Page Relationship Guide

A relationship in SEOLinkMap is one internal link: a from page, a to page, and the link text. Draw one on the map, enter one in the Relationships tab, or import a batch from CSV.

Whichever way you add it, the project's PageValue recalculates. The number you are trying to move updates after that run, not on the click.

Visualizing Current Relationships

The easiest way to understand your site's current internal linking structure is through the visual interface at LinkMap's visualization tool. When you hover any page in the visualization, connected pages are highlighted while others fade.

Clicking a node opens its details, where the Links fact counts inbound and outbound links and the Links To section names them:

Creating New Relationships

Three ways to add a link, depending on whether you are exploring, entering one you know, or loading many at once.

Drawing On The Map

Click the left edge of a page node. The cursor becomes a crosshair and the page is outlined as the source.

Click the left edge of a second node to finish. A dialog asks "Create a link from ... to ...?" with both page titles filled in, and only then is the link written.

Click empty canvas at any point to cancel without creating anything.

Using The Relationships Tab

Click Add New Relationship, then fill in three fields:

1. From Page -- the page the link sits on
2. To Page -- where it points
3. Link Text -- the anchor text, optional but worth filling in

Click Save. The new row appears in the table immediately.

Importing From CSV

Import from CSV takes a file with from_url, to_url and link_text columns, and reports how many rows succeeded and how many failed.

Both pages have to exist in the project already. A row is rejected if either URL is unknown, if the two are the same page, or if that relationship is already there.

Everything imported this way is marked Planned.

Managing Existing Relationships

The Relationships tab lists every internal link in the project across five columns: From Page, To Page, Link Text, Planned and Actions.

Edit reopens the row in the same form and saves it as a fresh link. Delete removes the link. Both trigger a PageValue recalculation.

Planned And Live Links

The Planned flag separates links you intend to build from links that are already on the site. Planned relationships draw as a dashed edge on the map; live ones draw solid.

That is what makes a CSV import useful before any development work. Load the links you are proposing, look at what happens to PageValue, and only build the ones that earn it.

Where PageValue Shows Up

The Pages tab carries a PageValue column next to a Depth column, which is where you compare pages against each other. Depth counts clicks from the homepage.

Internal links distribute PageRank through the site, so pages with more inbound links usually score higher, and shallow pages usually beat deep ones. The analysis tools show the flow rather than the totals.

If you would rather not pick the links yourself, the balanced optimization strategy proposes them from the same data.

Best Practices

Fill in Link Text even though the field is optional. It is the one part of a relationship the map cannot work out on its own, and it is what reminds you later why the link is there.

Import planned links before you build them. A dashed edge costs nothing, and it answers the question a developer ticket cannot.

Read depth as a measurement rather than a target, and see the site structure guide for how far to take it.