1. What the error means

When you get a message like “No internal link” or you discover a page that has no internal links pointing to it (an orphan page), here’s what that implies:

1. The page lives on your website, but no other pages on your site link to it. (Semrush, Conductor, Backlinko)
2. When there are no internal links, the page may not be easily discovered by users navigating your site, and crawlers may struggle to find it. 
3. As a result, the page may not be indexed (or may rank poorly) and any value it could bring (traffic, conversions, authority) is under-utilized. 

In short: It’s a missed opportunity for both user experience and SEO.

2. Why you should fix it

1. Better indexing and visibility: With internal links, search engines have pathways to discover the page. Without them, even if the page is indexed via sitemap or external links, it may still perform poorly. 
2. User experience improvement: Visitors should be able to find relevant pages via your site’s navigation or through related links — orphan pages are hard to reach. 
3. Authority transfer: Internal links help pass “link equity” (or authority) from one page to another on your site while orphan pages miss out on this. 
4. Crawl budget and site health: If many orphan pages exist, they may consume crawl resources without yielding benefit, which isn’t optimal for larger sites. 
   

3. How to identify orphan pages

1. Run a site audit with a tool that discovers pages and checks internal links. For example, you can use tools like Tapita SEO & Speed (perfect for Shopify stores), Screaming Frog SEO Spider or a dedicated SEO audit tool. 

1. Compare your sitemap vs. pages linked internally: If a URL is listed in your sitemap but does not receive any internal links (or receives only links from other orphans), it may be orphaned. 

1. Check the “internal links” metric in your auditing tool: zero means it’s likely orphaned. 

1. Finally: Filter by value — not every orphan page must be linked. Some may be intentionally isolated (campaign landing pages, internal test pages). 

4. Steps to fix the error

To fix the No internal link error, identify orphan pages with no incoming links and connect them to relevant pages on your site using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text. 

Here’s a practical fix-list you can apply, with tips:

A. Review the page’s purpose

Before you begin linking, ask:

1. Is this page still relevant and valuable?
2. Does it deserve to be part of your site structure?
3. If the page has outdated content or overlaps heavily with another page, consider merging, redirecting, or no-indexing it instead of just linking. 
   

B. Add internal links from relevant pages

If you decide to keep the page:

1. Identify existing pages (blog posts, category pages, pillar pages) that are topically related.
2. Insert a link within the body of the content (not just footer or less visible area).
3. Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text that gives context about the linked page.
4. Place the link higher up, where users and crawlers are more likely to see it.
5. Ensure the link is dofollow (the default) so authority can flow — unless you have a legitimate reason to use rel="nofollow". (See note on nofollow further down.)

These steps directly follow good internal-linking best practices.

C. Link from the orphan page back into your site

1. Don’t just link to the orphan page — also ensure that the orphan page itself links outward to other relevant pages (“cluster” to “pillar” linking). This helps integrate it into your site’s structure. For example:
2. Identify your main “pillar” topics (broad themes) and your “cluster” pages (sub-topics) — link cluster ⇄ pillar.
3. From the orphan page (now a cluster page perhaps), link to the appropriate pillar page; and from the pillar page, link to the new page.

D. Monitor and maintain

1. After adding links, track whether the page gets crawled/indexed (via Google Search Console), and whether its traffic/visibility improves. 
2. Periodically revisit your internal-linking structure (especially after new content, site redesign, migrations) to avoid new orphan pages forming. 

5. Tips & best practices

1. Prioritize pages with value: Focus first on orphan pages that target key keywords, have the potential to convert, or sit in important sections of your site.
2. Avoid random linking: Don’t add internal links just for linking. The context and relevance matter — forced links may feel spammy.
3. Vary your anchor text: Don’t always use the exact same anchor text for every link to the page; diversity is natural and good for SEO.
4. One strong link is better than many weak ones: Linking from a high-traffic, relevant page can be more powerful than many from low-traffic or irrelevant pages.
5. Use analytics: After resolution, track how the linked page performs (impressions, clicks, ranking). If it remains stagnant, you might need to improve the content, enhance internal linking further, or reconsider whether the page should exist.
6. Remember navigation and site architecture: Internal linking isn’t only text links inside articles. Menu links, category pages, related post sections all contribute to site structure.
7. Be mindful of nofollow: When linking, ensure you haven’t accidentally added rel="nofollow" (which tells search engines not to pass authority). Unless there’s a specific reason, use dofollow for internal links. 

6. A sample workflow

1. Use a SEO Audit tool to scan all URLs of your site + internal link counts.

            Tapita SEO & Speed categorizes pages into current errors on your site, so you can manage them easily. 

Tapita SEO Audit identify which pages have SEO errors

1. For each such page:
1. a. Does the page still serve your strategy? If no → merge/redirect/noindex. 
   
2. b. If yes → identify 2–5 relevant pages where you can link to this page. 
   
3. c. Add the link(s) in a natural spot (body text, anchor descriptive). 
   
4. d. Ensure that page links back into your main structure (e.g., to a pillar page).
   
2. Re-crawl site (or re-run audit) to confirm the internal link was picked up.
3. Monitor performance of the formerly orphan page over the next few weeks (index status, traffic, engagement).
4. Schedule this check as part of your regular site-maintenance routine (monthly or after major updates) so you don’t accumulate many orphan pages.

Now you know how to fix the error ‘No internal link’ to maintain your website’s ranking and user experience. If you have any questions on this, please contact us via in-app chat or via support@tapita.io