Internal linking between posts

[Leepish]

+1

I think it would be intuitive to use @ to then search for internal links to embed and change link handle etc

[viharm]

I’ve just noticed that there is a limit on votes we can give to features/ideas (duh!)

This idea seem duplicated here. I suggest eveyone who has voted here, vote there so the community’s position is clear to the developers.

[DanHakimi]

Either this, or we could make it so that, when you change a URL for an article, the old URL still gets redirected to the new URL. That way, emails keep working, and the article keeps working if it’s been shared elsewhere.

[Leepish]

Hurrah. This has been moved to ‘planned’

[thimiraonline]

Any update regarding this?

[ROY]

This would be a great feature, something that has been requested for almost 4+ years now…

[Jann]

Would absolutely love this feature, much needed for a comprehensive Blog.

Can’t wait for it be be implemented.

[mirokosut]

@John I assume you work for Ghost. Thank you very much for moving this idea to planned. Would it be possible to implement this feature using the post/page IDs internally instead of slugs please? Then, if we change the slug, i.e. because of the SEO, the link will not become broken. In my opinion, it is not only the comfort of being able to have a dropdown with all posts in the editor. Rather, it is a prevention of broken links as well.

[John]

No, that isn’t compatible with how Ghost works. SEO depends on external links more than it depends on internal links, which you have no way of updating, so if you’re changing slugs after publication: the correct way to handle this is to set up a redirect.

If what you’re really asking about is bi-directional/wiki linking - that’s a completely different feature - which is not what is being worked on here.

[mirokosut]

Thank you for your reply. I may have put a comma in my post on a wrong place leading to a misunderstanding.

I have mentioned SEO only as an example of why one would change a post’s slug. If a post with a slug “food” is changed to “how-to-eat-better,” all the internal links to this post across the whole site will be broken. The feature discussed in this thread is an opportunity to solve two challenges with one feature.

My suggestion is to store the internal links entered in the Ghost Editor with their corresponding post/page IDs instead of the final URL. The final URL can be retrieved from the database (and cached) whenever the post/page is rendered. This way, no internal link will ever get broken across a Ghost blog. This is, in my opinion, a best practice nowadays.

PS: I have realized later that you are the Founder of Ghost. Kudos! Keep doing the great work. Ghost is galaxies far away from the alternatives. No matter, if the internal linking works

[Kevin]

@mirokosut

whenever the post/page is rendered

This is the main issue, the way Ghost works is that post/page content is rendered once at time of saving which is why your suggestion is a different feature that would require significantly more work. Not saying it’s a bad idea, just not easily compatible with Ghost’s current architecture.

In the meantime, the proper way to handle slug changes after publishing is to create a redirect. That way any external links to your site continue to work too.

[mirokosut]

Thank you Kevin! I appreciate your answer. I wrongly assumed the rendering could do it.

[thimiraonline]

Hey Ghost busters, it has been shipped as a beta feature with v5.83.0. It is very easy to search and insert links.

Once you update to v5.83.0, go to Settings > Labs and enable Internal linking in Beta features.

[prschulz]

@thimiraonline - You beat me to it!

That’s right, we’re adding the ability to search and link to any of your posts, pages, tags, or staff members directly from the Ghost Editor.

Now, every time you think, “Oh I wrote about that once!” Boom, it’s linked. No need to search for the URL, no need to leave the editor, no need to interrupt your flow.

How to use it?

If you’re on Ghost 5.83.0 or higher, you can navigate to Settings → Labs and activate it in the beta features list:

Once it’s turned on for your publication, any time you hit /bookmark or link a piece of text, you’ll be met with a prompt to either add a URL or search your content. You’ll also see your last five published posts, by default, to make it easy to grab the recent stuff.

What’s next?

We don’t expect this beta period to last for long. Right now, we’re experimenting with other ways to link, like using the @ symbol to call up the search as you type, and ways to make the search function more powerful.

As we do, we’d love to hear from you all about how you like the feature, and what could be better in your opinion. Any and all notes can be sent directly to feedback@ghost.org

[marius1]

I really like the new feature; it is already saving me time and hassle. It works very well. Thank you very much!

[rainbowour]

Thanks for this great feature!

Are links getting updated if the targeted post URL changes?

[prschulz]

Thanks! And no, the link will stay the same in that post.

The best way to handle changing the slug of a post after it’s already been published is to create a redirect. That way any links you previously used, and any external links to your site continue to work.

[rainbowour]

Indeed, that’s even better than my enquiry because changing links for SEO is not good without redirection.

Thanks for your quick answer and this new feature

[prschulz]

Internal linking