Maintain link equity
across redesigns

Internal links are how PageRank flows across your site. External backlinks bring authority to your domain (usually concentrated on the homepage), and internal links distribute this authority to other pages. Every internal link passes a portion of the source page's PageRank to the destination page. Strategic internal linking helps important pages rank better by channeling authority from high-authority pages to pages you want to rank.

During site migrations, internal linking structure often changes dramatically. Component-based frameworks (React, Next.js) tend to create isolated components that lack contextual links. Design changes like footer redesigns or sidebar removal can eliminate hundreds of links. WordPress WYSIWYG content often had many manual contextual links that aren't automatically carried over to new component-based systems. These changes can significantly disrupt PageRank distribution.

Common migration mistakes include removing important contextual links (losing PageRank channels to key pages), changing anchor text that signals topical relevance, URL structure changes that break hardcoded links, or footer redesigns that remove links to important pages. This tool compares internal linking structure before and after migration to identify PageRank distribution issues before they hurt rankings.