Content Studio — Internal Links

How NexusSEO picks URLs, anchor text, and link counts for the internal links inside every generated article — and the rules it enforces after generation.

What is it?

Every article generated in Content Studio comes with internal links — hyperlinks pointing to other pages on the same site. Internal links are a core SEO signal: they distribute authority, help Google crawl deeper, and guide readers into related content. NexusSEO picks the URLs from the client's own data, writes natural anchor text, enforces placement rules, and sanitizes the output so the AI can't sneak in invented URLs or brand-anchor spam.

When should I use it?

Always. Internal links are on by default for every article you generate.
Pay closer attention in Backlink mode — link placement and anchor text are the article's main purpose there.
Review the sanitizer warnings in the Reasoning modal if you suspect something got stripped.

How it works

URL sourcing — When generation starts, NexusSEO pulls the client's top-performing pages for the last 90 days from Google Search Console, grouped by page URL with their top query. The top 5 by total clicks become the pool. For Update strategy, the page being updated is excluded from the pool so the article doesn't link back to itself. If GSC isn't connected, returns no data, or errors out, the app falls back to published drafts in the client's Asset Library (drafts marked Used with a saved analysis URL, most recent first, top 5) — using each draft's target keyword as the anchor-text hint.

Pre-filtering — Before the prompt is built, the pool is cleaned up: duplicate URLs removed, homepage demoted to the end of the list (max 1 homepage link, never first), and each URL is HTTP-validated to strip 404s.

Prompt injection — The prompt tells the AI exactly which URLs to link to and what anchor style to use:

- Backlink mode, primary link — must use the exact target keyword as anchor text, placed in the first third of the article. - Backlink mode, secondary link (if available) — "a natural phrase related to {the page's top GSC query}", 2–4 words, placed in the second half. - Regular mode with multiple pages — for each page, "anchor text related to {the page's top GSC query}", distributed naturally in the first half of the article. - Regular mode with only one link (rare fallback) — "a natural variation of {the target keyword}" (2–4 words). - URLs must be copied exactly, never modified or shortened. - Links go in paragraph body only, never inside headings. - Brand/client name as anchor text is banned — reinforced in the prompt and re-checked after generation.

Link count depends on mode:

- Create-new article: 2–3 internal links (when 2+ candidate pages exist; falls back to 1 link if only 1 candidate found). - Update existing page: 1–2 internal links. - Backlink article: exactly 2 internal links (primary + secondary), or exactly 1 if no second candidate page is available.

Post-generation sanitizer — After the AI returns content, a second pass (sanitizeLinksInContent) scans the markdown: strips brand-anchor links, drops any homepage link that became the first internal link, removes duplicate homepage links, and — crucially — catches hallucinated URLs (the AI invents an /about page that doesn't exist) by matching them to the closest real URL from the pool or stripping them.

Tips and best practices

Keep GSC connected and up to date — the link pool is only as good as your query data.
Review the Reasoning modal after a risky generation — sanitizer removals are logged there.
For Backlink mode, double-check the primary link's anchor text matches the exact target keyword; the whole article exists to carry that link.
Update old pages occasionally so the sanitizer doesn't strip them during future generations as 404s.

Gotchas and limits

No GSC, no links from GSC. The app falls back to published drafts, but if you also have no published drafts yet, articles generate with no internal links.
Very small sites (few pages, few ranking queries) produce a thin pool — expect 1–2 links instead of 2–3.
The homepage rule is firm: never first, never more than once per article. Intentional — prevents formulaic SEO-spam patterns.
Sanitized links are stripped silently from the rendered article. The anchor text stays (as plain words), the hyperlink is removed.
External links from the AI are left alone — only same-domain internal links are sanitized.