Internal links are the pathways that connect pages on your website. Knowing which pages link to any given page helps you understand your site’s link structure, identify pages that need more internal links, and diagnose ranking issues caused by poor internal link distribution.
This guide covers every method for finding internal links to a page, from free tools to professional site crawlers.
Why You Need to Know Your Internal Links
Internal links serve several critical SEO functions:
- Authority distribution – Internal links pass ranking power from one page to another. Pages with more internal links tend to rank better
- Crawl discovery – Google finds new pages by following internal links. Orphan pages (no internal links) may never get indexed
- Topical signals – The anchor text of internal links tells Google what the linked page is about
- User navigation – Internal links help visitors discover related content
Understanding your internal link structure lets you make strategic decisions about where to add links, which pages need more linking support, and whether important pages are being properly connected.
Method 1: Google Search Console (Free)
Google Search Console provides a built-in report showing internal links for your site.
How to Access It
- Open Google Search Console for your property
- Navigate to Links in the left sidebar
- Under Internal links, click More to see the full report
What It Shows
The report lists your pages ranked by number of internal links they receive. Click any page to see the internal link count. However, it does not show which specific pages link to it—only the total count.
Limitations
Search Console’s internal links report is useful for identifying pages with too few or too many internal links, but it doesn’t show the source pages or anchor text. For that, you need other tools.
Method 2: Google Site Search (Free)
A quick way to find pages that contain a specific internal link is using Google’s site search operator.
Search: site:yourdomain.com "page-slug"
This returns pages on your site that mention the linked page’s URL or slug. It’s not comprehensive (Google doesn’t index every internal link), but it gives a quick snapshot.
Method 3: Screaming Frog (Free for Small Sites)
Screaming Frog is the most thorough way to audit your entire internal link structure.
How to Find Inlinks
- Download and install Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Enter your website URL and start a crawl
- Once the crawl completes, find the target page in the URL list
- Click on it, then switch to the Inlinks tab at the bottom
What It Shows
The Inlinks tab shows every internal page that links to your target URL, along with:
- Source URL (the page containing the link)
- Anchor text used for the link
- Link type (text, image, etc.)
- Follow/nofollow status
Advantages
Screaming Frog provides the most complete picture of internal links. It catches links in navigation, footers, sidebars, and within content. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs, which covers most small websites.
Method 4: Ahrefs (Paid)
Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool provides detailed internal link data as part of its site crawling feature.
How to Find Internal Links
- Run a Site Audit project for your domain
- Navigate to Internal pages
- Search for or filter to your target URL
- Click the page to see its inbound internal links
Ahrefs also identifies internal linking issues like orphan pages, pages with too few internal links, and broken internal links.
Additionally, Ahrefs’ Site Explorer shows internal links for any URL, including the anchor text and referring page.
Method 5: SEMrush (Paid)
SEMrush’s Site Audit includes an Internal Linking report that visualizes your site’s link structure.
How to Access It
- Run a Site Audit for your domain
- Go to the Internal Linking section
- View the internal link distribution and click any page for details
SEMrush provides visual representations of your internal link structure and identifies pages that need more internal links based on their importance and current link count.
Method 6: WordPress Search (Free, WordPress Sites)
If your site runs on WordPress, you can search for internal links directly in the database.
Using WordPress Admin Search
Go to Posts (or Pages) and use the search box to find the URL slug of the page you’re investigating. This returns posts that contain that text, which likely includes internal links to the page.
Using a Plugin
Plugins like Link Whisper and Internal Link Juicer show internal links for each page and suggest new internal linking opportunities. Link Whisper in particular provides a dashboard showing every page’s inbound and outbound internal links.
Method 7: Browser Search (Free, Manual)
For quick checks on individual pages, use your browser’s built-in search:
- Open a page you suspect might link to your target
- Press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac)
- Search for the target page’s URL or title
This is only practical for checking a few specific pages, not for auditing your entire site.
What to Do With Your Internal Link Data
Identify Under-Linked Pages
Pages with very few internal links may struggle to rank, even with good content and external backlinks. Look for important pages receiving fewer than 3-5 internal links and add links from relevant existing content.
Find Orphan Pages
Orphan pages have zero internal links pointing to them. Google may not discover or index these pages. Either add internal links to them or remove them if they’re no longer needed.
Audit Anchor Text
Check the anchor text used in internal links. Descriptive anchor text that includes relevant keywords helps Google understand what the linked page is about. Generic anchor text like “click here” or “read more” wastes an optimization opportunity.
Balance Link Distribution
Your most important pages should receive the most internal links. If your homepage has 200 internal links but your top product page only has 3, the distribution is off. Create more contextual links to high-priority pages.
Fix Broken Internal Links
Internal links to pages that no longer exist (404 errors) waste link equity and create a poor user experience. Find and fix these by updating the link URL or removing the link entirely.
Internal Linking Best Practices
- Link from relevant content – Internal links should make sense in context. Random links between unrelated pages provide little value
- Use descriptive anchor text – Tell readers and search engines what the linked page is about
- Don’t overdo it – A page with 50 internal links in the body text looks spammy. Keep it natural
- Link deep – Don’t just link to your homepage and category pages. Link to specific, relevant articles and resources
- Update regularly – When you publish new content, go back and add internal links from existing relevant pages
- Audit quarterly – Run Screaming Frog or your chosen tool quarterly to catch issues before they accumulate
Understanding your internal link structure is foundational to good SEO. Use these tools and methods to audit your links, identify gaps, and build a stronger internal linking strategy that helps all your pages perform better.