PROAPC Editorial add-on · Links
Topic cluster internal linking plugin, with no broken links
The APC Editorial Link Building - Native add-on keeps the links the writer proposes while writing each article of the plan and ties each one to the right theme. The link only shows once the destination article is published, so nothing goes live broken.
- Links planned with the article
- They light up when the target goes live
- No AI cost day to day
In short
Link Building - Native turns into real links the anchors the APC Editorial writer marks while writing, pointing to the other themes of the same plan. Each anchor is tied to the right theme and only becomes a link on the site once the destination article is published.
It is your cluster's editorial memory: a link planned today for an article that only comes out 2 weeks from now is not lost. It waits and lights up by itself on publication day.
- Where links come from
- The anchors the writer marks in the article
- Destination
- The right theme of the plan, or an article of the same project
- When it shows
- When the destination article is published
- Broken link
- Never goes live
- Tie
- You choose, or AI decides on Re-check
- Cost
- Free, except the AI tie-break
- Plan
- PRO, on by default
Topic clusters
One subject, many linked articles.
A topic cluster covers a whole subject with several articles: a broad pillar and satellites that go deeper into each part. Internal links are the glue that shows it is all one subject.
In APC Editorial, the editorial plan is born organized this way: each macroblock has a pillar, the satellites around it and, sometimes, subsatellites with more practical cuts. According to Google's link best practices, links help Google find new pages and understand how relevant each one is, and the anchor text tells the reader what is on the other side.
The problem is time. A cluster's articles come out over weeks, and whoever writes the 3rd article wants to mention the 7th, which doesn't exist yet. Linking by hand to an address that isn't live gives a 404 error page; waiting to link later almost always turns into forgetting. An article no other article links to, the so-called orphan page, is harder to find.
| Situation | Link made by hand | Link Building - Native |
|---|---|---|
| The destination isn't published yet | Becomes a 404 or is left for later | The link waits and lights up by itself on publication |
| The destination's address changed | Has to be changed in every article | Points to the new address in all of them |
| The destination went offline | A broken link stays behind | The link leaves the page with it |
| An older article, from before the add-on | Manual review, one by one | Re-check recovers the links the writer had already proposed |
Editorial memory
From the writer's text to a live link.
Before writing, the writer gets the list of the plan's themes: first the block's pillar, then the neighbours named in the briefing, the block's siblings and the other pillars. A theme that hasn't been written yet is on the list too, which is why a link can be born before its destination.
When the article is published, the plugin keeps each anchor the writer marked and looks for the right theme by keyword, title and address. A link never goes to the home page, a contact page or a post outside the project's plans. When 2 themes fit the same phrase, the closest one wins: the one in the same block, the more specific keyword, the pillar before the satellite. If it is still a tie, the plugin doesn't guess: the row asks you to Choose target.
What it does
The plan's links, under your control.
In the + Add-ons/Tools menu, the Link Building - Native page shows every link the plan's articles propose, grouped by article, with filters.
Links that wait
Destination not published yet? The row says so and how long the link has been waiting. A waiting link is not lost: it lights up by itself when the article goes live.
Choose target
When more than one article of the plan fits, Choose target opens the list so you can say which one the sentence meant.
Set anchor
Want another phrase for the link? Set anchor takes 2 to 10 words, copied from the article exactly as they are written there.
Remove and restore
Remove takes the link off the article and Restore brings it back. None of these actions uses AI.
Re-check
Re-check checks the article's links again and, with the chosen AI model, lets AI settle up to 5 ties per click. It only accepts the answer when the AI is highly confident.
Nobody links to
The page lists the Articles no other article links to. They gain authority as soon as a sibling article names them.
No risk
No broken link ever goes live.
The article's saved text keeps no internal link. Each link goes into the page when it is shown, after checking the destination at that moment:
- Destination published: the link shows, at the article's current address.
- Destination in draft, unpublished or deleted: the link doesn't show. No 404 page.
- The address changed: the links follow the article, and the cache of the pages that link to it is cleared.
