Internal Link Assistant

=== Internal Link Assistant === Contributors: ilacontributors Tags: internal links, linking, seo, orphan pages, broken links Requires at least: 6.0 Tested up to: 6.7 Requires PHP: 7.2 Stable tag: 1.1.0 License: GPLv2 or later License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Internal link suggestions in both directions, orphan page and broken link reports, CSV export and WP-CLI — a free, privacy-friendly Link Whisper alternative.

== Description ==

Internal Link Assistant helps you build a stronger internal linking structure without sending your content to any third-party service.

• Link Suggestions panel in the block editor shows inbound/outbound link counts for the current post and suggests related posts with a ready-to-use anchor phrase. One click wraps the first occurrence of the anchor phrase in your content with a proper <a href> link.
• Inbound suggestions work in the other direction: the panel lists posts that mention your page but don't link to it yet — the fastest way to fix an orphan page without leaving the editor.
• Orphan Pages report under Tools → Internal Links lists published posts that no other post links to, with post-type filter, title search and CSV export.
• Broken Links report flags same-site links that don't resolve to any published post (deleted pages, mistyped permalinks) while skipping archives, feeds, pagination and uploads.
• WP-CLI commands (wp ila status|rebuild|orphans|broken) for automation and large sites.
• Fast matching is powered by a custom side table with a FULLTEXT ngram index over extracted keyword phrases (title words, tags, Title Case phrases). If your server does not support FULLTEXT indexes, the plugin degrades gracefully to a LIKE search.
• Deterministic and private: no external API calls, no AI providers, no telemetry. All matching happens on your own server.

== Installation ==

1. Upload the internal-link-assistant folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or install the ZIP via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
2. Activate the plugin. The database table {prefix}ila_posts is created automatically on activation. Upgrades from 1.0.x add the broken-links column automatically on the next admin load.
3. Go to Tools → Internal Links and click Rebuild Index to scan your existing content. Large sites are scanned in batches with live progress.
4. Open any post or page in the editor and look for the Link Suggestions panel in the settings sidebar.

Building from source: the compiled editor assets (build/index.js + build/index.asset.php) ship with the release. If you cloned the source instead, run npm install && npm run build inside the plugin folder (requires Node 16+). Without a build, the rest of the plugin still works; only the sidebar is unavailable.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does it send my content anywhere? = No. Suggestions come from a FULLTEXT index stored in your own database. The plugin makes zero external HTTP calls.

= What happens if my MySQL version lacks the ngram parser? = The installer falls back to a plain FULLTEXT index. If even that fails (rare hosts), suggestions automatically switch to a LIKE-based search. You can see the active mode at the top of Tools → Internal Links.

= Which posts get scanned? = All published posts of public post types (attachments excluded). New posts are indexed incrementally whenever they are saved. Batch size can be tuned with the ila_scan_batch_size filter (default 50 posts per AJAX request).

= Are links to drafts or previews counted? = No. A target must be a published post of a public type (or an attachment page), so preview links never inflate the counts.

= Why doesn't the broken-link report show links to category archives? = The report only flags URLs that should resolve to a post but don't. Archives, feeds, pagination, search and upload URLs are valid non-post links and are excluded.

= How do I exclude the front page from the orphan report? = It already is: the front page and the posts page cannot receive resolvable internal permalinks, so they are excluded from the report.

= Can I change how many orphan rows appear per page? = Yes, filter ila_orphans_per_page (default 20). CSV exports are capped by ila_export_row_cap (default 20,000 rows).

= Can I add my own anchor keywords? = Yes, filter ila_extract_keywords receives the raw phrase candidates before dedup — index your SEO plugin's focus keyphrase or custom fields, then rebuild.

== Changelog ==

= 1.1.0 =

• New: inbound link suggestions — the editor sidebar now lists posts that mention your page but don't link to it yet, with Edit/View shortcuts.
• New: Broken Links report tab with same-site URLs that do not resolve to any published post (archives, feeds, pagination and uploads excluded).
• New: CSV export for the orphan and broken-link reports, respecting the active post-type filter and title search.
• New: WP-CLI commands — wp ila status, wp ila rebuild [--batch|--no-reset], wp ila orphans, wp ila broken.
• New: post-type filter and title search on the report tabs.
• New: sidebar refresh button, auto-refresh after saving, fallback-search notice, snackbar confirmation on insert.
• New: ila_suggestions_limit, ila_inbound_suggestions_limit, ila_extract_keywords, ila_broken_links_enabled and ila_export_row_cap filters, plus the ila_post_rescanned action.
• Fixed: links to drafts or deleted IDs (?p= style URLs) no longer inflate inbound counts.

= 1.0.0 =

• Initial release: FULLTEXT-ngram keyword index, batched scanner, orphan report, REST suggestion endpoint and Gutenberg "Link Suggestions" sidebar with one-click anchor insertion.