How to audit internal links in WordPress without a plugin

Start with three destinations

Choose three published pages that answer useful follow-up questions for your readers. Copy their titles and public URLs into the worksheet. A destination might be a detailed how-to page, a glossary entry, or a supporting article. Check that each page still loads and deserves a visit before linking to it.

Google recommends linking to important pages from at least one other page on your site, in context. It does not prescribe a magic number of links per page. The aim here is to help a reader take the next sensible step, not to meet a quota. Read Google’s link guidance ↗

Find ten possible source posts

1. In WordPress, open Posts → All Posts and search for a term related to one destination. Check Pages too if your site uses them for articles. Open promising published results and read the paragraph around the term.
2. Ask what the reader would want to know next. If the destination answers that question, note the source URL and an existing phrase that could serve as the link text. Do not force a link into a paragraph that has a different purpose.
3. Check whether that source already links to the destination. Skip duplicate or near-duplicate links. If no suitable phrase exists, it is fine to make no change.

Search Console’s Links → Internal links report can provide another starting point, but it is not a complete current inventory: Google says its links report includes links found over time, including links that may have been removed. Inspect the live page before changing it. Read the Links report help ↗

One link that earns its place

Imagine a balcony-gardening post that says, “Water young plants regularly, especially during hot spells.” A separate published article explains how to check soil moisture for seedlings. The edited sentence gives readers a clear reason to open it:

Illustrative copy and destination; the underlined words show placement, not a working link. A real edit must point to the published soil-moisture article and fit the surrounding post.

Add one link, then verify it

1. In the WordPress block editor, highlight the chosen words. Use the link button or Ctrl+K (⌘+K on Mac). Search for the destination title or paste its public URL, select the correct page, and update the post. WordPress’s Link control instructions ↗
2. Open the published source page, click the link, and confirm it reaches the intended destination. WordPress validates URL format but does not confirm that the target exists, so this check matters. Read the full sentence aloud once to catch awkward anchor text.
3. Record the source, destination, anchor, reason, edit date, and verification result in the worksheet. Repeat only for links that help a reader.

In the published HTML, a normal text link should be an <a href="…"> element. Google says descriptive, concise anchor text helps readers and search systems understand the destination. Google’s examples ↗

Decide when to skip

Check the work, then watch the trend

Keep the worksheet as your change log. After search engines have had time to revisit the pages, compare equivalent Search Console periods for the destination URLs and relevant queries. Look at impressions, clicks, CTR, and position together. A rise or fall does not prove that these links caused it; rankings, query mix, and other site changes also move.

The immediate success condition is simpler: the published source contains a useful, working link to the intended page. That is worth checking even if search traffic has not changed.