- Something ran late: the link lights up later, never broken. When in doubt, the add-on always ends up with fewer links, never a wrong one.
- Turned the add-on off: the links leave the site at once, and the record stays stored for when you turn it on again.
Step by step
Your cluster's links in 4 steps.
There is nothing to set up first: the writer already marks the links in every article the plan generates.
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Check the add-on
Link Building - Native comes on. Check it in Global Settings › Add-ons/Tools.
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Generate the plan's articles
With each article generated and published, the links the writer marked go into the plan's memory.
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Open the add-on's page
In the + Add-ons/Tools menu, open Link Building - Native and choose the Project and the Editorial plan.
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Settle the ties
Use Choose target, or choose the AI model and click Re-check all.
Want to see each screen? The step by step in the docs shows Native and Link Building - AI side by side.
Native or AI
Pick the way that fits your plan.
APC Editorial has 2 internal linking add-ons. For clean reports, keep only one on.
Native: what the plan foresaw
Only the links the writer marked while writing, tied to the right theme and lit up when the destination goes live. No AI cost, except for tie-breaks.
AI: also what the text reveals
Link Building - AI reads the published articles, finds mentions the writer didn't mark and guarantees the pillar link in every article. Each pass uses your AI key.
With both on, no link is repeated: when both point to the same article, the Native link wins. But the numbers of the 2 pages get mixed, which is why it is best to use one or the other.
Free and PRO
A PRO add-on that loses nothing on Free.
The links show on the site with PRO. On Free, the plugin keeps storing and tying each anchor, without showing them.
Links lit up on the site
- Cluster links that light up when the destination is published
- The add-on page, with ties, anchors and orphans
- AI tie-break on Re-check
- 30 days free to try everything
If the site goes back to Free
- The links stop showing in the articles
- The plugin keeps storing each anchor and tying it to the right theme
- Back on PRO? The links light up again, without regenerating a single article
FAQ
Questions about internal links in a topic cluster.
What is a topic cluster?
It is a group of articles on the same subject: a pillar, which covers the theme broadly, and satellites, which go deeper into each part. The internal links between them show readers and Google that the site covers the whole subject. In APC Editorial, each macroblock of the plan is a cluster.
Do I need to add the internal links by hand?
No. The APC Editorial writer marks the links while writing each article, and the add-on ties each one to the right theme. You only step in when you want to: to choose the destination of a tie, change the anchor or remove a link.
What if the destination article isn't published yet?
The link waits. The row shows the target article is not published yet and how long it has been waiting. The day the destination goes live, the link lights up by itself, with nothing regenerated.
What if I unpublish or delete the destination article?
The link leaves the page at once, because the destination is checked every time the page is shown. Readers never land on a 404 page because of a link from the add-on.
Does the add-on use AI? Does it cost anything?
Only in one case: when you click Re-check and more than one article of the plan fits the same phrase. Then AI decides which one the phrase meant, with your key and the model you chose. The amount shows in the AI Cost History as Native internal links. Everything else is free.
Does it work with articles generated before the add-on was on?
Yes. Re-check recovers the links the writer had already proposed when the article was written, without regenerating the text.
Is there a limit of links per article or per paragraph?
There is no limit per paragraph: every link the writer marked on a phrase that names its destination goes in. The only rule is 1 link per destination in each article; a second link to the same article is left out, with the reason on its row.
Can I use it together with Link Building - AI?
You can, and no link is repeated: the Native one wins. But the numbers of the 2 pages get mixed. If you also want the mentions the writer didn't mark and a guaranteed pillar link, use Link Building - AI; if you want only what the plan foresaw, stay with Native.
More add-ons and tools
Works together with these.
Each add-on and each tool turns on and off on its own, in Global Settings › Add-ons/Tools.
APC Editorial
Try it free for 30 days, with everything unlocked.
The Link Building - Native add-on is part of APC Editorial, the plugin to generate articles with AI with editorial planning. Free add-ons and tools stay free forever; PRO ones are unlocked during the 30 free days.