Best Internal Linking Tools and WordPress Plugins (Link Smarter)

Last updated – 5/09/2024

Internal link(s) is one of the factors that affect SERP rankings. It’s one of the first few things to ensure that you have in place before hitting that publish button.

It’s so fun and imperative to do internal linking. And at the same time, it can be stressful and time-consuming.

At times, finding out your blog contents that are relevant to your piece of write-up is more of a hassle. This is especially common if you have a network of third-party writers and freelancers.

At that point, you won’t be able to acknowledge what they have covered or not. Not only that, Internal linking is very difficult to do.

What of pointing to the same article on every blog post? What if I tell you can do that automatically?

What about leveraging all opportunities for Internal links?

Gone are the days when you need to jump to and fro in the same content looking for potential internal linking opportunities.

This introduces us to the concept of internal linking tools mostly called Internal linking plugins.

Internal linking automation is the future. It’s scalable and time-efficient unlike the manual way of doing it.

Internal Linking Automation: Ultimate Guide (plus Tools)

Important: Please take note that some of the brand links on this page are Affiliate links. When you engage through them, we receive a small compensation from the brand for completing their business goal. Please be aware that the compensation we receive does not affect our rankings nor does it add any additional cost to you. You know what, almost all the brands here pay us the price of a coffee, thereby leaving entirely zero room for biased content. Yup, it’s 100 percent honest; can’t thank you enough when you engage with any of our links 🙂

Notice: An internal linking tool on this list, Linksy AI in particular, has rolled back its lifetime deal. This could mean that you visited this page at the right time. Continue reading to understand the main points of interlinking tools. Or quickly see the Linksy AI Lifetime deal and how it compares with the industrial leader, Link Whisper.

📢 Limited Time Offer: If you get Link Whisper between the 13th and 20th of October with code zealoff, you’ll get $25 off. We have partnered with the platform to make this happen. Mark your calendars and use the discount code zealoff before it expires. Make sure you follow the special link – https://linkwhisper.com/zealoff/

What are Internal Linking tools?

As the name implies, internal linking tools are Plugins, Softwares or Applications that make the process of attaching internal links easier, faster, and more rewardable.

By easier, I mean – you no longer need to spend a huge amount of effort doing internal linking.

As for the term “faster” in the definition, It’s clear that tools and software are created to make things go smoothly. In the context of Internal linking, these tools can save you 10 hours of work.

Lastly, for the term “rewardable”. I mean with internal linking tools, you stand a chance to cover up more opportunities, and that can translate to a higher reward in return. This reward is nothing but better rankability and performance on SERPs.

10 of the best Internal linking tools in the market right now

That said, let’s round up a list of the best internal linking tools in the market and links to their respective marketplaces.

Whether you want to hyperlink a piece of more occurring keywords on your site automatically or need to make the best use of opportunities for internal linking.

The tools that follow are worthy!

Thankfully, they all have their distinct features and capabilities. And you can choose the one that matches your use case the most.

Enough for the long story! Here are the top 6 (+4) available internal linking tools we have used, tested, and reviewed.

Why Trust this List?

We have spent almost our lifetime using the products here before even thinking of gathering this list. You can safely take this page as a source with the highest authority regarding the subject. So feel relaxed; it’s all gonna be fun! This should be your last reading on the topic.

The best Internal Linking Tools include:

1. Link Whisper, the best Internal Linking Plugin for WordPress & Shopify (best overall)
2. Linkilo, a perfectly-matched Link Whisper Alternative (Next seat after Link Whisper)
3. LinkBoss, a web-based interlinking tool for WordPress (Next seat after Linkilo)
4. Linksy WordPress Plugin, a new player and a perfectly-matched Link Whisper Alternative with a raging growth (Best for Lifetime license now)
5. Internal Link Juicer, a great Automatic Linking tool for WordPress (Great Automatic Internal Page connector)
6. Interlinks Manager, a powerful Internal linking tool with one of the best Reporting and Analytics dashboards (best for simplicity)
7. Autolinks Manager, the easiest way to achieve 1k new Automatic Links on your site (great for Automatic Link Explosion)

Note: The tools are arranged in descending order of performance.

Let’s now dive deeper and explore each Plugin’s features and how they can help you reach your Internal Linking goal.

