Ahrefs Internal Links: How to Find, Track, and Fix Them

Ahrefs internal links show up in a few specific reports, not the main backlink numbers. Site Explorer's Internal Backlinks report, Site Audit's internal link data, and Best by Links filtered to internal all track them separately from external links.

What Are Ahrefs Internal Links

Ahrefs internal links are the hyperlinks that connect one page on a website to another page on that same website. A blog post linking to a related article, a category page linking to individual posts, a homepage linking to a service page, all of these count.

Ahrefs records them during a crawl, but it keeps this data apart from anything related to external backlinks.

That separation trips people up more often than you'd expect. Someone checks their backlink count, sees a number lower than expected, and assumes internal links simply aren't being picked up. In practice, they usually are.

They're just filed somewhere else.Take a typical blog. A cornerstone guide on "keyword research" might get linked from ten related posts over the course of a year.

Each of those ten links is an internal link. None of them shows up in the site's backlink profile, because backlinks by definition come from a different domain. Once that distinction is clear, the rest of the reporting makes more sense.

Ahrefs Internal Links vs Backlinks

The two link types serve different purposes, and Ahrefs treats them as distinct signals rather than variations of the same thing.

Feature	Backlinks	Internal Links
Source	External websites	Same website
SEO function	Authority and trust signal	Site structure and crawl paths
Where it shows in Ahrefs	Backlink reports, Site Explorer overview	Internal Backlinks report, Site Audit
Discovery method	Ahrefs' global web crawler	Site-specific crawl (Site Audit) or global crawl (Site Explorer)
Typical use	Measuring domain and page authority	Distributing authority and improving discoverability

Teams commonly report that once they understand this split, a lot of confusion around "missing" links clears up on its own.

Why Ahrefs Keeps These Two Separate

This is a confirmed part of how the platform is built, not a guess. Backlink reports include only links coming from other domains. Internal links, even ones pointing to the exact same page, are recorded in dedicated reports instead.

Interestingly, mixing the two would make authority metrics harder to read, since a page could look well linked purely because of its own site's navigation menu rather than genuine outside interest.

Where Ahrefs Internal Links Appear

There isn't one single place to check. Depending on what you're trying to figure out, you'll end up in a different report.

Site Explorer's Internal Backlinks Report

This is the report most people land on first. Enter a domain or a specific URL into Site Explorer, then open the Internal Backlinks report. It lists the source page, the destination page, the anchor text used, and whether the link is still live.

This view is built around Ahrefs' regular web crawl, so it reflects how the platform has already mapped your site from previous visits.

Site Audit's Internal Link Data

Site Audit runs a crawl specific to your site rather than relying on Ahrefs' general web crawl.

That tends to make it more complete, since it can pick up links inside navigation menus, footers, and body content that a broader crawl might miss or not revisit as often.

In practice, this is the report most people rely on when they want a full picture of a site's internal linking structure rather than a check on one page. It's also where issues like orphan pages and broken internal links get flagged.

Best by Links Filtered to Internal

Filter this report to internal links only, and it shows which pages on a site receive the most internal link support.

Homepages, main category pages, and long-standing cornerstone guides tend to top this list, mostly because they've had more time and more chances to accumulate links from newer content.

How to Check Ahrefs Internal Links Step by Step

Open Site Explorer and Enter a Domain or URL

Sign in and go to Site Explorer. Enter either the full domain, if you want a site-wide view, or one specific page URL if you're trying to check support for a single piece of content.

Open the Internal Backlinks Report

Once the data loads, open the Internal Backlinks report from the sidebar. This is where the actual link data sits, broken down by source and destination.

Review Source Page, Anchor Text, and Link Status

Look at where each link is coming from, what anchor text was used, and whether the link is still active.

A dead or redirected source page won't do the destination page any favors, even if it still counts in the report.

Run Site Audit for a Full Site Check

The Internal Backlinks report is useful for checking one page at a time, but it won't give you the full picture of a site's structure.

For that, run a Site Audit crawl. It builds a fuller map of how pages connect, and it's the step most practitioners rely on when auditing a whole site rather than a single URL.

Look for Orphan Pages and Underlinked Pages

Once the audit finishes, check for pages flagged as orphans or as having very few internal links. These are usually the pages that get overlooked during normal content updates, not because anyone decided against linking to them, just because nobody thought to.

Using Ahrefs to Find Internal Linking Opportunities

How the Link Opportunities Feature Works

This feature looks at keywords a page already ranks for, typically within the top 10 positions, then scans the rest of the site for other pages that mention those same keywords without linking back.

The logic is fairly simple once it's laid out: if page A already ranks for a term and page B mentions that term in passing, page B is a reasonable candidate to link to page A.

