Internal link finder for orphan pages
This free internal link finder crawls up to 12 pages of your site with navigation, header and footer stripped out, so only links inside the content count. It lists the pages nothing links to, shows inbound and outbound links for every page, and suggests where to add links between pages that share distinctive terms.
- Crawl
- up to 12 pages, same host
- Counts
- editorial links only
- Cost
- free, no signup
Where to add links
After a crawl, each row is a suggested link with the terms the two pages share
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Not runEditorial links only—
Why it mattersA link in the menu appears on every page, so it carries almost no information about which pages matter. If your menu is on 500 pages, every page it links to shows 500 inbound links and the number becomes meaningless.
How to fixThe finder removes navigation, header and footer before counting, so what remains is links placed deliberately inside the content.
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Not runOrphan pages—
Why it mattersA page with no editorial link pointing at it exists, costs crawl budget and has nothing supporting it. A page linked only from the menu looks well linked in most tools but has no editorial support at all.
How to fixAdd one contextual link from a related page, inside the body copy. That is usually enough. The start page is never counted as an orphan.
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Not runInbound and outbound per page—
Why it mattersPages sort with the fewest inbound editorial links first, so the weakest-supported pages are at the top of the table.
How to fixWork down from the top: any page you care about should have at least one editorial link from a related page.
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Not runShared-term link suggestions—
Why it mattersThe finder takes each page's top terms (words of five or more letters, common words removed). Two pages that share three or more and do not link to each other are flagged.
How to fixRead the shared terms. If they describe the same thing, add the link with anchor text that uses one of them.
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Not runWord count alongside links—
Why it mattersA thin page with many inbound links is usually the wrong page to be supporting.
How to fixPoint links at the page that answers the topic best, and expand or merge thin pages before sending more links to them.
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Not runPairs that share many terms—
Why it mattersTwo pages sharing eight or more terms may not need a link at all. They may be competing for the same queries.
How to fixConsider merging them into one stronger page and redirecting the weaker URL.
What the crawl found
Every crawled page with inbound links, outbound links and word count, plus the orphan list
Nothing to show yet. After a crawl, a table of every page, sorted with the fewest inbound editorial links first, and a list of orphan pages appear here.
Why menu links are not internal linking
Most internal link audits count every link on the page, which means the navigation dominates the result. A page linked only from the menu looks well linked; in practice it has no editorial support. Strip the navigation out and the real structure appears, usually with several pages nothing points at.
Two pages covering the same ground with no link between them is either a missing link or a cannibalisation problem. Both are worth finding, and the shared terms the finder shows help you tell which.
| Measure | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Editorial links | Links left after navigation, header and footer are removed, same host only. |
| Inbound | How many editorial links from other crawled pages point at the page. |
| Outbound | How many editorial links the page sends to other pages on the host. |
| Orphan | A crawled page with no editorial inbound link. The start page is excluded. |
| Top terms | The page's most frequent words of five or more letters, with stop words removed. |
| Suggestion | Two pages sharing three or more top terms with no link between them. Orphan targets first, up to 20 found, 12 shown. |
What to act on first
One crawl maps one section of a site. Run it from each section index you care about.
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Step 1
Start from a section page
Enter a page with links into the section you want to map, such as your blog index or services hub. The finder follows editorial links outward from it, up to 12 pages on the same host.
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Step 2
Fix the orphans first
Pages with zero inbound editorial links come first. A single contextual link from a related page is usually enough.
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Step 3
Read each suggestion's shared terms
Each row pairs two pages that share three or more distinctive terms and do not link. If the terms describe the same thing, add the link inside the body copy.
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Step 4
Watch for near-duplicates
A pair sharing eight or more terms may need merging rather than linking. Decide which page should rank and consolidate.
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Step 5
Crawl again after publishing
Re-run from the same start page to confirm the orphans now have inbound links.
Twelve pages is a sample, not an audit
Twelve pages are enough to see the shape of a section and find the obvious gaps. It is not a full-site link graph, and it does not judge whether the links it suggests are good ideas. A full site map is something we run as part of an engagement, not in a browser.
Because it follows links rather than your sitemap, a page reachable only from the sitemap will not be crawled, which is itself worth knowing. Check whether a single page is in your sitemap with the On-Page SEO Audit.
What the finder does
- Crawls up to 12 pages on the same host
- Removes navigation, header and footer before counting links
- Lists orphan pages, start page excluded
- Shows inbound, outbound and word count per page
- Suggests links from shared distinctive terms
What it does not do
- Crawl a whole site or read your sitemap
- Grade anchor text: whether an anchor is useful depends on the sentence around it
- Understand meaning: shared terms are frequency-based, not semantic
- Run JavaScript, so links injected by scripts are not seen
- Calculate PageRank or link equity
Need a site-wide internal-link plan?
Review which pages should connect, where links belong and how to avoid irrelevant or repetitive suggestions.
Internal linking, answered plainly
Short, standalone answers. Email editorial@moxseo.com if any of them is wrong.
What is an orphan page?
An orphan page is a page that no other page links to from inside its content. It may still be in the menu or the sitemap, but nothing editorial supports it. The Internal Link Finder lists every crawled page with zero editorial inbound links, excluding the page you started from.
Why strip the navigation?
Because a link that appears on every page carries almost no information about which pages matter. Editorial links are placed deliberately, which is what makes them a signal. The finder removes navigation, header and footer before it counts any link.
How many internal links should a page have?
There is no number worth quoting. The useful question is whether every page you care about has at least one editorial link pointing at it from a related page.
Does link position on the page matter?
Probably, though not enough to obsess over. A link inside the body copy is worth more than one in a related-posts strip at the bottom.
Should I link every related page to every other?
No. Dense reciprocal linking between near-identical pages usually signals cannibalisation rather than depth. Link deliberately, and consider merging pages that share most of their terms.
How does the finder choose which links to suggest?
It takes the top terms on each crawled page, meaning words of five or more letters with common stop words removed. When two pages share three or more of those terms and are not yet linked, it suggests a link, with orphan pages as targets first. It finds up to 20 suggestions and shows 12.
Why did the crawl find fewer than 12 pages?
The finder only follows editorial links on the same host. If the start page has few links inside its content, or the pages are linked only from navigation or rendered with JavaScript, the crawl stops early. Start from a page with more in-content links, such as a section index.
Run the next check
All 23 free tools- Redirect CheckerCheck that the links you add do not point at redirects.
- On-Page SEO AuditCheck sitemap listing, canonical and noindex on any page you found.
- AI Answer Extractability CheckerTest whether the pages you link to can be quoted by AI.
- Keyword Research ToolPlan the pages a section is missing before you link them.
- Schema Markup ValidatorValidate structured data on the pages you are strengthening.
Twelve pages show the pattern.
We map the whole site.
Internal linking is one of the few things fully within your control and one of the least done well. We map it across entire sites, then rebuild the structure around what the data shows. Book a free 30-minute call with Sakshi Kumari or Ashish Khan.
A call is not an engagement. We never guarantee rankings.