But before then, here are the terminologies around the best AI SEO tools for internal linking. You should be aware of their respective meaning in advance so that you know when we’re talking about one thing or the other.

Terms and Terminologies around Internal Linking Tools

1. Outbound Link Suggestions

The Suggestions for Link opportunities as you write on WordPress are what we call Outbound Link Suggestions.

It’s a feature that is common between Internal Linking Plugins.

Needless to say, the functionality suggests relevant pages that are worthy of being attached as internal links on the current Page.

We noticed that they are of two forms –

The basic one merely shows you Pages that its algorithm thinks are relevant and helpful. To place the links on your site, you have to copy and then paste them manually.

The advanced one (offered by Link Whisper, Linkilo and cos), matches every Link opportunity in your article and then shows you the respective Pages that will go for them.

For example, if you made mention of the Keyword “AI Tools for Affiliate marketing” on your current Page and also have a Post about it. Then the Suggestions will show both the Link opportunity along with your Post on the topic. To connect it, you typically have to tick a box, and that’s it!

2. Inbound Link Suggestions

As the name suggests, it’s the recommendation to point to the current Page from potential opportunities in existing Pages. Unlike the formal i.e. Outbound Link Suggestions which enables you to insert internal links in your piece of content, Inbound Link Suggestions on the other hand hunt for opportunities in other Pages from where the new/current Page will be linked from.

Internal linking automation by Link Whisper is efficient.

This feature killed the mandatory task of opening your older posts after adding a new one for internal linking sake. It’s also a quick fix for orphaned content pages.

3. Automatic Linking (Keyword-based)

Automatic hyperlinking is the process by which keywords are converted into hyperlinks automatically. It’s followed by identifying targeted keywords along with the Links/Pages that will make them Internal Links.

The concept of Automatic Linking has changed throughout the years, and the current results are great.

Here’s the good news — There are now Advanced filters in place that regulate where, how, and in what frequency an Automatic Link should follow.

Plus, the ability to preview the automatic links in advance makes it worth the try.

4. Internal Link Reports and Analysis

An interlinking plugin is expected to provide Internal link breakdown and analysis.

As we all know, information is the key and it obviates the guesswork.

With some of the best linking tools, one can find links that have been used on a page. This include both internal links (classified typically as Inbound and Outbound for a great reason) and external links.

Let’s now get to know the top 10 internal linking plugins to supercharge link-building.

Note: Be careful, we’ll base our judgment on the quality terms we have just explored. Be attentive to details so you can ascertain the right one for your use case in the end.

10 of the Best Internal Linking Tools to supercharge Link-building

Here are the best internal linking tools. We have used them for a long time. As a result, any information that comes out of my writing is authentic.

It’s a two-way review; I present double experiences, you digest them and opt for a convenient route.

Follow me especially as I tick the feature boxes against all the plugins on the list. The judging functionalities are collected from the terms section and they are as follows

• Basic/Advanced outbound link suggestion
• Inbound link suggestion
• Automatic linking (or keyword-based linking)
• Internal link reports and analysis

Note: The terms “Automatic Linking” and “Keyword-based linking” have been used interchangeably on this post. They refer to the same.

1. Link Whisper WordPress & Shopify Plugin

After a complete review of Link Whisper, we discovered it’s by far the best internal linking tool you can ever get.

It was released by Spencer Haws, the brain behind Niche Pursuits.

The AI fastens the process of internal linking. It accomplishes this by offering a plethora of capabilities.

Right up there, we enlisted its suite of features. And as well, at the beginning of the article, we explained all the features (see it in the terminologies subheading).

Honestly speaking, Link Whisper is worth it, and for this reason, we swear by it!

One of our most-loved features in the Plugin is the URL changer, it lets you easily change the old links on your site with new ones. This can be seriously handy if you move your page to a new URL.

Another great feature is the Inbound Link Suggestions, others merely display Outbound Link Suggestions, but Link Whisper displays both and at the same time in their most advanced state.

With Link Suggestions, you get intelligent and relevant keyword opportunities in your article which you can convert into interlinks.

What of the Click tracking functionality that allows you to see the clicks on internal links? What about its Error Reporting (that looks up for 404 Pages and broken links)?

We won’t forget the ease at which it detects and combats orphan content! It’s really a great Plugin.