What Each Suggestion Includes

Each suggestion lists a source page, a destination page, and a suggested anchor text. Nothing gets added on its own. The tool identifies a possible connection and leaves the decision to you.

Reviewing Suggestions Before You Add Links

This is where a lot of the actual work happens, and it's worth saying plainly: automated doesn't mean automatic.

In practice, this usually means checking the paragraph the suggestion points to, confirming the connection makes sense in context, and adjusting the anchor text if the suggested phrase reads awkwardly.

Organisations in this space typically find that skipping this review step leads to links that feel forced rather than genuinely useful.

Common Internal Linking Issues Ahrefs Can Surface

Orphan Pages

An orphan page is one with no internal links pointing to it at all. It might still be indexed if it was submitted through a sitemap, but search engines and users alike have a harder time finding it through normal browsing.

Pages With Too Few Internal Links

A page can technically have a link or two and still be underlinked relative to its content value. There's no fixed number that applies to every site. What counts as enough depends on how large the site is and how the content is organized.

A ten-page site and a ten-thousand-page site aren't going to follow the same rule of thumb, so treat any specific number you see elsewhere as a rough starting point rather than a target to hit exactly.

Pages With Too Many Internal Links

The opposite problem exists too. Cramming a page with dozens of internal links dilutes the value each one passes along and can make the page harder to read.

At first glance this seems like a minor issue, but what's often overlooked is that it affects how a visitor experiences the page, not just how a crawler scores it.

Broken Internal Links

These point to pages that no longer exist or that return a 404 error. Filtering the Internal Backlinks report by HTTP status code makes these fairly quick to spot. Fixing them recovers authority that would otherwise be pointing nowhere.

Internal Linking Best Practices for Ahrefs Users

Link to Priority Pages From Multiple Places

A single link from one article rarely does much. Linking to a priority page from several relevant pieces of content spreads out the signal and gives search engines more paths to find it.

Use Anchor Text That Describes the Destination

Vague anchor text like "click here" doesn't tell a search engine or a reader anything about what's on the other end. Descriptive anchor text does both jobs at once.

Don't Overload a Single Page With Links

More isn't automatically better here. A page stuffed with links can start to feel like a list rather than an article, and readers tend to notice.

Recheck Links After Content Updates

Old content quietly builds up broken or outdated internal links over time, especially on sites that have gone through a redesign or restructure. In practice, this usually surfaces during a routine Site Audit crawl rather than getting caught right when it happens.

Set a Regular Audit Schedule

A one-time check catches existing problems. It doesn't catch new ones. Running Site Audit on a recurring basis, monthly or quarterly depending on how often the site changes, keeps the data current.

What Ahrefs Internal Link Data Does and Doesn't Confirm

What's Confirmed

Ahrefs crawls and records internal links. It keeps this data separate from backlink reports. It can flag orphan pages, underlinked pages, and broken internal links through Site Audit.

It's also able to render JavaScript, a capability that matters more each year, as reported by TechCrunch, since a large share of modern sites lean on JavaScript frameworks and search-adjacent tools have had to adapt their own crawling to keep pace.

Links generated dynamically on sites built with frameworks like React or Vue can still show up, marked distinctly in some reports.

What's General Understanding, Not Confirmed

How internal links factor into Ahrefs' URL Rating calculation isn't published in detail. It's reasonable to assume, based on how the metric behaves, that internal link distribution plays some role, but the exact weighting isn't public.

In practice, this is the point where a lot of guides overstate what's actually known. There's no fixed number of ranking positions a page will move after internal links are added. Results vary by site, by competition for that keyword, and by factors outside internal linking entirely.

Conclusion

Ahrefs internal links live in the Internal Backlinks report, Site Audit, and Best by Links, not in backlink totals.

Checking these regularly helps catch orphan pages, broken links, and gaps in site structure before they affect how content gets found.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ahrefs count internal links as backlinks?

No. Backlink reports only include links from other websites. Internal links are recorded separately in reports like Internal Backlinks and Site Audit.

Where can I see internal links pointing to one specific page?

Enter the page URL into Site Explorer, then open the Internal Backlinks report. It lists every source page currently linking to that URL.

Can Ahrefs detect orphan pages automatically?

Yes. Site Audit flags pages that receive no internal links during its crawl, though a very new page may need to be crawled first before it shows up.

How often does Ahrefs update internal link data?

It updates whenever the crawler revisits a site. Larger or more frequently updated sites tend to get crawled more often than smaller, static ones.

Why might my internal link count look different than expected?

Recent content changes, pages blocked by robots.txt, a crawler-control file explained in detail according to Wikipedia, or links buried in complex JavaScript can all affect what gets picked up between crawls.