNs with crawl depth > 3 or 0-1 internal links. Medium priority = Pages with generic anchor text or over-optimized anchors. Low priority = Orphan pages that aren't PVNs. Start with High priority fixes first.

Crawl budget is the number of URLs Googlebot can crawl on your site in a given period. For large sites, poor internal linking wastes crawl budget on low-value pages. Audits reveal where crawl budget is being wasted so you can guide Googlebot to what matters.

In Google Search Console, check crawl statistics. If Googlebot is crawling many low-value pages (filters, archives, parameter URLs) and not enough of your PVNs, your crawl budget is wasted. An audit reveals which pages are getting crawled and which aren't.

An authority sink is a page that receives many internal links but sends few or no links out. Authority flows in but doesn't flow out. In Screaming Frog, look for pages with high "In Links" but low "Out Links." Add links from these pages to your PVNs.

A dead end is a page that users and Googlebot can reach but that has no links to other content. It's a terminal point. Dead ends waste user engagement and authority. Add links from dead-end pages to relevant content.

Create a spreadsheet with tabs for PVNs, orphan pages, high-DR pages, anchor text issues, and an action plan. Document everything you find and your decisions for each issue. This becomes your source of truth for future audits and tracking progress.

The most common issues are orphan pages (pages with no internal links), excessive click depth for PVNs (deeper than 3 clicks), generic anchor text ("click here," "learn more"), over-optimized anchor text (exact match repeated), broken internal links (404s), wasted link equity on non-PVNs, and redirect chains.

In Screaming Frog, go to "Response Codes" > "Client Error 4xx." Export the list of broken links. For each broken link, either update the URL, remove the link, or add a 301 redirect. Re-run the crawl to verify all 404s are fixed.

Fix it immediately. Broken links waste link equity and create a poor user experience. Update the URL to the correct destination or remove the link if the page no longer exists. High-authority pages with broken links are losing authority they could be passing to PVNs.

In Screaming Frog, go to "Link Details" and filter for internal links with rel="nofollow." Review each instance. If there's no strong reason to nofollow (e.g., login pages, user-generated content), remove the attribute. Google recommends against nofollow on internal links.

A redirect chain is multiple 301 redirects in a row, e.g., Page A → Page B → Page C. Each redirect causes a small loss of link equity. A chain of 3-4 redirects can significantly reduce authority reaching the final destination.

In Screaming Frog, look for internal links that point to URLs with Status Code 301 or 302. For each link, update the destination URL to the final URL. If you have redirect chains, shorten them to a single hop where possible.

A 301 redirect is permanent and passes most link equity. A 302 redirect is temporary and may not pass link equity. For internal linking, use 301 redirects for permanent changes. Update internal links directly rather than relying on redirects.

Set up your tools: install Screaming Frog, connect Google Search Console, have Ahrefs or Moz ready for DR data. Create a spreadsheet for documenting findings. Set aside 2-4 hours of focused time. Run a test crawl first to ensure everything works.

Review your findings and create a prioritized action plan. Start with high-priority fixes: orphan PVNs, deep PVNs, and wasted link equity. Implement fixes systematically. Re-run the audit to verify improvements. Schedule your next audit.

Some parts. Screaming Frog's paid version allows scheduled crawls. Google Data Studio can create dashboards for PVN traffic. However, analysis and decision-making require human judgment. Automation helps with data collection, not with interpretation.

Your audit is successful if you identify issues you didn't know about and create a plan to fix them. The ultimate measure is improvement in PVN traffic and rankings over time. If your audit leads to better performance, it was successful.

Screaming Frog's free version covers up to 500 URLs. For larger sites, you need the paid license (~£199/year). Alternatively, use Sitebulb or other crawling tools. The investment pays for itself through improved SEO performance.

Screaming Frog can render JavaScript with the paid version. Use the "JavaScript Rendering" option. Alternatively, use the "Text Only" crawl to see what Googlebot sees. Ensure your site's critical links are accessible without JavaScript for best results.

"Discovered but not indexed" means Googlebot found the URL but hasn't crawled it yet. "Crawled but not indexed" means Googlebot crawled it but decided not to index it. Both can indicate orphan pages or low-quality content. Cross-reference with your audit data.

Go to "Links" > "Internal Links" to see your most-linked pages. Compare this list with your PVNs. If PVNs aren't in the top 20, you have a problem. Also check "Index" > "Pages" for pages in "Discovered but not indexed" status.

Sitewide links are links that appear on every page of your site, typically in navigation, footer, or sidebar. They distribute link equity broadly, diluting authority to specific pages. Use them for navigation, but rely on contextual links for authority transfer.

Footer links are often overlooked. In Screaming Frog, filter links by location or review your site's HTML. Footer links should be for navigation (about, contact, legal) rather than authority transfer. If your footer links to PVNs, consider moving those links to content.

Sidebar links are common in blogs. They pass less authority than content links per the reasonable surfer model. Review your sidebar links. Keep only the most important ones. Move authority-building links to content.

Contextual links are links placed within the body of content, surrounded by relevant text. They pass more authority than navigation, footer, or sidebar links. They also provide a better user experience. Most of your internal links should be contextual.

When writing content, ask: "What other pages on my site would be helpful to someone reading this?" Then link to them naturally. Also, review old content and add links to newer pages. This increases contextual link density over time.

In Screaming Frog, use the "In Links" data to see which pages receive the most links. Create a pie chart or bar graph showing link distribution. Your PVNs should be the largest slices. If they're not, adjust your linking strategy.

Internal links pass authority to destination pages, increasing their Page Authority (PA) over time. Pages with more internal links from high-authority sources tend to have higher PA. Audits reveal which pages are receiving authority and which are being starved.

Keep a log of your audits. Record: date, issues found, actions taken, and results. Use your spreadsheet to track progress. Compare metrics (PVN traffic, rankings, orphan count) before and after fixes. This proves the value of your audit work.

Some issues may be beyond your control due to CMS limitations or technical constraints. Document them. Focus on what you can fix. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Fixing 80% of issues still delivers significant improvement.

Create a summary document or presentation. Highlight key findings, prioritize issues, and recommend actions. Use visuals (diagrams, charts) to make data understandable. Include your action plan and timeline. Regular updates keep everyone aligned.

The biggest mistake is running the audit, finding issues, and then not taking action. Data without action is wasted effort. Schedule time for implementation immediately after the audit. Start with high-priority fixes within a week.

Yes. Before any migration, run a full audit to document your current structure. This gives you a baseline. After migration, run another audit to verify links were preserved. Audits catch issues that would otherwise go unnoticed during migration.

Use your audit data to identify PVNs and high-DR source pages. Then create pairings: match each PVN with 3-5 relevant source pages. Propose anchor text for each pairing. Set priorities. This becomes your linking matrix (see Chapter 7).

Monthly. Orphan pages are easy to create and easy to miss. A monthly check catches them before they sit undiscovered for months. Use Screaming Frog's "Unique Inlinks" = 0 filter. Link, merge, or noindex each new orphan.