To wow you more, the tool also integrates with Google Search Console. This is one of the ways it collects target keywords for each Page which it uses to better its internal link opportunity suggestions.

Link Whisper has super features and it’s a trade-off between you doing it manually and an AI taking over for a little fee.

The tool also comes with a “Related Posts” feature which tackles internal page connections from another angle.

If you have been using a “Related Posts Plugin” all this while, you now have to take it down as far as Link Whisper is concerned.

Using Link Whisper for internal linking is time-saving and efficient, as it can produce the same work as a human when used the right way.

$15 off is the highest Link Whisper discount, and you can claim that by using our code (ZEALOFF) towards checking out.

Pros

• Time-saving
• Stress-free
• Leveraged opportunity for internal linking

Cons

• Link suggestion can be irrelevant
• Lack of Automatic Link Categorization

Pricing

• Free version of Link whisper
• $97 for a single site
• $137 for 3 sites
• $187 for 10 sites
• $367 for 50 sites.

Or see how to use Link whisper to automate internal linking.

2. Internal Link Juicer WordPress Plugin

Internal Link Juicer is one of the giant contenders in the aspect of automatic linking.

Note: I mean keyword-based linking whenevr i say automatic linking.

It was developed by Christoph Orth and his team with the aim of automating the process of link insertion.

Today, the Internal Link Juicer WordPress Plugin is solely based on Automatic Links, their Advanced filters, and their Reporting.

The Primary feature of the Plugin is its Keyword Editor which appears as you write on WordPress. From there, you can set target Keywords in the current Page which will then be used for link insertion.

Thankfully, the concept of keyword-based linking has changed over time. And with Internal Link Juicer, it’s said that we’re somewhere around the edge of technology.

Aside from setting up target keywords, we can also configure settings and advanced filters for the Automatic Linking. Obviously, good filters mean a lot, and it can be the reason why an automatic link appears at the right place.

From limiting the amount of Autolinks that should appear on a Page, to the prioritization of automatically-built links are just the beginning of Intelligent Link insertion.

Others that are worthy of note include: Keyword Gap settings (which basically allows you to set up gaps between targeted keywords in order to gain more coverage), Link Exclusion (which enables us to exclude certain portions of our page for Automatic Linking, think Headlines, certain HTML areas, Tables, Image Captions, List items, and so on)

In brief, the Internal Link Juicer is a great choice in terms of connecting relevant pages together. It’s pocket-friendly, and worthy and has changed the way we do automatic linking on one of our sites.

The free version of the Plugin is good unless you want access to the advanced settings, filters, and reporting it offers.

Pros

• Time-saving
• Stress-free (Automation).

Cons

• No automatic link preview before insertion
• Keyword-based linking only
• No report on internal linking structure
• No internal link suggestion.

Pricing

• Free version of internal link juicer
• Single site license for $5.83/mo
• 5 sites for $149.99/Yr
• 10 sites for $189.99/Yr
• Unlimited sites for $109.99/mo.

3. Interlinks Manager WordPress Plugin

What we have on screen is the Interlinks Manager WordPress Plugin, it’s an Internal linking tool with its own uniqueness.

Developed by DAEXT and marketed on Envato, the Plugin can be gotten at a bargain price by committing to a subscription on the Envato marketplace.

It’s also a dedicated Internal linking tool just like Link Whisper, therefore, it covers a lot of functions. From keyword-based linking, to basic Link Suggestion, to Click tracking, to Broken link detector, to Orphan Content detection, and so forth are the Plugin’s suite of features.

At first, the Plugin disappointed us in the Link Suggestions. Unlike Link Whisper which offers the advanced one, i.e. matching potential keyword opportunities with existing pages that should go for them, the Plugin in question merely shows us the list of Links that its algorithm thinks to be in the same category with our current one.

We took this seriously because Advanced Link Suggestions is the most vital feature which an Internal linking tool should possess. And so unfortunately, the Interlinks Manager offers the basic one which is somewhat fancy or unusable.

The plugin also doesn’t stop you from opening your older pages whenever you add a new content for internal linking sake. That is to say, there’s no inbound internal link suggestion with interlinks manager. And it’s the first thing to look for in an internal linking tool.

To the positive side of the Plugin, it performs exceptionally well in terms of Automatic Linking, Broken Link Reporting (called HTTPS status code in the Plugin), and Click tracking.

