SEO Checks · Links
Link health explained: orphan pages, click depth & anchor text
Quick answer: Your site's internal link structure determines how search engines discover, prioritize, and understand your pages. Our engine runs five link health checks: orphan pages (in sitemap but no internal links), click depth (pages buried 4+ clicks deep), broken external links, excessive links per page (200+), and generic anchor text ratio (30%+ "click here" style links).
Why link health matters for SEO
Internal links are the plumbing of your site. They determine:
- What gets crawled: Googlebot follows internal links to discover pages. Pages without links are invisible to crawlers.
- What gets authority: Link equity (PageRank) flows through internal links. Pages with more internal links from authoritative pages rank better.
- What gets context: Anchor text tells search engines what the linked page is about. "Fix canonical tags" is a stronger signal than "click here."
How our engine checks link health
Check 1: Orphan pages
ID: links-orphan-pages
Severity: Warning
Scope: Site-wide
Logic: We compare all URLs in your sitemap against all internal links discovered during the crawl. If a sitemap URL doesn't appear as a link target on any crawled page, it's flagged as an orphan. We report up to 50 orphan URLs and the total count.
Why we flag it: Orphan pages receive no link equity from your site. Google may discover them through the sitemap, but without internal links they rank poorly — Google interprets the lack of links as a signal that the page isn't important enough for your own site to reference.
Check 2: Click depth over 4
ID: links-click-depth-over-4
Severity: Warning
Scope: Per page
Logic: For each crawled page, we track its depth — the minimum number of clicks from the homepage. If a page requires more than 4 clicks to reach, the check fails.
Why we flag it: Google crawls shallow pages more frequently and gives them more authority. Pages at depth 5+ are crawled less often, indexed more slowly, and rank worse. If an important page is buried deep, add a direct link from a shallower page.
Check 3: Broken external links
ID: links-broken-external-sampled
Severity: Warning
Scope: Per page
Logic: We sample external links on each page and check their HTTP status. Links that return errors (4xx, 5xx, or connection failures) are flagged. We report each broken link's URL, anchor text, status code, and error message.
Why we flag it: Broken outbound links hurt user experience and can signal to search engines that your content is outdated or poorly maintained. While broken external links don't directly hurt your rankings as much as broken internal links, they're a quality signal.
Check 4: Excessive links per page
ID: links-excessive-links-per-page
Severity: Info
Scope: Per page
Logic: We count all links (internal + external) on each page. If the total exceeds 200, the check fails.
Why we flag it: Link equity is divided among all links on a page. A page with 500 links passes very little authority through each one. More importantly, pages with hundreds of links are usually navigation-heavy or auto-generated — they dilute topical focus and create a poor user experience.
Check 5: Generic anchor text ratio
ID: links-generic-anchor-ratio
Severity: Info
Scope: Per page
Logic: We check all internal link anchor texts against a list of generic phrases: "click here," "read more," "learn more," "here," "this," "link," "website," "visit," "continue," "details." If more than 30% of internal anchors on a page use generic text (and the page has at least 5 internal links), the check fails.
Why we flag it: Descriptive anchor text is one of the strongest signals Google uses to understand what the linked page is about. "Fix canonical tags in WordPress" tells Google the target page is about fixing canonical tags. "Click here" tells Google nothing.
How to read your link health result
When you run a URL through our free checker:
- Pass (green): No orphan pages, all pages within 4 clicks, no broken external links, fewer than 200 links, and less than 30% generic anchors.
- Warning (yellow): Orphan pages found, pages too deep, or broken external links detected.
- Info (blue): Excessive links or high generic anchor ratio. Lower priority but worth addressing.
How to fix link health issues
- Orphan pages: Add internal links from relevant pages. Every indexable page should have at least one internal link pointing to it.
- Deep pages: Add direct links from your homepage or category pages. Consider a hub-and-spoke content architecture.
- Broken external links: Update or remove dead outbound links. Use a link monitoring tool to catch breakage early.
- Excessive links: Audit the page — remove redundant navigation, consolidate repeated links, consider nofollow on low-value outbound links.
- Generic anchors: Replace "click here" with descriptive text that describes the target page's content.
Link health and AI visibility
AI crawlers follow links the same way search engines do. A well-linked site with descriptive anchors gives AI systems a clear map of your content. Orphan pages are invisible to both crawlers and AI retrieval. Descriptive anchors help AI systems understand relationships between your pages.
Check your link health
Our free checker tests orphan pages, click depth, broken links, and anchor text quality — plus 60+ other SEO checks. No signup required.
Check your site free →FAQ
What is an orphan page?
A URL in your sitemap that has no internal links pointing to it. Search engines may find it, but without links it receives no authority and is harder to rank.
What is click depth in SEO?
The minimum number of clicks from the homepage to reach a page. Pages deeper than 4 clicks are crawled less and rank worse.
What is generic anchor text?
Link text like "click here" or "read more" that tells search engines nothing about the destination page. Descriptive anchor text is a stronger ranking signal.
How many links per page is too many?
We flag pages with 200+ links. Link equity is divided among all links, so excessive links dilute the authority passed to each target page.
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