How to track internal linking

Internal links – hyperlinks that connect pages within the same website – are a crucial element of both SEO and user experience.

They help search engines discover and index your content while distributing "link equity" throughout your site, which can improve rankings. For users, a solid internal linking structure makes navigation intuitive, keeping visitors engaged longer.

Tracking internal links is important because it lets you see which links are being clicked, ensuring your key pages are easily accessible and identifying any links that aren’t performing well.

One way to monitor and analyze internal link performance is by using a dedicated link tracking tool. Beckli is an example of a free link shortening and tracking tool that offers advanced analytics with no signup required.

It allows you to create trackable short URLs for your internal links and then monitor how often those links are clicked.

In this article, we’ll explain how to track internal linking using Beckli, explore other methods and tools for internal link tracking, compare competitor solutions, and highlight best practices for an effective internal linking strategy.

How to Track Internal Links with Beckli

Beckli makes tracking internal link clicks straightforward. By turning your regular internal URLs into shortened, trackable links, you can gather click data and insights easily.

You can easily short your link and track for life in the link below:

Here’s a step-by-step guide to tracking internal links with Beckli while logged in:

1. Sign up for Beckli. Visit the Beckli website and create a free account to start (no credit card needed). While no signup is required to shorten a link, having an account lets you manage and view all your tracked links in one dashboard.
2. Go to the Links section. Once logged in, navigate to the Links section (or the link shortener tool on the homepage if not logged in). This is where you’ll create and manage your shortened URLs.
3. Enter the internal URL to track. Paste the URL of the internal page you want to track into the shortener. For example, if you want to track clicks to a product page or a blog post within your site, enter that page’s URL. Beckli will generate a shortened link (e.g., a beckli.com/xyz style URL).
4. Place the short link on your site. Replace the normal internal hyperlink on your webpage with the new Beckli short link. For instance, if you had a navigation or in-content link pointing to the product page, use the Beckli URL as the hyperlink. This way, when users click the link, it routes through Beckli’s tracking URL (quickly redirecting to the destination) and records the click.
5. View analytics for free. Now, each time someone clicks that internal link, Beckli will track it. You can log in to your Beckli dashboard and view analytics for the short link. The analytics page will show you details like total clicks, referral info, and possibly geographic or device data of visitors clicking the link. All these analytics are available in real-time and at no cost.

Using Beckli for internal link tracking offers several key benefits. First, it’s completely free to use with no hidden paywalls, allowing unlimited link tracking and clicks. Second, it’s easy to use – creating a short link takes only seconds, and no technical setup is required. Third, no signup is required to create a basic tracking link (you can shorten a URL immediately), which lowers the barrier to getting started. Finally, Beckli provides advanced analytics for each link, so you can gain insights into user behavior (for example, which internal links get the most attention) and make data-driven decisions to improve your site’s internal linking and content strategy.

Other Methods to Track Internal Linking

While Beckli is a handy solution, it’s not the only way to track and analyze your internal links. Several other tools and methods can help you monitor internal linking performance and structure:

• Google Search Console (GSC): Google Search Console has a Links report that includes an Internal Links section. This report shows you which pages on your site have the most internal links pointing to them. By checking GSC, you can ensure important pages are receiving sufficient internal links and identify any orphan pages (pages with no internal links). It’s a free and straightforward way to audit your internal link structure from an SEO perspective.
• Google Analytics: You can use Google Analytics to track internal link clicks and user navigation paths. Setting up event tracking for internal link clicks (for example, tagging menu or footer link clicks as events) will let you measure which links are used most by visitors. Additionally, the Behavior Flow report (in Universal Analytics) or similar path analysis in GA4 shows how users move from page to page on your site. This helps you understand if your internal links are guiding users as intended or if there are common drop-off points.
• Screaming Frog: Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a website crawling tool that can analyze your internal linking thoroughly. By crawling your site, Screaming Frog will list all pages and how they interlink. You can see how many internal links point to each page, the anchor text used, and even find broken internal links. This is useful for visualizing your entire internal link structure and ensuring there are no issues like excessive linking or forgotten pages.
• Ahrefs or Semrush: SEO platforms like Ahrefs and Semrush include site audit and site exploration features that cover internal linking. They can show you the internal backlink profile of your site – essentially which pages are linked internally and how often. These tools might highlight pages with few internal links, suggest opportunities to add links, or warn about any problematic internal links. Although these are paid tools, they provide comprehensive data on internal link distribution and can be very helpful for in-depth SEO analysis.
• Manual Audits: For smaller websites, you can perform a manual internal link audit. This involves going through your site page by page (or using a spreadsheet) to map out which pages link to which. You might list each page and all the pages it links to internally. A manual audit can help you personally verify that important pages are properly linked and that navigation makes sense. However, this method becomes time-consuming and error-prone as your site grows, so it’s best for simple sites or for double-checking specific sections.