The Plugin also houses advanced Automatic Link settings and filters which makes it stand out from other Internal linking tools.

Filters such as the Keyword before and After rule are not found in the other Plugins except in Autolinks Manager Pro which is produced by the same company, plus the ability to categorize the Automatic Links.

Drawing the cotton from here, Interlinks Manager is pretty good, though we’re not satisfied with its Link Suggestions.

Pros

• Time saving
• Stress-free

Cons

• The Link suggestion is the basic one (just a list of related pages)
• No inbound internal link suggestion
• No clever internal link analysis
• Its keyword-based linking doesn’t support external links

Pricing

• 1 site for Regular ($39/Yr)
• 5 sites for Freelance ($79/Yr)
• 25 sites for Agency ($149/Yr)

4. Linkilo WordPress Plugin

Linkilo comes out the first in our list of the best Link Whisper Alternatives. It’s a copy of the Link Whisper WordPress Plugin.

The Plugin is kind of new in the world of Internal linking and is striving to offer as many features as possible as seen in Link Whisper.

It has already copied Link Whisper’s features down the box. The Link Suggestion feature it offers is exactly like that of Link Whisper. The same applies to its Reporting section and Automatic Linking Page.

Good to hear, the Plugin is also adding slight changes and styles to better stack up against the competition. The Keyword and Link cannibalization feature is exclusive to it and is undoubtedly a useful thing to have in place.

The Keyword/Link cannibalization works all day searching for a given Anchor text that share different links. As we all know, it’s uncool to use the same Anchor text for two different Pages, and Google also frowns at it. So the feature being referenced is invaluable to SEO.

What’s more? The Plugin also synchronizes with Google Search Console to know the keywords you’re ranking for and to better the link Suggestion output.

In short, the Plugin should be your next go-to after Link Whisper. Due to the fact that it’s basically new to business, it’s obvious that it lacks valuable features and it is not yet stable enough.

Such amazing features like Broken Link Audits, and Natural Language Processing found in Link Whisper, are yet to be released in the Plugin.

Thankfully, the uncovered features are already in their roadmap. We are awaiting their release soon!

You know what? The Plugin is still offering its Lifetime deal, and apparently, it will go away this year. Sorry, you’re lated (that was 2023), they just closed it! But the cost is pocket-friendly.

Pros

• Time-saving
• Stress-free
• Leveraged opportunity for internal linking

Cons

• Link suggestion can be irrelevant
• It’s a new tool

Pricing

• $59/Yr for Single site
• $149/Yr for 5 sites
• $279/Yr for 25 sites
• $499/Yr for Unlimited sites

5. Linksy WordPress Plugin

The Linksy WordPress Plugin is quite new to the business yet it has earned a solid spot among the best Internal linking tools.

Just like Linkilo, the Linksy Internal Linking Plugin delivers almost all of Link Whisper’s features (which is regarded as the #1 Internal Linking Tool).

The Linksy plugin was released in 2022 by a brand called Plugli. So far, the developers have managed to replicate nearly all the captivating features of Link Whisper.

As you write on WordPress, Linksy enriches your workflow with Internal links opportunity suggestions. It supports both Inbound and outbound variants, making it a good choice for a Link Suggestions tool.

Recently, the Plugin announced its Automatic Link system which is of the same kind as that of Link Whisper. The system lets you build links on autopilot.

The hack is to arrange targeted keywords with respect to their destination URLs, and the system will help you do the conversion.

The Internal link Reports section comes with an additional sorting and filtering mechanism that can be used to find specific content in one click.

The Reporting shows you the breakdown of your Internal Links structure. You get to see the quantity of Internal Links on pages. Classified as Inbound Internal Links, Outbound Internal Links and External Links, you perhaps have all the data you need to fall in love with Internal linking again.

The link analysis lets you find links present on your page (including external links). It clears the question – how to find internal links to or on a page.

As lucky as we are, the Linksy WordPress Plugin also supports the Search and Replace Existing Links feature, therefore we are being covered.

Surprisingly, its Search and Replace ability also covers Anchor Texts which Link Whisper doesn’t have at the moment. Meanwhile, you can not only do Link Replacement but Anchor Texts Replacement as well. This might come in handy when you have done the wrong Anchors.

