An internal linking cleanup starts with finding pages that are difficult to reach, then deciding which ones deserve to stay and how related pages can connect to them. A crawler can reveal gaps, but it cannot make those decisions for you—and a link report alone will not show every URL on your site.
Start with a complete URL list
First decide which URLs you need to review. A crawler generally discovers pages by following links it can find, so it may miss a page with no incoming links. Add other URL sources—such as your XML sitemap or Search Console exports—to help identify pages that a link-following crawl cannot reach. Analytics can provide another URL list when available.
These sources serve different purposes: the crawl shows what is connected, while the extra URL lists can expose pages outside those paths. Compare them rather than treating any single export as a complete inventory.
Find pages that may need attention
Review important pages for how many clicks from the site’s starting point it takes to reach them, and how many distinct pages link to them. A page that is deep in the site or has few incoming links deserves a closer look; neither signal alone proves that the page is unimportant or broken.
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Screaming Frog’s internal linking audit guide suggests aiming for a depth of one to three clicks for important pages. Treat that as the vendor’s practical guidance, not a Google requirement or a universal rule. Your site’s structure and the page’s role matter.
A crawler can also help surface unique inlinks, potential source pages, orphan URLs, and links that appear only after JavaScript rendering. Use those findings to build a review list, not an automatic to-do list: the relevant question is whether a page is useful and whether readers can find it from related content.
Decide what each orphan page should become
An orphan page has no incoming internal link in the set of pages being examined. It may still appear in a sitemap or another URL source, which is why a crawl alone cannot reliably identify every orphan. Review each candidate individually:
- Keep and connect it if the page is useful. Add a link from one or more genuinely relevant pages.
- Redirect it if it is no longer needed and there is a suitable replacement. The destination should match the old page’s purpose closely enough to help visitors.
- Remove it if it is obsolete and has no appropriate replacement. Choose the response that fits the site’s removal process rather than keeping or linking a page solely because it appears in an export.
Do not try to preserve every URL. A cleanup is about improving useful paths through the site, not making every old page reachable.
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Add links where they help readers
Look through relevant pages for concepts, questions, or next steps that naturally lead to the page you want readers to find. A link belongs where it helps someone understand what they can learn or do next—not simply wherever a target phrase can be inserted.
Google says it generally needs a link in an <a> element with an href to crawl it reliably. JavaScript-inserted links can work if the rendered page contains that markup. Check the rendered output when links are created by scripts rather than assuming that a visible control is a crawlable link. See Google’s guidance on crawlable links.
Write anchor text that is descriptive, reasonably concise, relevant to both the source and destination pages, and clear in context. Avoid unnaturally long anchors and keyword stuffing. Google does not prescribe a magical ideal number of links per page; add links according to reader need, not a quota.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Check the paths after editing
After making changes, crawl the site again or otherwise review the resulting internal paths. Confirm that useful destinations can be reached from relevant pages, that the intended links appear in rendered output, and that redirects or removals behave as planned.
Search Console’s Links report can be a supplementary check for pages with internal links and paths between pages, but Google says the report is not comprehensive and may omit URLs. Use the Search Console Links report as one signal, not as a full inventory or proof that every link has been found.
Quick Recap
A practical audit sequence
- Assemble URLs: Crawl the site, then add sitemap or other available URL sources to check pages the crawl may not discover.
- Prioritize review: Look at important pages with high click depth or few unique incoming links. Treat these as prompts for investigation.
- Find relevant sources: Search related page content for natural places to link, and verify that each proposed link helps the reader.
- Inspect the link: Use concise, descriptive anchor text and confirm the link is an
<a href>element, including after JavaScript rendering when applicable. - Triage orphan URLs: Keep and connect useful pages, redirect pages with a suitable replacement, and remove obsolete pages when appropriate.
- Verify the result: Re-crawl or review paths after the edits; consult Search Console’s Links report as a partial supplementary view.
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