Internal linking for SEO: a simple strategy

An internal link is any link from one page on your site to another page on the same site. Navigation menus, footers, breadcrumbs and links inside your content all count. Unlike backlinks, you control every one of them.

Why internal links matter

Discovery

Google finds most new pages by following links. A page with no internal links pointing to it (an "orphan page") may never be crawled, even if it's in your sitemap.

Understanding

The text of a link (the anchor text) tells Google what the destination is about. A link reading "canonical tag guide" is a strong hint; "click here" tells it nothing.

Importance

Pages that receive more internal links, especially from strong pages like the homepage, are treated as more important. Linking from a popular article to a newer page passes some of that strength along.

Internal vs external links

A simple internal linking strategy

1. Pick your most important pages. The ones that make money or answer your core topics.
2. Group related content. For each important page, list the articles and pages that relate to it.
3. Link from related pages to the important one, using descriptive anchor text.
4. Link back out from the important page to the supporting content where it helps the reader.
5. Add links when you publish. Every new post should link to two or three relevant older pages, and you should add a link to it from at least one older page.

This "hub and spoke" pattern (one central page, several supporting pages linking to it and to each other) is simple and works for sites of any size.

Anchor text rules

• Describe the destination: "our guide to title tag length" rather than "this article".
• Vary it naturally. You don't need the exact keyword every time.
• Keep it short: a few words, not a whole sentence.
• Avoid misleading anchors: the link should go where the text says.

How many internal links per page?

There's no fixed limit. Google can handle hundreds of links on a page. The practical limit is usefulness: link where a reader would genuinely want to go next. A typical article might have five to fifteen links in its body, plus navigation.

Common internal linking mistakes

• Orphan pages with no links pointing to them.
• Links that redirect because a URL changed. Update them to the final address.
• Broken internal links to deleted pages.
• Everything linked from the footer and nothing from the content.
• Nofollow on internal links. There's almost never a reason to do this.

How to audit links on a page

Enter any page in the checker on this page. It lists every link, split into internal and external, with the anchor text and any rel values such as nofollow. Use it to spot vague anchors, missing links to important pages and links to old addresses. Then run the broken link checker to find links that no longer work.