Internal linking: the underrated SEO lever
Links between your own pages help visitors and search engines find and understand your content. Here is how to build a sensible internal linking structure.
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- 2 min read
Key takeaways
- Internal links help search engines discover pages and understand which matter most.
- Use descriptive anchor text that says what the linked page is about.
- Link from strong, relevant pages to new or important ones.
Internal links connect pages on your own website. They are easy to overlook, but they shape how visitors navigate and how search engines understand your site's structure and priorities.
What internal links do
- Discovery: search engines find new pages by following links.
- Context: the anchor text and surrounding words tell search engines what the linked page is about.
- Priority: pages linked from many relevant places are signalled as important.
- Navigation: visitors find related information and move towards conversion.
Build a clear structure
Organise content into topics, sometimes called hubs and spokes:
- A hub page gives an overview of a topic, such as an SEO service page.
- Spoke pages cover specific questions in depth, such as guides on keyword research, local SEO and technical audits.
- The hub links to every spoke, and each spoke links back to the hub and to closely related spokes.
This makes your expertise on a topic easy to see.
Write descriptive anchor text
Anchor text should describe the destination. "Read our guide to keyword research" is better than "click here". Use natural phrasing and vary it; there is no need to repeat an exact keyword every time.
Link from strength to need
New pages need links to be found. When you publish, add links from a few relevant existing pages, ideally ones that already get traffic. Important service pages should be linked from related articles.
Find and fix problems
- Orphan pages with no internal links are hard to find. Link to them or retire them.
- Broken links frustrate visitors and waste crawling. Fix or redirect them.
- Deeply buried pages that take many clicks to reach should be linked more directly.
Use navigation wisely
Menus, breadcrumbs and footers add consistent links across the site, but in-content links carry the most context. Use both.
Keep it user-first
Every link should help the reader. If a link wouldn't make sense to a person, it is unlikely to help search engines either.
Internal linking is part of every SEO engagement, and we build related-content links into templates in website development.
Frequently asked questions
How many internal links should a page have?
There is no fixed number. Link where it genuinely helps the reader take the next step or understand a topic better.
Should I link to the same page many times?
Once or twice per page is usually enough. Repeating the same link adds clutter without adding value.
