How to Handle Internal Links During a Site Migration
Redirects catch the links you cannot change, but your own internal links should point straight to the new URLs. Here is why that matters, how internal links affect crawling and equity, and how to update them cleanly.
During a migration your internal links may still point to the old URLs, so unless updated they rely on redirects and add extra hops. Because you control them, internal links should point directly to the new URLs to keep crawling efficient and value flowing straight through. Internal links guide search engines around your site and help pass ranking value, so clean links help the new structure re-crawl efficiently. Update them by crawling the new site to find links still pointing at old URLs and fixing them in content, navigation and templates. They do not replace redirects, which are still needed for links you cannot control.
What happens to internal links, and why they should point direct
During a migration your internal links may still point to the old URLs, so unless they are updated they end up relying on redirects, which adds extra hops and is not ideal even though the redirects catch them. Internal links are within your control, so they should point directly to the new URLs; because clean internal links help crawling and pass value directly, updating them is an important part of a tidy migration. Internal links should point to the new URLs directly because a link that goes through a redirect adds an unnecessary hop, and while redirects handle external links you cannot change, your own internal links should point straight to the final URL to keep crawling efficient and value flowing directly. Relying on redirects for internal links is untidy and can create chains, which is exactly what the redirect guide warns against; because you control them, internal links are the one place you can and should remove the redirect step entirely.
Point direct
Straight to the new URL.
No extra hops
Skip the redirect where you can.
Cleaner crawling
Helps re-index the new structure.
How they affect crawling, how to update them, and redirects too
Internal links affect crawling and equity because they guide search engines around your site and help pass ranking value between pages, so after a migration clean links to the new URLs help search engines re-crawl and understand the new structure efficiently. Links that all route through redirects make crawling less efficient; because internal links shape both discovery and how value flows, keeping them direct supports a faster, cleaner re-indexing. You update internal links after a migration by crawling the new site to find internal links still pointing at old URLs, then updating them in your content, navigation, templates and any hard-coded references to point to the new URLs directly. A crawl makes it straightforward to find every link that needs changing; because thoroughness matters, checking templates and menus as well as page content ensures no internal link is left routing through a redirect. Internal links do not replace the need for redirects, because redirects are still essential for external links, bookmarks and anything you do not control, while updating internal links is an additional best practice for the links you do control, so the two work together. Redirects catch everything, and clean internal links remove the extra hop where you can. Because they serve different purposes, you need both correct redirects and updated internal links for a tidy migration.
Redirects catch the rest.
Your own links point direct.
The links you control should never lean on a redirect. We crawl the new site, find every internal link still pointing at an old URL, and update them in content, menus and templates, so crawling stays efficient and value flows straight to the new pages.
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