🔗 Populate Internal Link Suggestions With Service Pages
🎯 Overview
If your site has many service and location pages, you may expect every one of them to appear as an internal link option
in the Content Genius auto-link tool. The tool does not automatically list every service or location page on your site.
It only offers pages it can find in your Brand Vault: links you added under Content, Global internal links, your Top
Pages (from the Knowledge Graph or Google Search Console), and pages published through WordPress or Website Studio.
Pages that exist only on your live site are not listed until a crawl fallback runs, and even then only when none of
those sources has any internal link. This article explains how the suggestions are populated, the most common reasons
pages are missing, and what you can do to fix it.
🧠 How Internal Link Suggestions Work
The auto-link tool suggests links from your Brand Vault rather than listing every page you own. It reads three sources:
internal links you added under Content, Global internal links; your Top Pages; and pages published through WordPress or
Website Studio. A site crawl is used only when all three of those sources contain no internal link.
- Page source: the page must be in your Brand Vault — as a curated internal link, a Top Page, or a page published
through WordPress or Website Studio. A site scan is consulted only when none of those sources has an internal link.
- Relevance: the tool usually suggests pages that relate to the content you are writing, so a page may not appear if
it does not match the topic of the current draft.
Because of this, a page that is missing from the list is not always an error. It may simply not be a close match for the
text in your article, or it may not have been discovered yet.
🔍 Why Some Service and Location Pages Do Not Appear
Here are the most common causes, starting with the ones we see most often.
- The page may not be available in your Brand Vault’s link sources yet. Add it under Content, Global internal links or
Top Pages, or publish it through the connected WordPress or Website Studio integration. These actions make the page
eligible for suggestions, subject to validation and selection. If the primary sources contain no internal links, the
tool searches existing crawl-backed RAG data, then Site Audit data if needed. Newly published pages may be missing
until that data is refreshed. Source: content-assistant/app/cgenius/v5/services/link\_pool.py:455–559,738–755.
- The page is hard to reach. Pages that are not linked from your menu, footer, or other pages (sometimes called orphan
pages) are easy to miss.
- A noindex tag does not by itself exclude a page from internal-link suggestions. Robots.txt restrictions may prevent
crawl-based discovery when the crawl is configured to respect them. They are not a separate exclusion rule for URLs
supplied through Brand Vault’s primary link sources. Sources:
content-assistant/app/rag\_integration/services/ingest\_page\_filter.py:7–12;
content-assistant/app/ca/models/site\_audit.py:344,696–699.
- The page may be broken or temporarily unavailable. Top Pages already marked as broken are excluded. During live
validation, URLs returning 404 or other client errors are dropped, while redirects that resolve successfully are
accepted. Optional suggestions returning server errors or timing out are skipped. Required links with temporary
failures may be retained for another check during article generation. Not every candidate is checked if the
selection limit or validation time budget has already been reached. Source:
content-assistant/app/cgenius/v5/services/link\_pool.py:531–548,903–927,998–1039.
- A different canonical URL does not automatically replace the URL used in a suggestion. In the crawl-backed RAG
index, an optional page filter can exclude pages canonicalized to another crawled page, with safeguards for
widespread incorrect canonical tags. The direct Site Audit fallback does not apply that same canonical exclusion.
Sources: content-assistant/app/rag\_integration/services/ingest\_page\_filter.py:7–12,182–195;
content-assistant/app/cgenius/v5/services/link\_pool.py:705–730.
- The page may use a Website Studio preview address associated with another business. Automatically sourced Top Pages
and published pages can be excluded when their *.preview.builder.searchatlas.com project name clearly identifies a
different brand. Generic names, UUID project names, and uncertain matches are not automatically excluded, and
manually curated links are honored. Other subdomain, www, or http/https differences do not by themselves trigger
this exclusion. Source: content-assistant/app/cgenius/v5/services/link\_pool.py:162–176,239–278,297–328.
- The page may have too little content for crawl-based suggestions. The crawl-ingestion and direct Site Audit fallback
gates require at least 25 words, so very short pages may be excluded. For primary Brand Vault sources, relevance
ranking uses supplied link text, page titles, tags, keywords, and URLs rather than a universal minimum page-content
length. Sources: content-assistant/app/rag\_integration/services/ingest\_page\_filter.py:7–22;
content-assistant/app/cgenius/v5/services/link\_pool.py:719–725,856–871.
- Automatic link selection is limited per article. By default, the tool selects up to three optional internal links,
ranked by relevance, rather than every matching page. Required internal links are handled separately and are not
counted against that optional-link cap. An administrator can change the configured limit, so having 30 or more
service and location pages does not mean all will appear. Sources: content-assistant/app/app/settings.py:4477–4479;
content-assistant/app/cgenius/v5/services/link\_pool.py:998–1041.
✅ Step-by-Step: Check Your Pages
Work through these steps to find out why a specific page is missing.
1. Open the missing page in your browser and confirm it loads normally, without a redirect or error message.
2. Check that the URL uses the same domain version (for example, https and www) as the site connected to your Search
Atlas project.
3. Confirm the page is not set to noindex in your website settings or SEO plugin.
4. Make sure the page is linked from at least one other page on your site, such as a services menu, a locations hub
page, or a footer link.
5. Check that the page is listed in your XML sitemap. Most website platforms create this automatically.
6. Review the page content. Make sure it has a clear title, a main heading, and enough descriptive text about the
service or location.
🛠️ How to Improve Your Link Suggestions
Once your pages are reachable, these habits help the tool surface more of them.
- Create hub pages. A main Services page and a main Locations page that link to every individual page make discovery
much easier.
- Use clear titles. Include the service name and location in the page title and heading, such as "Water Heater Repair
in Austin."
- Write relevant content. Link suggestions respond to topic. If your draft mentions a specific service or city,
matching pages are more likely to appear.
- Keep URLs clean. Use one consistent URL for each page, and avoid duplicates created by tracking parameters.
- Re-check after publishing. After adding or updating pages, allow time for your site to be rescanned before expecting
them to appear.
✍️ Adding a Link Manually
If a page still does not appear in the suggestions, you do not have to wait. You can add the link yourself in the editor
by highlighting the relevant text and inserting the page URL. Manual links work the same way for visitors and search
engines, and they are a good option for key service or location pages you want to be sure are included.
💡 Tips for Sites With Many Pages
- Prioritize your highest-value pages first, such as your top services and your most important locations.
- Group similar pages together with hub pages so related links are easier to find.
- Avoid creating near-identical location pages. Add unique details for each one, such as local information, reviews,
or services offered there.
- Do not expect all 30+ links in a single article. Too many links in one piece of content can feel crowded. A handful
of relevant links is usually better.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Does a missing page mean something is wrong with my site?
Not necessarily. The page may just not match the topic of your current draft, or it may be waiting to be discovered.
How long does it take for new pages to show up?
It depends on when your site is next scanned. If a new page has not appeared after a reasonable time, work through the
checklist above.
Can I make the tool show every page at once?
Suggestions are based on relevance, so the list is designed to show the best matches rather than every page. You can
always insert any page manually.
💬 Still Need Help?
If you have checked your pages and some are still missing, our team can look at your specific project and see what is
happening. Please have a few example page URLs ready, along with the article you were working on when you noticed the
issue.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate
to be instantly connected with a member of our team.
