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AI Prompt to Write Internal Linking Recommendations for a Blog Post

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This prompt helps content writers and SEO specialists get internal linking recommendations for a blog post by having an AI model analyze an article's topic and existing site structure to suggest relevant anchor text and target pages. It's built for anyone who maintains a blog or content hub and wants to strengthen topical authority without manually combing through old posts.

The prompt asks the model to review the draft's key topics and suggest which existing pages it should link to, using natural anchor text that matches search intent. It also flags where a contextual link would genuinely help readers navigate between related content, which supports both SEO and user experience.

Internal linking works best when it's based on real published URLs rather than guesses, so the prompt is built to only recommend links from a list you provide, rather than letting the model invent plausible-sounding pages that don't exist.

Prompt template

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prompt-template
219 tokens
Role: You are an SEO content editor who specializes in internal linking strategy. Context: - Draft article topic: [DRAFT_TOPIC] - Draft article text or summary: [DRAFT_TEXT_OR_SUMMARY] - List of existing published posts with titles and URLs: [EXISTING_POSTS_LIST] Task: Review the draft and recommend [NUMBER] internal links to existing posts from the list above. For each recommendation, provide: 1. The sentence or section in the draft where the link should be placed 2. The target URL from the existing posts list 3. Suggested anchor text (natural, not generic like "click here") 4. A one-sentence reason why this link is relevant to the reader Constraints: - Only recommend links to URLs that appear in the existing posts list — do not invent URLs - Avoid recommending more than one link to the same target URL - Vary anchor text across recommendations - Skip any recommendation where no existing post is genuinely relevant Output format: A numbered list, one entry per recommended link, following the four-part structure above.

Want it sharper? Optimize this prompt with Prompt Optimizer, check it with the Prompt Debugger or shorten it with the Token Optimizer.

Example input

example-input
148 tokens
Draft article topic: "How to Reduce Cart Abandonment on an E-Commerce Site" Draft text summary: The article covers five tactics — simplifying checkout, adding trust badges, offering guest checkout, sending abandoned cart emails, and showing shipping costs upfront. Existing posts list: - "5 Trust Signals That Increase Online Checkout Conversions" — /blog/trust-signals-checkout - "How to Write Abandoned Cart Emails That Convert" — /blog/abandoned-cart-emails - "Guest Checkout vs Account Checkout: Which Converts Better" — /blog/guest-checkout-conversion - "A Complete Guide to E-Commerce Shipping Costs" — /blog/ecommerce-shipping-costs Number of links requested: 4

When to use it

  • You've just finished a draft and want to connect it to related articles already published on your site.
  • You're managing a content hub and need to strengthen topical clusters for SEO.
  • You want link suggestions before publishing instead of auditing links after the fact.
  • You're onboarding a new writer and want consistent internal linking practices across the team.

Best practices

  • Give the model your full sitemap or a list of published post titles and URLs, not just the current draft.
  • Ask for anchor text variations so you're not repeating the exact same phrase across multiple links.
  • Set a target range (e.g., 3-5 internal links) so the output stays focused rather than over-linking.
  • Review suggested links for relevance before publishing — the model can suggest a plausible-sounding but weak match.

Common mistakes

  • Linking only to the newest posts and ignoring older evergreen content that's still relevant.
  • Using the same anchor text for every link, which looks repetitive and spammy to readers and search engines.
  • Letting the model invent URLs instead of confirming them against your actual published post list.
  • Adding links that don't match the surrounding sentence's intent, which hurts readability more than it helps SEO.

FAQs

How many internal links should a blog post have?

There's no fixed rule, but most SEO practitioners aim for 3-5 contextual internal links per 1,000 words, focused on genuinely relevant pages rather than hitting a quota.

Does internal linking actually help SEO rankings?

Internal links help search engines understand site structure and topic relationships, and they help readers find related content, which can reduce bounce rate — both are considered positive signals, though linking alone won't fix weak content.

Should I use the same anchor text every time I link to a page?

No. Varying anchor text naturally, while still being descriptive, looks more natural to readers and avoids over-optimization patterns that some search engines flag.

What tool can help me check how specific and clear this prompt is before I use it?

Intelligence Score — run your filled-in version of this prompt through it to see a clarity and specificity score with suggestions, so you catch vague instructions before handing it to a model.

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