Has anyone actually seen better rankings from AI-assisted internal linking, or is it mostly just cleaner site architecture?

[mercer]

I’ve been testing a few different internal linking workflows on a couple of niche sites over the last 3 months, and I’m trying to separate what’s genuinely helping from what just feels more organized.

The basic setup:

– WordPress sites in the 40–120 page range
– Mostly informational content with a few affiliate pages
– A mix of manually placed links and AI-assisted suggestions
– No major link building during the test period
– Content was already indexed before the linking changes

What I changed:
1. Added more contextual links from supporting articles to money pages
2. Used an AI workflow to suggest related articles based on topic clusters
3. Tightened anchor text so it was less generic
4. Added a few “hub” pages for broader categories
5. Reduced orphan pages where possible

What I’m seeing so far:
– Crawl depth improved a bit in GSC
– Some long-tail pages picked up impressions
– A few affiliate pages moved from page 3-ish to low page 2
– Nothing dramatic enough to call it a breakthrough

My take:
I’m starting to think internal linking is one of those things that rarely creates a big ranking jump on its own, but it can make the site easier for Google to understand and distribute relevance more efficiently. In other words, it may not be a “boost” so much as removing friction.

I’m also a little skeptical of the AI-linking tools that overdo semantic matching. Some of them suggest links that are technically related but don’t make much sense for the reader. I’ve found that the more natural the link placement, the better the page tends to perform over time.

Curious what others are seeing:
– Are you using AI to automate internal linking, or still doing it manually?
– Have you noticed real ranking gains, or mostly better crawl/indexation?
– Do you think hub-and-spoke structures still matter much in 2026, or is Google already good enough at understanding topical relationships without them?

Would be interested in hearing from people who’ve tested this on actual money sites, not just dev blogs or test domains.

[Author]

Posts