Internal Link Silo Planner: Free Online Tool

An internal link silo planner turns a pillar page and a list of supporting pages into a clear linking map. Enter your main topic and one cluster page per line, click Generate Silo Plan, and get a table of recommended links with suggested URLs, so you know exactly what to link before you edit a single page.

What Is an Internal Link Silo?

An internal link silo is a group of pages about one topic that link to each other in a deliberate pattern. A pillar page covers the broad topic, and several cluster pages each cover one narrower question or subtopic in more depth.

The pattern is simple. The pillar links down to every cluster page, and every cluster page links back up to the pillar. Cluster pages that are closely related also link to each other. Search engines follow these links to discover pages and to understand which pages belong together. Readers use them to move from a general overview to the specific answer they need.

This is the same idea people call topic clusters or hub and spoke. The word "silo" simply stresses that links stay mostly inside the topic group instead of scattering across unrelated sections. Google's Search Central documentation says links help Google find pages and understand context, and descriptive anchor text gives extra clues about what the target page covers. A silo plan puts that guidance into a repeatable structure.

How to Use the Internal Link Silo Planner

You use the planner by typing one pillar title and a list of supporting titles, then generating the plan. The whole process takes under a minute.

1. Type your main topic into the Pillar Page (Main Topic) field. Use the working title of the page, for example "Complete Guide to Content Marketing".
2. Under Supporting Pages / Cluster Content (one per line), list each supporting page title on its own line. Press Enter between titles.
3. Order the list the way you want readers to move through the topic, because related links connect neighboring lines.
4. Click Generate Silo Plan.
5. Read the summary line, which shows the number of cluster pages and the total number of recommended internal links.
6. Work through the table. Each row shows the link type, the page the link starts on, the page it points to and a suggested URL.
7. Change any input and the old result is hidden, so click the button again to build a fresh plan.

Worked Example: A Content Marketing Silo

Say your pillar is "Complete Guide to Content Marketing" and you list four supporting pages: "What is Content Marketing?", "Content Marketing Strategy", "Content Marketing Tools" and "Content Marketing Examples".

The planner reports 4 cluster pages and 11 recommended internal links. The pillar gets the suggested URL /complete-guide-to-content-marketing/, and the first cluster page gets /complete-guide-to-content-marketing/what-is-content-marketing/. Punctuation such as the question mark is removed and spaces become hyphens.

The math is easy to check: 4 pillar links, plus 4 links back, plus 3 related links between 4 neighboring pages gives 11. Add a fifth page and the total becomes 14. In practice, the plan tells you that the pillar needs four outgoing links, each cluster needs a link up, and "Content Marketing Strategy" should link to "Content Marketing Tools" because it sits directly before it in your list.

How Do You Read and Act on the Silo Plan?

Read the table one row type at a time, then turn each row into an actual link on the live page. Each row is a single instruction: on the From page, add a link to the To page.

Pillar rows

These show where your main page must link out. A good pillar introduces each subtopic in a sentence or short section and links to the matching cluster page. If your pillar currently has no links to its supporting pages, these rows are your to-do list.

Cluster rows with "back to pillar"

These rows tell you each supporting page should point up to the main topic. Put the link early in the body, in a natural sentence such as "this is one part of our guide to content marketing". A cluster page with no path back to the pillar is the most common gap in real sites.

Related rows

These connect neighbors in your list. Treat them as a minimum, not a ceiling. If your list order puts "Content Marketing Tools" next to "Content Marketing Examples" but "Content Marketing Strategy" is also relevant to both, add that extra link by hand.

Suggested URL column

The suggested URL shows a clean, lowercase, hyphenated path nested under the pillar. Use it as a naming guide for new pages. Short, readable URLs are easier to share and easier to scan in search results. If your existing pages already have live URLs, keep those and do not change them just to match the suggestion, because changing a live URL requires redirects.

Who Should Use a Silo Planner?

Anyone organizing several pages around one subject benefits from a written link plan before editing. These are the situations where it saves the most time.

• Bloggers with a pile of loosely related posts who want to turn them into one coherent guide with supporting articles.
• Content teams briefing writers. Paste the plan into a brief so each writer knows which pages their article must link to and from.
• Site owners planning a new section such as a service category, a help center topic or a product guide, before any page is published.
• Freelancers and agencies who need to show a client a simple, visual linking structure that is easy to approve.
• Editors cleaning up older content who want a checklist of missing links for a topic that has grown over several years.

After you publish the links, you can confirm they exist with the Internal Link Checker, which lists every internal link on a page with its anchor text. To see what a competitor-style page links to, the Link Extractor pulls links from any public webpage.

Best Practices, Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting

The plan is only as good as the titles you feed it and the way you apply it. These points prevent the most common problems.

Write specific cluster titles

Each line should be a distinct subtopic or question, not a variation of the same page. "Content Marketing Tools" and "Best Content Marketing Software" probably compete for the same search. Merge them into one page and list it once.

Keep silos a manageable size

A pillar with 5 to 12 cluster pages is easy to maintain and easy for readers to navigate. If your list reaches 30 or more, split it into two silos with their own pillars, for example "Content Marketing Strategy" and "Content Marketing Tools".

Use descriptive anchor text

The plan includes a reminder to use keyword-rich anchors and avoid "click here" or "read more". Write anchors that describe the destination, such as "content marketing strategy template". Vary them a little instead of repeating the identical phrase on every page. The Anchor Text Analyzer helps you review the anchors a page already uses.

Do not link everything to everything

The point of a silo is focus. Add links to other silos only when a reader would genuinely want that next step. Dozens of unrelated links dilute the structure and make pages feel cluttered.

Fix input errors quickly

• If you see "Please enter a pillar page title.", the main topic field is empty.
• If you see "Please enter at least one supporting page.", the cluster box is empty or contains only blank lines.
• If you see "Every title must contain a letter or number.", one line holds only symbols, such as a dash or question mark. Fix or delete that line.
• If your page count is lower than the number of lines you typed, duplicate titles were merged. Two titles that differ only by capitalization or punctuation produce the same URL, so the planner counts them once.
• If the table disappears, you edited an input after generating. Click Generate Silo Plan again.

Audit your links afterward

Once the links are live, scan the pillar with the Link Analyzer to confirm that every cluster link is present and not marked nofollow by accident.

What Are the Limits of This Plan?

The planner builds a structure from the titles you give it. It does not read your live pages, check which links already exist or research keywords.

• Related links follow your list order only, one link from each page to the next. It does not judge which pages are truly most similar, so reorder the list or add links yourself.
• Suggested URLs always nest each cluster page under the pillar. Many sites use flatter URLs, and that is fine. Link structure matters more than folder depth.
• The plan does not tell you whether a topic is worth writing about. Check demand and intent separately before you commit to a page.
• A good plan does not guarantee higher rankings. It makes crawling and navigation clearer, which supports the quality of your content but does not replace it.

For wider link work beyond one topic, browse the Backlink Tools category, where you can also find tools for checking links that point to your site from elsewhere.

Your next step is simple: enter your pillar topic and supporting pages in the planner above, generate the plan, and turn each table row into a real link on your site. You will leave with a checklist you can hand to a writer, an editor or yourself.