When to use this prompt
After publishing a new article. After publishing a new service page. Quarterly across pillar pages. Whenever a page is ranking but not converting (often because it does not link readers onward to the right next step).
Internal links are the single highest-leverage SEO investment because they transfer authority and tell retrieval systems how the topics on your site relate. Most teams underdo them by 70%.
The prompt
<role>SEO editor specializing in internal linking architecture for topic clusters.</role>
<task>Audit the page below for missing internal links. For each opportunity, name the destination page, the exact anchor phrase to use, the sentence in the source page where it should be placed, and the reason.</task>
<inputs>
<source_page>
<url>[URL OF PAGE BEING AUDITED]</url>
<topic>[ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THE PAGE IS ABOUT]</topic>
<full_text>
[PASTE FULL PAGE TEXT INCLUDING HEADINGS]
</full_text>
</source_page>
<destination_pages>
[PASTE A LIST OF AT LEAST 10 OTHER PAGES ON THE SITE THE SOURCE COULD POTENTIALLY LINK TO. FORMAT EACH AS:]
URL: [URL]
Title: [PAGE TITLE]
Topic: [ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION]
</destination_pages>
</inputs>
<instructions>
1. Read the source page carefully. Identify every place where a reader would benefit from being directed to another page on the site.
2. For each opportunity, output:
- Source sentence: the exact sentence from the source page where the link should appear
- Anchor phrase: the specific words to hyperlink (3-7 words; descriptive, not "click here" or "this article")
- Destination URL: the target page
- Reason: one sentence explaining why this link helps the reader or the topical cluster
3. Recommend between 5 and 15 internal links total. Quality over quantity.
4. Vary anchor phrases. Do not propose the same anchor phrase twice. Do not propose two different anchors pointing to the same destination.
5. Do not invent destination pages. Only propose links to pages listed in the destination_pages input.
6. Do not stuff links into a paragraph. If two opportunities are in the same paragraph, pick the stronger one.
7. Prioritize the list. Mark the top 3 with `[PRIORITY]`. Priority means highest combined value of (a) reader benefit and (b) topical-cluster reinforcement.
</instructions>
<output_format>
| # | Source sentence (excerpt) | Anchor phrase | Destination URL | Reason | Priority |
|---|--------------------------|---------------|-----------------|--------|----------|
After the table, output:
**Anchor-phrase diversity check:** [PASS / FAIL]. [If FAIL, name the duplicates.]
**Pages in destination list never recommended:** [comma-separated list]. [These are candidates for either weak topic relevance or a future article.]
</output_format>How it works
Internal linking is the architecture pass that most content teams skip. A new article ships, gets a link from the homepage maybe, and is otherwise an island. Buyers cannot find it from related pages and retrieval systems cannot understand how it fits the topic graph.
The “exact source sentence” requirement is the difference between a useful audit and a vague one. “Add a link to your service page” is not a recommendation. “In paragraph 3, sentence 2, hyperlink the phrase ‘AI search visibility’ to /seo-geo-strategy/” is.
The anchor-phrase diversity check is a 2026 precaution. Older SEO tooling used to recommend the same exact-match anchor everywhere. Modern systems penalize that pattern. Forcing the model to vary anchors produces more natural and more authoritative link text.
The “pages never recommended” output at the bottom is a forcing function for cluster gaps. If a destination page never seems relevant from any source page on a topic, it is either off-topic for this cluster or needs different positioning.
Example output
| # | Source sentence (excerpt) | Anchor phrase | Destination URL | Reason | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ”Most product teams underinvest in event tracking for the first 90 days." | "set up event tracking the first week” | /blog/event-tracking-setup-guide/ | Reader who realizes they are behind needs the implementation guide next | [PRIORITY] |
| 2 | ”Mixpanel and Amplitude are the obvious starting points." | "Mixpanel vs Amplitude head-to-head” | /blog/mixpanel-vs-amplitude/ | Comparison page directly answers the implicit question this sentence raises | [PRIORITY] |
Anchor-phrase diversity check: PASS.
Pages in destination list never recommended:
- /blog/recipe-website-tips/ — not topically relevant; remove from internal-link cluster.
- /pricing/ — fits commercial pages; reasonable to omit from a Definitional article.
Variations
- Inverse audit: Pick a destination page (e.g., a key service page) and audit which source pages should link to it. Useful for boosting authority on a money page.
- Anchor-text-only mode: For an existing internal link, evaluate whether the current anchor phrase is the best choice and propose alternatives.
- Site-wide mode: Run on 5-10 source pages in sequence and consolidate the recommendations into a single internal-link punch list.