Flat link architectures with no hub-and-cluster structure waste PageRank on the footer and navigation while leaving cluster pages with no topical context — Google can't infer which pages are authoritative on which subjects. Generic anchors like click here strip the keyword signal that descriptive anchors carry, so internal links stop contributing to the relevance score of their target pages. The cumulative effect is flat rankings across the entire site.
High because broken internal linking silently caps per-page authority and kills topical clustering signals.
Build hub pages that link to at least 3 cluster pages with descriptive anchor text, and add a Related section to every cluster page that points back to its hub. In app/products/[slug]/page.tsx:
<Link href="/products/running-shoes">Browse all running shoes</Link>
<Link href="/products/running-shoes/mens">Men's running shoes collection</Link>
ID: seo-advanced.link-architecture.hub-cluster
Severity: high
What to look for: Count all internal links across hub pages (home, category, main topic pages) and cluster pages (detail pages, blog posts, product pages). For each hub page, count outbound links to cluster pages. For each cluster page, count back-links to hub pages. Enumerate all generic anchor text instances (e.g., "click here", "read more", "learn more", "here") vs. descriptive anchors.
Pass criteria: At least 80% of hub pages link to at least 3 cluster pages. At least 80% of cluster pages link back to at least 1 hub page. No more than 10% of internal links use generic anchor text. Report: "X hub pages link to clusters; Y of Z cluster pages link back; W% generic anchors."
Fail criteria: Fewer than 80% of clusters link back to hubs, or more than 10% of internal links use generic anchor text, or hub pages link to fewer than 3 clusters on average.
Skip (N/A) when: Site is a single-page application with only 1 route.
Detail on fail: "4 of 12 product pages lack links back to category hubs; 15% of anchor text is generic ('click here', 'more')".
Remediation: Design internal linking strategically in your page components:
// app/page.tsx — Home page links to category hubs
<Link href="/products">Browse Our Products</Link>
// app/products/[slug]/page.tsx — Product page links back with descriptive anchor
<Link href="/products">Back to Products</Link>
<Link href="/products/category">View More in This Category</Link>