Google Reindexing After Internal Link Changes

[EmilyDavis]

Hi everyone,

I recently updated the internal linking structure of a website with about 2,000 indexed pages. No URLs were changed, but I added new category hubs and redirected many internal links to improve crawl paths.

Google Search Console shows that the pages are still indexed, but the new internal link structure doesn't seem to be reflected in the "Links" report even after several weeks.

Has anyone experienced a long delay before Google recognized major internal linking changes without URL changes? Did requesting reindexing for key hub pages help speed up the process, or did you simply wait for Google to recrawl naturally?

I'd be interested to hear real-world experiences from sites with a few thousand pages or more.

Thanks!

 

[seoguyy]

GSC’s Links report is always a bit behind reality. Google can already be crawling and using your new internal structure, but that report updates very slowly in batches.
Submitting the main hub pages for reindexing can help Google pick up the new structure faster during crawling, but I have noticed it doesn’t really speed up the Links report itself, it just helps google process the new internal paths sooner on the crawl side.

 

[arindamb]

arindamb

This matches what I have seen. Worth adding that submitting a hub only gets that one page fetched. The pages it links out to still wait their own turn in the crawl queue, so the new structure spreads outward gradually instead of all at once. On a couple thousand pages that is where the weeks go.

 

[Riviera]

It took weeks. It took me 3-4 weeks (from June 5 to June 30), to see something really differrent in GSC. First week, just a bit, but the 4th week it showed more in GSC.
(I deleted a 10 years old website then left it blank for ~1 year. Then I reinstall and upload it again then).

 

[scopegranites]

After updating internal links, Google may take a few days to several weeks to reindex your pages, depending on crawl frequency and site authority. Submitting updated URLs through Google Search Console and maintaining a clear internal linking structure can help speed up the process.

 

[Nemanja]

The Links report is the wrong place to watch for this. It rebuilds in slow batches and internal links land there last, so Google can be crawling your new structure for weeks before that report moves at all.

Crawl stats under Settings is a better early signal, or server logs if you have them. What you want to see is Googlebot hitting the new hub pages more often and going deeper from them. That shows up well before anything in Links. Do you have log access on that site?

 

[mrlong]

I wouldn’t use the Links report as the main indicator here. For a 2,000-page site, I’d request reindexing for the most important hub pages and then let Google recrawl the deeper pages naturally. More importantly, I’d monitor crawl stats, server logs, and changes in impressions/rankings. If Googlebot starts reaching important pages through the new hubs more efficiently, the internal linking change is already working even if the Links report hasn’t caught up yet.