Does Ghost's internal link card update its anchor text when the linked post title changes?

Direct Answer

No — the anchor text in an internal link card does not update when the linked post's title changes. The card stores the target post's ID and the title text at the moment you insert it. Changing a linked post's slug also does not break the link, because resolution happens by post ID. In the default Casper theme the card renders as a semantic <article class="kg-card kg-card-link"> containing an <a><h3> for the title, but theme overrides can alter that markup.

Confirmed Behavior (Ghost 5.x, Koenig Editor)

• Anchor text is static. When you insert an internal link card, Ghost writes the target post's current title into the card payload (stored in the referencing post's Lexical/mobiledoc JSON). Subsequent title edits on the target post do not propagate to existing cards.
• Slug changes are safe. The card holds the target post's UUID. At render time Ghost resolves that ID to the current slug, so renaming a post's slug never breaks existing internal link cards.
• No background sync. There is no scheduled job, webhook, or render-time lookup that refreshes the stored title. The only way to update the anchor text is to open the referencing post in the editor, remove the card, and re-insert it (or edit the card's title field manually if your theme exposes it).
• Inline links differ. Links created via the toolbar's link button (not the internal link card) are plain <a href="/target-slug/"> elements. Those will break if the target slug changes.

Accessibility & Semantic Markup

The core kg-card-link component shipped with Ghost outputs:

<article class="kg-card kg-card-link">
  <a href="/resolved-slug/">
    <h3>Stored Title</h3>
    <p class="kg-card-link-description">Optional excerpt</p>
  </a>
</article>

This provides a heading inside a link, which is valid HTML and gives screen readers a clear label. However, themes can override the link.hbs card template. If your theme replaces that template, the semantic structure is whatever the theme author wrote.

Verification Steps (Safe, Read-Only)

1. In Ghost Admin, create Post A and insert an internal link card pointing to Post B.
2. Edit Post B: change its title and slug. Save.
3. Open Post A in the editor — the card still shows the old title.
4. Preview Post A on the front end — the link works (resolves to new slug) but displays the old title.
5. Inspect the rendered HTML in the browser dev tools to confirm the kg-card kg-card-link structure.
6. Check the stored Lexical JSON for Post A (via Admin API GET /ghost/api/admin/posts/{id}/ with formats=lexical) — the card payload contains a static title field.

Assumptions & One Diagnostic Detail

This answer assumes a standard Ghost 5.x self-hosted install using the Koenig/Lexical editor and the default Casper theme (or a theme that uses the built-in card components). If your theme overrides the link card template, the markup and ID-based resolution guarantees may not hold. Please confirm whether you are using a custom theme or have modified the link.hbs template — that single detail changes whether the accessibility description applies to your site.