Ahrefs internal links are the connections between pages on the same website, and yes, Ahrefs tracks them.

They just don't live in the same reports as backlinks, which is where most of the confusion starts for anyone checking their site's link data for the first time.

Quick Answer: Does Ahrefs Count Internal Links?

Ahrefs does count internal links, but it keeps them separate from backlink reports. Internal link data shows up in three places: the Internal Backlinks report inside Site Explorer, the internal link section of Site Audit, and a filtered view of Best by Links.

If you're only looking at the main backlink dashboard, you won't see any of this data. That's by design, not a bug.

What Are Internal Links in Ahrefs?

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page on a website to another page on the same domain. A blog post linking to a related article, a category page linking to individual posts, a homepage pointing to a services page.

All of that counts. When Ahrefs crawls a site, it records these connections the same way it records backlinks, just under a different label.

How Internal Links Differ From Backlinks

Backlinks come from other websites and signal outside trust. Internal links come from your own pages and signal structure, not authority earned from elsewhere.

Ahrefs treats these as two separate signals because they answer different questions: one is about how the wider web sees a site, the other is about how a site organizes itself.

Why Ahrefs Separates Internal and External Link Data

Mixing internal and external links into one number would make backlink metrics less useful. A site with thousands of internal links but almost no external ones would look artificially strong if the two were combined.

Keeping them apart lets backlink counts reflect actual outside authority, and lets internal link reports reflect site structure on its own terms.

Where to Find Internal Link Data in Ahrefs

Internal Backlinks Report in Site Explorer

Inside Site Explorer, the Internal Backlinks report lists every internal link pointing to a given page, along with the source page, the anchor text, and the link type. This is the report most people mean when they ask about Ahrefs internal links.

Internal Links in Site Audit

Site Audit runs its own crawl of a site rather than relying on Ahrefs' global web crawler, so it tends to catch more, including links buried in navigation menus or footers.

In practice, this report is usually more complete than Site Explorer's version, since it isn't waiting on Ahrefs to revisit the site during a routine crawl.

Best by Links (Internal) Report

This report can be filtered to show which pages receive the most internal links across a site. It's a quick way to spot which pages are acting as hubs and which ones might be getting overlooked.

Ahrefs Internal Links vs Backlinks: Key Differences

Feature	Backlinks	Internal Links
Source	External websites	Same website
SEO function	Authority and trust signal	Site structure and navigation
Where shown in Ahrefs	Backlink reports	Internal Backlinks / Site Audit reports
Discovery method	Global web crawl	Site-specific crawl
Typical use case	Judging outside authority	Judging internal structure and crawlability

How Ahrefs Discovers Internal Links

The Ahrefs Internal Links Crawling Process

Ahrefs' crawler, known as AhrefsBot, visits known URLs, scans the HTML for hyperlinks, records how pages connect, then follows those links to find more pages.

AhrefsBot visits billions of pages every day, as reported by TechCrunch, and internal and external links get picked up in the same pass before being sorted into their respective reports.

Known Limitations

No crawler sees everything. Pages blocked by robots.txt, links generated through heavy JavaScript, or pages that simply haven't been crawled yet can all be missed.

Teams commonly report small mismatches between what Ahrefs shows and what they know exists on the site, usually traced back to one of these gaps rather than a tracking error.

How to Check Internal Links in Ahrefs

Step 1: Open Site Explorer

Log in and go to Site Explorer, the main tool for analyzing a domain or a specific URL.

Step 2: Enter a Domain or Page URL

Enter the full domain for a site-wide view, or a single page URL to see what links to that page specifically.

Step 3: Review the Internal Backlinks Report

Open the Internal Backlinks report and check the source page, anchor text, and link status for each entry. This is where you'll notice if an important page is thinly linked.

Step 4: Run a Site Audit for Full Coverage

Site Explorer gives a useful snapshot, but Site Audit gives a fuller picture since it crawls the site directly. Running both is common practice for a proper internal link check rather than relying on one report alone.

Finding Internal Link Opportunities in Ahrefs

Using the Link Opportunities Report

Inside Site Audit, the Link Opportunities report looks at keywords a page already ranks for, then finds other pages on the site that mention those same keywords without linking to it.

In practice, this usually surfaces links that make sense contextually, since they're based on existing keyword overlap rather than a guess.

Adding Contextual Links

Once a suggestion looks right, the link gets added where the keyword mention already sits, with anchor text that describes the destination page rather than something generic.

Forcing a link where it doesn't fit tends to do more harm than leaving the page unlinked for now.

Common Internal Linking Issues Ahrefs Flags

Orphan Pages

Pages with no internal links pointing to them are harder for both crawlers and users to find. Site Audit flags these automatically.

Broken Internal Links

Internal links pointing to dead or redirected pages waste crawl budget and link equity. These show up clearly in Site Audit's internal link checks.

Overlinked and Underlinked Pages

A page with too few internal links may struggle to be seen as important. A page with too many can dilute the value each individual link carries. Neither extreme is ideal, and the right balance depends on the size and structure of the site in question.

Internal Links and URL Rating

Ahrefs' URL Rating reflects link equity distributed across a site, and internal links play a role in that distribution, similar in principle to how PageRank originally worked, according to Wikipedia's explanation of the algorithm.

What isn't publicly detailed is the exact weighting Ahrefs applies internally, since that calculation isn't published. What's reasonably well understood is the general direction: linking from a stronger page to a weaker one can help the weaker page over time, though the size of that effect varies by site and isn't something Ahrefs states as a fixed number.

Best Practices and Common Mistakes

What Works

Linking to important pages from multiple relevant articles, using anchor text that describes the destination, and reviewing internal links on a regular schedule rather than only once.

What to Avoid

Ignoring internal link suggestions in favor of external link building, using anchor text unrelated to the destination page, and adding links purely for volume rather than relevance.

Older content that hasn't been revisited in a while is also a common source of missed internal linking, simply because it predates a site's current structure.

Conclusion

Ahrefs internal links are tracked separately from backlinks, across Site Explorer, Site Audit, and Best by Links. Checking all three gives a clearer picture of how a site's pages connect and where structural gaps exist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ahrefs show internal links for every page?

Mostly, yes, for pages its crawler has already discovered. A page that hasn't been crawled or indexed yet may not show internal link data right away.

How often does Ahrefs update internal link data?

It updates whenever the crawler revisits a site. Larger or more active sites tend to get crawled more often than smaller ones.

Can internal links affect URL Rating?

They can contribute to it by helping distribute authority across a site, though URL Rating is still shaped mainly by backlink strength.

Why does my internal link count change between crawls?

New crawls, added or removed pages, and structural changes to the site can all shift the count from one report to the next.

Can Ahrefs detect orphan pages automatically?

Yes. Site Audit flags pages that aren't receiving any internal links from elsewhere on the site.