Few Internal Links: How to Fix It

Few internal links: how to add useful links without overdoing it

Few internal links means the audit found only one or two unique links to other pages on your domain. That is usually a stripped-down template or a page that links home and nowhere else. Add links to the pages a reader would reasonably want next, using anchor text that describes where each link goes.

This is an optimization. The page works, and there is no magic number. But since the audit counts menus and footers too, a page this sparse usually has almost no navigation, and that is worth fixing.

Updated September 30, 2026By the Hydrogen SEO team

What it looks like in the HTML

Before

html

<a href="/">Home</a>
<p>Our cold brew guide covers ratios, grind and steeping time.</p>

After

html

<a href="/">Home</a>
<p>Start with the <a href="/cold-brew-ratio/">cold brew ratio</a>, then pick a
<a href="/best-grind-for-cold-brew/">coarse grind</a> and follow the
<a href="/cold-brew-steeping-time/">steeping time chart</a>.</p>

Why it matters

Internal links do three jobs. They help search engines discover your pages, they signal which pages you consider important, and the anchor text tells both visitors and search engines what the linked page is about. A page with one or two links does little of any of these.

It also affects the pages around it. If your best guides are only reachable from the homepage, they get little of the internal link support your other pages could give them. The internal linking strategy post covers how to plan links across a site.

Common WordPress causes

Landing pages with minimal templates. Page builder canvas templates and sales pages often remove the menu and footer, leaving a logo link and a checkout button.
Menus that point elsewhere. If most navigation links point to a different subdomain (a shop on shop.example.com, docs on docs.example.com), they do not count as internal to this page's host.
Posts written without links. Writers rarely add links while drafting, and nobody goes back to add them.
Link-only-once habits. The audit counts unique URLs, so ten links to the homepage count as one.

How to fix it in WordPress

Ask what a reader needs next. A definition, a deeper guide, the product the page mentions, the next step in a process. Link to those.
Add links in the content. In the block editor, select the words you want to link and press Ctrl+K or Cmd+K. The link box searches your posts and pages, so you do not need to copy URLs. Use descriptive anchor text: "steeping time chart", not "click here".
Add a related section where it fits. A short "Related guides" list at the end of a post is fine, as long as the links are genuinely related.
Restore navigation on minimal templates. Even a focused landing page can have a footer with a few key links without hurting conversions.
Use Hydrogen SEO's signals. The Links part of the post's SEO score in the SEO Settings sheet awards full points for three or more internal links and at least one external link in the content. The site audit lists orphan pages, which tells you which pages need links pointing to them.

When you can ignore this warning

Some pages are deliberately closed: a checkout step, a thank-you page, a single-purpose sign-up page. If a page is not meant to rank and you do not want visitors wandering off it, a few links is fine. What you should avoid is the opposite reaction, stuffing dozens of links into a paragraph to pass a check. Links should help the reader.

How to check the fix

View the page and count the distinct pages it links to, or run new Set([...document.links].filter(a => a.hostname === location.hostname).map(a => a.href)).size in the browser console. Run the free SEO audit again, and save the post in WordPress to update its SEO score.

Common questions

How many internal links should a page have?

There is no fixed number. Link wherever it helps the reader. The audit flags fewer than three unique internal links because that usually means the page has almost no navigation.

Do internal links need keyword-rich anchor text?

They should describe the destination clearly, which often includes its main topic. Forcing the exact same keyword into every anchor reads badly and adds nothing.

Do links in the footer help SEO?

They help discovery and navigation. Links inside the main content usually carry more context, because the surrounding text explains why the pages are related.