The Google Search Console links report shows examples of external links to your site and internal links between your pages. Use it to spot useful relationships and investigate gaps in your site’s navigation. Treat it as a starting point for an audit, not a complete inventory.
Back to the Google Search Console guide
Read external and internal links separately
Open Links in Search Console. External-link sections summarize linked pages, linking sites and link text. Internal-link reporting helps you review which pages on your own site receive links from elsewhere on the site.
The report samples links, combines duplicates and groups pages by canonical URL. A missing row does not establish that no link exists. Likewise, a reported link may require checking against the source page’s current state.
Find an internal linking opportunity
- Write down five pages that matter to your business: for example, your primary service, a case study and your best educational resources.
- Review the internal-links section and locate those pages where available.
- Open relevant existing articles on your site and look for places where a link would help a reader.
- Add a descriptive link in context, then test it on the public page.
- Record the source and destination URLs so you can verify the work independently of the report.
Imagine a guide about WordPress indexing mentions an accidental noindex setting but never links to the detailed fix. Adding that link helps the reader finish the task. Adding the same link to an unrelated biography paragraph would be less useful.
A simple Google Sheets checklist can use these columns: source page, destination page, reader question, suggested link text and completed date. The reader question is the quality control. If you cannot explain why someone would follow the link, reconsider the placement.
Choose useful anchor text
Use text that describes the destination naturally. For example, fix WordPress links that are not working tells readers what they will find. Repeating a commercial keyword in every link can make the content awkward and less informative.
Check that the linked page fulfills the promise. A link labeled as a tutorial should not drop someone onto a contact form with no explanation. This is especially important when a page has been repurposed or moved.
Review external links with context
Open a relevant linking site or page and inspect the actual mention. Is it a client credit, an editorial citation, a useful resource list or an unrelated page? Record meaningful referrals and check whether the destination still works.
If a valuable article points at an old URL, first verify whether your redirect reaches the appropriate replacement. Do not change URLs just to make a report look cleaner. If the source’s text is wrong, prepare a specific correction request that identifies the page and the problem.
What the report cannot prove
A link count is not a quality score. Many links from one site may reflect a shared footer rather than many independent recommendations. Comparing raw totals from different tools also produces confusion because their indexes and counting methods differ.
Do not diagnose a penalty from an unfamiliar domain in this report. Investigate actual evidence and any explicit Search Console notices before taking drastic action.
Verify changes on the site
After editing in WordPress, open the source page, follow the new link and confirm its destination. Check mobile presentation if the link sits inside a card, button or menu. For inaccessible destinations, use the 404 troubleshooting guide.
Use Page indexing to investigate eligibility and Performance to evaluate search activity. Those questions require more than a links report.
Frequently asked questions
Does a missing page mean it is orphaned?
No. Confirm with the site’s actual navigation and a crawl before calling it an orphan. Sample reporting is not conclusive evidence of absence.
How many internal links should each post have?
Enough to help readers reach relevant explanations and next steps. Set the number by usefulness and context rather than a fixed quota.
Reference: Google’s Links report documentation.