The Anchors Cloud & Keyword rating functions are exclusive to it. The former tries to rate the destination Page against the Anchor Text. The keyword rating feature in the same vein rates your Focus keyword (which you’re trying to rank for on SERPs) against the Content.

Candidly, the Linksy WordPress Plugin makes a good Internal Linking Tool and the fact that they have an ongoing Lifetime deal, matter settled!

If you compare Linksy with Link Whisper, its inability to track the clicks on internal links is where it falls short.

It’s also not a reliable internal linking tool for now. Reason being, it’s not working correctly and most of its elements are still on their infant stage.

You might want to check it out. Lifetime deal expiring in no time! Use the link below together with Linksy discount code ZEALOFF to get 10% discount. You don’t want to come here again to notice they have closed this deal just like the case of Linkilo.

Pricing

• Lifetime deal for Linksy internal link builder
• $59/year for 1 site
• $118/year for 3 Sites
• $219/year for 10 Sites

Pros

• Time-saving
• Stress-free

Cons

• Link suggestion can be irrelevant
• Can’t track internal link clicks
• Very New

Or read Linksy link builder review.

6. Autolinks Manager WordPress Plugin

Still incepted by DAEXT, the Autolinks Manager Plugin is a sister product to Interlinks Manager.

They made Interlinks Manager for all things Internal linking and then, Autolinks Manager for Automatic Link insertion.

Another noteworthy thing is that, while Interlinks Manager does Automatic Linking, it doesn’t support External URLs. The Autolinks Manager is built for Autolinking as a result it’s in support of both Internal and External URLs.

Mind you, Autolinks Manager doesn’t deal with Internal linking at all. It’s a Link Automation Plugin for WordPress (keyword-based linking)

This Link Automation Plugin is the surefire way to achieve one thousand new links on your site. It’s jam-packed with smart filters for the Autolinking job.

What makes it stand out from other Internal Linking Plugins is that, it has a specialization in terms of Automatic Linking and thankfully, it also didn’t disappoint.

With its feature called Wizard, you can specify respectively your targeted keywords and the links, and relax back to see the beast do the automation for you.

One of my favorite features of the Plugin is Click tracking, it allows me to monitor the clicks on my Automatic Links.

Overall, the Plugin is powerful and it works greatly in its area of concentration.

It can be safe to say that the combination of interlinks manager and the plugin is what you need to have an all-rounder plugin like Link whisper.

Pros

• Time-saving
• Stress-free (Automation)

Cons

• No option to detect Autolinks that are broken
• Merely an Automatic Linking Plugin
• No internal link suggestion
• No internal link analysis
• Doesn’t show any regard to internal linking

Pricing

• $39/yr for 1 site
• $79/yr for 5 sites
• $149/yr for 25 sites

7. LinkBoss internal linking SaaS Tool

Unlike the Link Whisper WordPress Plugin, which only fetches internal linking possibilities, LinkBoss also comes with the ability to create an opportunity itself.

You can think of Link Whisper as a tool that digs internal linking opportunities. And LinkBoss as one that both digs and creates them.

The main disadvantage of Link Whisper is that, when there’s no Anchor Texts opportunity for internal linking, you are fucked up. And you will have to construct one manually.

LinkBoss took everything to the other level. When we don’t have any opportunity at all, we can easily use its feature called the “Smart Internal Link Generator” to generate one and to make it a live hyperlink.

When Link Whisper’s advantages are considered, LinkBoss nearly doesn’t stand it.

Due to the pre-existence of Link Whisper over LinkBoss, LW has great internal linking capabilities.

LinkBoss just like many, is also striving to patch things up in order to meet the standard of Link Whisper, the #1 internal linking tool.

As of now, the tool lacks functions such as Click Analytics, Search and Replace, and Broken Links Audits.

The internal link analysis is also not on par yet. The same goes to Linked-To Domains Report.

Pros

1. Time-saving
2. Stress-free

Cons

• Link suggestion can be irrelevant
• Can be expensive

Pricing

Linkboss monthly pricing

1. $11 for 200 credits
2. $49 for 1000 credits
3. $149 for 4000 credits

Note: Building 1 link with LinkBoss cost 1 credit, but with its proprietary feature called the Smart Internal Link Generator (that’s a function that use AI to create opportunities for internal links when there is none), it cost 2 credits.

