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Sitemap and internal links

Read your website's sitemap so SerpPal can suggest internal links in the editor and let the AI link to your own related pages when it writes or optimizes.

Internal links connect your articles to each other. They help readers find more, and they help Google understand which pages on your site belong together. SerpPal can suggest them, and add them with AI, once it knows your site's pages. It learns them from your sitemap.

Before you start

  • The project needs a Website in Project settings, for example example.com.
  • Your site needs a public sitemap. Most sites have one: WordPress, Shopify, Ghost, Webflow, Wix and Squarespace make one automatically.
  • You need to be the owner or an editor of the project.

Read your sitemap

  1. Open the project.
  2. Click Read sitemap at the top.
  3. Wait a few seconds. You see "Found 248 pages for internal links".

The button now shows how many pages SerpPal knows, for example "248 site pages". Click it again any time to read the sitemap again, for example after you publish new articles. Each read replaces the old list.

Reading the sitemap is free. It does not use analyses or AI words.

How SerpPal finds your pages

  1. It looks in your site's robots.txt for a Sitemap: line.
  2. If there is none, it tries /sitemap.xml, /sitemap_index.xml and /wp-sitemap.xml.
  3. If the sitemap is an index of other sitemaps, it opens those too, but skips tag, author, category and attachment sitemaps.
  4. It skips image and PDF addresses.

It keeps up to 3,000 pages. For each page it makes a short phrase from the address, so /blog/best-tidio-alternatives/ becomes "best tidio alternatives". That phrase is what link ideas are matched against.

Open an article and click the Links tab.

  1. Click Find link ideas.
  2. SerpPal shows up to 20 of your pages that match what the article is about.

Each idea shows the page's phrase and address, with one of two buttons:

  • Link it: the phrase already appears in your text. Click to turn that text into a link to the page ("Link added").
  • Copy URL: the article mentions most of the words but not the exact phrase. You see "Not in the text yet, mention it where it fits." Copy the address and add the link yourself where it reads naturally.

Ideas update as you write. Pages you already link to, and the article's own target URL, are left out.

If you see "No matching pages yet", your article does not yet talk about topics your other pages cover. Ideas appear as you write.

The AI can add internal links (to your pages) and external links (to trusted sources the top-ranking pages cite).

  • In the editor: open AI Writing and choose Add internal and external links. The AI places links on natural anchor text in your article. The article needs at least 150 words first.
  • In the article wizard: tick Internal links to your own pages and External links to sources the top pages cite before you write. SerpPal remembers your choice.
  • In bulk writing: internal and external links are added automatically.

For internal links, SerpPal hands the AI up to 12 of your pages that fit the article best. The AI may only use the addresses it was given. Any other link it writes is removed, so it cannot invent pages on your site.

See AI writing in the editor and Article wizard.

Tips

  • Read the sitemap before bulk writing, so every draft gets internal links.
  • Use clear, descriptive URLs on your site. Since ideas are matched on the address, /blog/how-to-lower-ping/ matches far better than /blog/post-1234/.
  • Link both ways. When you publish a new article, open a few older related articles and link to the new one.
  • Three to five internal links is plenty for most articles. Link where it helps the reader.

Troubleshooting

"Add your website in Project settings first": the project has no website. Add it in Project settings.

"No sitemap found. Check that your site has /sitemap.xml": SerpPal could not find a sitemap. Open yoursite.com/sitemap.xml in your browser. If it is somewhere else, add a Sitemap: line with its address to your robots.txt.

"Could not read the sitemap: HTTP 403": your site or its firewall blocked our visit. Allow the sitemap to be read, or ask your host.

The Links tab says "No site pages yet": open the project page and click Read sitemap.

The Links tab says to add your website: the project has no website set. Add it in Project settings, then read the sitemap.

"No links to add. Read your sitemap on the project page, or connect search data for outside sources.": the AI had no pages to link to. Read your sitemap first.

"Write or generate the article first, then optimize it": the AI needs at least 150 words of article before it can add links.

Some pages are missing. Tag, category, author and attachment sitemaps are skipped on purpose, and only the first 3,000 pages are kept.

Updated November 5, 2026Still stuck? Contact support