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Internal Link Optimizer

Run the optimizer

Start an Internal Link Optimizer analysis, follow it while it runs, and learn what each step of a run does with your pages and links.

3 min read

A run reads your pages, maps the links between them and writes link suggestions. By the end of this page you will have started a run and know what happens during it.

Start a run

  1. Open a project from your Projects hub.
  2. Click Internal links in the sidebar.
  3. Click Run analysis.

A message confirms the start: "Analysis started. Results appear here when it finishes." The page shows "Analysis running" and reloads by itself.

How long it takes

Small sites finish in a minute or two. Big sites take longer.

The page reloads for the first 10 minutes. After that it says "This one is taking longer than usual." Reload the page yourself to check on it.

What a run does

  1. Reads the pages. It opens each page your scan found, homepage first, up to your page limit. Pages it cannot open go to the Unreadable tab with the reason.
  2. Sets template links apart. Menus, footers and sidebars repeat on most pages. Those links count toward totals, but they never count as content links.
  3. Maps the site. It counts the content links into and out of every page. It also measures how many clicks each page sits from the homepage.
  4. Flags problems. Pages with no content links, dead ends, buried pages, weak anchors and the other findings fill their tabs.
  5. Picks link pairs. It chooses which pages should link to which, pages with no content links first.
  6. Writes the suggestions. AI reads the paragraph on the source page and proposes the anchor text and the placement.
  7. Removes clashes. A suggestion is dropped when its anchor already points somewhere else on your site.

The summary tiles at the top then show pages analyzed, links per page and the counts of the main findings. Click a tile to jump to its tab.

Rules the suggestions follow

  • No crowding: a page gets at most three new links, or five when it has over 1,000 words.
  • Enough text: a page needs about 100 words of text for each content link it already carries.
  • Spread out: one target page receives at most ten new links in a run.
  • Safe targets: no page links to itself, and no suggestion repeats a link that exists. Pages marked noindex, legal pages and login or checkout pages are never targets.

Suggestions per run

A run writes at most 100 suggestions, even on plans with unlimited suggestions. It also never writes more than you have left this month.

Suggestions count when the run writes them. A suggestion you skip still counts toward your month. Internal Link Optimizer plan limits has the numbers.

When a run fails

A failed run shows its reason at the top of the page. Two common reasons:

  • "No page could be read. The site may be blocking the crawler." Check that your site allows our crawler, then try again.
  • "The analysis could not finish." Run a fresh link scan, then start a new analysis.

A failed run writes no suggestions and costs nothing from your month. The page shows only the failure message until your next run finishes.

Runs start only when you click Run analysis. There is no schedule, and a new run does not compare itself with the last one.

Before you run the optimizer What the Internal Link Optimizer needs before a run, how many pages it reads on your plan, and the messages that stop a run from starting. Read the suggestions and findings What each link suggestion shows, what every findings tab means, and how the optimizer decides that a page is thin on inbound links. Internal Link Optimizer plan limits Link suggestions per month, suggestions per run and pages per run for Free, Pro Personal, Pro Business and Pro Agency, and what to do at a limit.