LinkBoss Pay-as-you-go

1. $69 for 1000 credits
2. 247 for 4000 credits

Bonuses: 8) Linkstorm [New & not yet tested] 9) Autolinking.ai [New & not yet tested] | 10) Rank Math [best WordPress SEO Plugin]

10. Rank Math SEO for WordPress

Rank Math is the Swiss army knife of WordPress SEO. It’s by far the best Plugin for all things Search Engine Optimization.

In the context of Internal linking, it’s one of the beasts. In fact, we had rolled out a comparison between Link Whisper and the Plugin.

This is to testify that, Rank Math is a precious tool for intelligent Internal Linking.

But why is it at the last position?

Glad you asked! Of a truth, Rank Math is a valuable tool for Internal linking, but owing to its generalization on SEO, we didn’t give it the crown.

Other Plugins that precede all have specialization in Internal/Automatic Linking.

Now for your information, we use both Rank Math and one other Internal Linking tool (it’s Link Whisper) on one of our sites, and they work best in harmony.

You can review how Rank Math compares to Link Whisper here.

We almost digressed… back to the topic!

How does Rank Math make a good Internal Linking tool?

Please forgive us, we still recommend you check out the comparison between Link Whisper and Rank Math. That will explode the whole features that Rank Math has for Internal linking.

Anyway, let’s shed some light here!

Regarding Rank Math and Internal Linking. Just at the WordPress editor screen (i.e. Gutenberg), Rank Math offers a writing assistant that makes internal linking better.

Also, it offers Link Suggestions though a basic one. The Suggestions work after you mark a page or two as a pillar content(s).

From then on, Rank Math will start suggesting Links to these Pages. This enables you to make up a good Content hub.

Another Rank Math’s feature that it possesses in common with the Internal linking tools on this page is the 404 Page monitor (called Error Reporting in Link Whisper). Other one is the Redirection manager which is homologous to the URL changer of Link Whisper (i.e. Search and Replace feature).

Furthermore, Rank Math has an Internal link counter which shows the number of Internal links on each Page (think Internal link reporting).

As we can see, Rank Math makes a good Internal linking tool though it has a generalization in Search Engine Optimization.

Are you using another SEO Plugin other than Rank Math SEO? Check out how Rank Math stacks up among the competition!

Over to you

We couldn’t believe it took us this long. It was really an immersive review of all Internal Linking tools.

We appreciate your time and the visit.

Now, that we’ve finalized the article. It’s left for you to make the decision.

Internal linking tools comparison

The best internal linking tools are now compared based on the most important features as we covered in the terminologies section of the post.

The terms has been abbreviated, here are their meanings

• ILS (Inbound internal link suggestion)
• OLS (Outbound internal link suggestion)
• ILR (Internal link reports)
• ILA (Internal link analysis)
• KBL (Keyword-based linking or Automatic linking or Auto-linking)
• KBLP (Keyword-based linking preview).

KBLP means the ability to preview automatic links before they are placed on your site.

Refer to our terminology section to fully undesrtand what they mean and the kind of issue they tackle.

The exact way they appear here is measurable to their performances. Therefore, as you run down the list, the value decreases.

	ILS	OLS	ILR	ILA	KBL	KBLP
Link whisper	✔	Advanced	✔	✔	✔	✔
Linkilo	✔	Advanced	✔	✔	✔	✔
Linksy	✔	Advanced	✔	✔	✔	✔
LinkBoss	✔	Advanced	✔	✔	❌	❌
Interlinks Manager	❌	Basic	✔	❌	✔	✔
Link juicer	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔	❌
Autolinks manager	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔	✔

Here’s the Guide to choosing the right Internal Linking tool

1. Best overall — Link Whisper
2. 1st Link Whisper Alternative – Linkilo
3. 2nd Link Whisper Alternative, Lifetime license & best bargain – Linksy
4. Automatic linking (Keyword-based linking) alone – Internal Link Juicer
5. 3rd Link Whisper Alternative – Interlinks Manager
6. Best for web-based operation (unlimited sites) — LinkBoss
7. 2nd choice for Automatic Linking (Keyword-based linking) – Autolinks Manager

Feeling confused? Use the comments section. We are one hit away!

Until then, keep doing Internal linking the right way!

Recommended: Chech how Link whisper can automate your internal linking.