Check your link wording and links to other sites

Two tabs in Structure look at the words and the destinations of your links. Link wording shows phrases that point at more than one page and pages linked too often with their exact title. Links to other sites lists every site your posts link to, and where the same site is marked in some posts and not others.

6 steps·Updated 20 October 2026

Steps

1. Open Structure → Link wording

   Open Structure in the sidebar, then the Link wording tab. It reads the words of every link in your posts that points to another of your pages; links in menus, footers and sidebars are left out. The line under the title says what it found, for example that two phrases send readers to more than one page, or that the wording looks healthy.

   Nothing on this tab changes your posts. When it suggests rewording a link, you change it in WordPress, and the next scan shows the result.

2. Settle phrases that point at more than one page

   Same words, different pages lists phrases your posts use to link to two or more different pages, such as “beginner running plan” pointing at two posts. That asks search engines to choose which page the words describe. Phrases of one word, generic ones like “read more”, and links from a post to itself are left out. Up to 25 phrases are shown, the ones reaching most pages first.

   Each phrase leads with a verdict. Keep on names the page that should keep the words: the one most of these links already go to, or, when they are split evenly, the only one whose title or address says them. Open the phrase to see Keep the words here and the pages whose links to reword; click a page to see every link into it and the words each one uses. Your call means no page stands out: pick the one that is about these words, and reword the rest to say what each page is about.

3. Read each page’s mix of link wording

   Below, every page with at least eight links in from your posts gets a bar showing how those links are worded, most exact first, up to 200 pages. Each link counts as one of five kinds, by arithmetic rather than a model:

   • Exact: the words are the linked page’s title, ignoring small words like “the”. Guide band 15–25%.
   • Partial: some of the title’s words. Guide band 30–40%.
   • Semantic: descriptive words that share none of the title’s. Guide band 25–35%.
   • Branded: uses your site’s name, as your pages state it to search engines and social sites (the site name in your SEO plugin or theme), as whole words. No band. If your pages state no site name, these links count as partial or semantic. It is counted from your next scan on.
   • Generic: “read more”, “click here” and the like, or a link starting with them. No band either.

   Two verdicts are flagged. Over-optimised: more than 25% of the page’s links use its exact title. Under-descriptive: more than half are generic or branded. Everything else reads Healthy, even when a band is short; the bands are a guide, not a target to hit. Pages with fewer than eight links in are not judged, because one exact link out of three is 33% and means nothing.

4. Open Links to other sites

   Choose the Links to other sites tab. Across the top: Contextual links out, Sites linked to, Pages that link out, and how many links are Marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc. As everywhere in Silotree, only links in your writing count, not the ones your theme puts in a footer or sidebar. Nothing here tells you to remove a link: linking out is part of a useful article.

   Giving more than they get lists pages with five or more links out to other sites and more than twice as many links out as links in from your own posts. A round-up is meant to link out; this only shows pages doing that with little support from the rest of your site. Every site you link to lists up to 100 sites, most links first, with the pages and links for each, a few of the words used, and how many are marked.

5. Check sites marked on some pages and not others

   Marked on some pages and not others lists sites whose links are marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc in some posts and left bare in others, with the posts where they are bare. That is usually an oversight, such as a sponsored partner linked plainly in an older post. Only sites where you have done both appear: a site you never mark is a choice, not a mistake. To fix one, edit the link’s rel in WordPress; the next scan updates the list.

6. Note how each site should be marked

   Each site in Every site you link to has a menu: -, nofollow, sponsored or ugc. It saves straight away, and the choice is shown here each time you come back. Setting it back to - clears it.

   It is a note for yourself and nothing more. Silotree does not write it into your posts: no link on your site gains or loses a rel, the plugin does not apply it, and the counts and the Marked on some pages and not others list still read your links as they are. To change how a link is marked, edit it in WordPress.

What you should see

If it doesn’t work

“Nothing to judge yet”

No page has eight links in from your posts yet. Same words, different pages still appears once any phrase points at two pages; the rest fills in as your site gains links, for example from Links → To add.

“No links off the site yet”

No post links outside your domain, or the site has not been scanned since links to other sites started being recorded. The next scan fills it in.

I set a site to nofollow and the links are unchanged

That is expected: the menu only records your choice in Silotree. Add the rel to each link in WordPress. For why the wording of internal links matters, see anchor text for internal links.

Questions