Internal Linking

This skill defines how content cross-referencing works. All rules — link syntax, URL patterns, frontmatter field names, bidirectional policy, first-mention policy, anchor text, scope, and exclusions — come from the project's configured link building guide. Nothing is hardcoded here.

Config Loading

Before applying any linking rules, verify the following are present. Stop immediately if any are missing:

Required	Config key	If missing
Config file	.content-ops/config.md exists	"Run /init first."
Link building section	link_building	"Run /init link-building to configure your link building strategy."
Guide path	link_building.guide	"Run /init link-building — guide path not set."
Guide file exists	(read the file at that path)	"Run /init link-building — link building guide not found at [path]."

Applying Linking Rules

Read the guide file from link_building.guide. This file is the authoritative source for all linking rules for this project, including:

• Strategic goal (SEO-first, relevance-first, or hybrid)
• Scope (internal, external, or both)
• URL patterns for each content type and language
• Frontmatter field names for cross-references
• First-mention and link density policies
• Bidirectional linking policy
• Anchor text policy
• External source quality bar and nofollow rules (if external scope is enabled)
• Exclusions

Apply only the rules defined in that file. Do not apply rules not present in the guide.