---
title: "Internal Link Graph - Serpwise Documentation"
description: "Map your internal link structure, find orphan pages, and understand crawlability with link context detection."
url: "https://serpwise.ai/docs/link-graph/"
source: "https://serpwise.ai/docs/link-graph/"
---
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The **Internal Link Graph** maps the connections between pages on your domain. Every time the [Edge Crawler](/docs/edge-crawler) processes a page, it extracts all links - capturing anchor text, link context, and nofollow attributes. Use this data to find orphan pages, verify link depth, and optimize your internal linking strategy.

* * *

## How Data Is Collected

Link data is extracted automatically during every crawl. For each page, the crawler records:

- All `<a>` elements with their `href`, anchor text, and attributes
- Whether the link is internal (same domain) or external
- The structural context of the link (navigation, content body, footer, sidebar)
- Whether `rel="nofollow"` is present

No extra credits are consumed - link extraction is part of the standard crawl process.

* * *

## Inbound Links

The **Links** tab on any [URL Detail](/docs/pages-overview) page shows all internal pages that link to the current URL:

| Column          | Description                                                        |
|-----------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| **Source URL**  | The page containing the link                                       |
| **Anchor Text** | The visible link text                                              |
| **Context**     | Where on the page the link appears (nav, content, footer, sidebar) |
| **Nofollow**    | Whether the link has `rel="nofollow"`                              |

Inbound links are a strong signal of a page’s importance. Pages with few or no inbound links may be undervalued by search engines.

* * *

## Outbound Links

The outbound section shows all links from the current page to other pages on your domain. This helps you verify that your content pages link to relevant related content and that important pages receive internal link equity.

* * *

## External Links

External links - those pointing to other domains - are listed separately. Monitor these to:

- Verify external links point to reputable, live destinations
- Check that affiliate or partner links have the correct attributes
- Identify pages with excessive outbound links that may dilute link equity

* * *

## Link Context Detection

Serpwise classifies each link by its structural context on the page:

| Context        | Description                                             |
|----------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| **Navigation** | Links inside `<nav>` elements or common nav patterns    |
| **Content**    | Links within the main content body - editorially placed |
| **Footer**     | Links inside `<footer>` elements                        |
| **Sidebar**    | Links in `<aside>` or sidebar-pattern elements          |

Content links carry the most SEO weight. Navigation and footer links appear on many pages and pass less unique value. This classification helps you focus on the links that matter most.

* * *

## Orphan Page Detection

An **orphan page** has zero inbound internal links - no other page on your domain links to it. These pages are difficult for search engines to discover through crawling and often receive less ranking authority.

The [Site-Wide SEO Dashboard](/docs/seo-dashboard) surfaces a domain-wide count of orphan pages. From there, you can review each orphan and decide whether to:

- Add internal links from relevant pages
- Remove the page if it’s no longer needed
- Create a [redirect](/docs/redirects) to a more authoritative page

* * *

## Link Depth

Link depth measures the minimum number of clicks needed to reach a page from your homepage (computed via breadth-first search). Pages with high link depth are harder for crawlers to discover and may receive less ranking authority.

| Depth | Interpretation                                                 |
|-------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| 0     | Homepage                                                       |
| 1     | Linked directly from the homepage                              |
| 2     | Two clicks from the homepage                                   |
| 3+    | Deep pages - consider adding shortcuts from higher-level pages |

The URL Detail page shows the computed link depth for each URL.

[**Pages & URL Detail**  
→  
\
Browse all pages and access the Links tab.](/docs/pages-overview)

[**Edge Crawler**  
→  
\
Configure crawlers that build the link graph.](/docs/edge-crawler)

[**Site-Wide SEO Dashboard**  
→  
\
See orphan pages and link health across your domain.](/docs/seo-dashboard)