Using a combination of these methods will give you a well-rounded view of your internal linking. For example, you might use Beckli or Google Analytics to track actual clicks on certain links, while using Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to ensure the structural placement of those links is sound from an SEO standpoint.

Competitor Tools for Tracking Internal Links

There are also popular link management and tracking tools aside from Beckli that you might consider. Some well-known competitors in the link tracking space include Bitly, Rebrandly, TinyURL, and Linktree. Each has its own set of features and limitations. Here’s how they compare to Beckli for tracking links (including internal links):

• Bitly – Bitly is one of the most widely used URL shorteners and provides basic click analytics for shortened links. With Bitly, you can shorten links for free (and see total clicks), but advanced features often require creating an account and may be limited on the free plan. For instance, custom branded domains or more detailed analytics come with paid upgrades.
• Rebrandly – Rebrandly is a link shortener focused on letting you create custom-branded short URLs, and it includes an analytics dashboard to track clicks. It’s a powerful tool for branding and team collaboration, but its free tier has limitations (such as a cap on the number of branded links) and you must sign up to use it. By comparison, Beckli also allows custom aliases for links and provides advanced analytics, all within a free platform. Beckli’s ease of use (no complicated setup) and unlimited free usage stand out, especially if you don’t need the heavy branding emphasis that Rebrandly offers.
• TinyURL – TinyURL is a long-standing URL shortener known for its simplicity and quick use. You can shorten links on TinyURL without creating an account, which is convenient for one-off needs. However, TinyURL historically offers very minimal analytics – typically, you don’t get a user-friendly dashboard showing your link performance unless you use newer features or third-party tracking. Essentially, it’s great for making a fast short link, but not for in-depth tracking.
• Linktree – Linktree is a bit different from a simple shortener; it’s a tool used to create a single page that holds multiple links (popular on social media bios like Instagram). With Linktree, you can list several links on your profile page and get analytics on how many clicks each link on that page receives. It offers a free version and a paid version with more features. W

Each of these competitor tools has its merits, but Beckli differentiates itself by combining ease of use with full access to analytics without any cost barriers.

This makes it an attractive option if you want to start tracking your internal links right away and prefer not to deal with the restrictions often found in other platforms.

Best Practices for Internal Linking

Tracking internal links is only part of the equation. To truly improve your website’s SEO and user experience, you should also implement internal linking best practices. Here are some key best practices to keep in mind when adding or auditing links within your site:

• Ensure a logical structure: Organize your internal links to reflect a clear site hierarchy. Important pages (like main categories or cornerstone content) should be linked from your homepage or top navigation, and related pages should interlink in a way that makes sense. A logical internal linking structure helps users intuitively find content and helps search engine crawlers understand the relationship between pages.
• Use descriptive anchor texts: The anchor text (the clickable text of a link) should be descriptive and relevant to the page it’s linking to. For example, use a phrase like "SEO checklist guide" to link to a checklist page about SEO, rather than a generic "click here". Descriptive anchor texts improve accessibility, give users context about what they’ll see next, and provide search engines with clues about the content of the destination page (which can aid your SEO).
• Avoid excessive internal linking: While internal links are beneficial, there is a point of diminishing returns. Don’t overcrowd a page with too many internal links, as it can overwhelm readers and dilute the value of each link. Focus on quality over quantity: link to pages that are truly relevant to the context. A few well-placed, meaningful internal links will have more impact than dozens of random ones. Also, excessive linking on a page could be seen as spammy by search engines, so keep it natural.
• Regularly audit and update links: Websites are dynamic – content gets updated, moved, or removed over time. It’s important to periodically audit your internal links to ensure none are broken (leading to 404 errors) and that they still make sense. Use tools like the ones mentioned above (e.g., Google Search Console or Screaming Frog) to find broken links. Also, review your analytics (from Beckli or other tracking) to see if certain internal links aren’t getting clicks – maybe they are placed in a poor location or not obvious to users.

Update your internal links when you add new content (link new articles from older relevant articles, for instance) and remove or replace links that are no longer useful.

This ongoing maintenance keeps your internal linking structure healthy and effective.

By following these best practices, you’ll create an internal linking system that complements your tracking efforts.

A well-structured and well-monitored internal link profile ensures that users and search engines can navigate your site optimally, boosting your SEO results.

Conclusion

In summary, tracking internal linking is an essential part of optimizing your website. It provides insights into how users navigate your content and which paths are most effective, allowing you to refine your site’s structure and improve SEO.

Whether you use a dedicated tool like Beckli or leverage analytics and search console data, understanding internal link performance will help you make informed decisions.