Internal Linking

Internal linking means adding links from one page on your website to another page on the same website. Menus, footers, breadcrumbs and links within content are all internal links. They help visitors navigate, help search engines discover pages and show which pages are most important.

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

Why internal links matter for SEO

  • Discovery: search engines find pages by following links (Crawling). Pages without internal links become Orphan Pages.
  • Authority flow: links pass Link Equity between pages. Linking from strong pages to important pages helps them rank (PageRank).
  • Relevance: the Anchor Text and surrounding text tell Google what the linked page is about.
  • Topical depth: well-linked Topic Clusters show Google that you cover a subject thoroughly.
  • User engagement: helpful links keep visitors exploring and moving towards conversion.

Internal linking is one of the few SEO levers you fully control, and it often delivers results faster than building external links.

Types of internal links

  • Navigational links: main menu, footer and sidebar.
  • Contextual links: links within the body text of articles and pages. These carry the most relevance because they sit among related words.
  • Hierarchical links: Breadcrumbs and category links that show structure.
  • Related content links: “related posts” or “related terms” lists, like the one at the bottom of this page.

Internal linking best practices

  1. Link from relevant pages: only link where the topic genuinely matches.
  2. Use descriptive anchor text close to the target page’s main keyword. “Read our technical SEO guide” beats “click here”.
  3. Vary anchors naturally, but keep them accurate; avoid the same exact-match anchor on every page.
  4. Link to your most important pages often, especially from strong pages such as the homepage and popular articles.
  5. Link early in the content where natural; the first relevant mention is a good place.
  6. Keep a reasonable number of links: enough to help, not so many that each loses meaning.
  7. Use normal HTML links that search engines can follow, not JavaScript click events.
  8. Point links to final URLs, not redirects.
  9. Link both ways in clusters: the pillar links to each subpage, and each subpage links back to the pillar and to close siblings.

How to find internal linking opportunities

  • Search your own site for mentions of a topic (site:yourdomain.co.uk “topic”) and add links from those pages.
  • Use an SEO crawler to see how many internal links each page receives.
  • In Google Search Console, the Links report lists your most-linked internal pages; important pages should be near the top.
  • Look at pages ranking in positions 5 to 15; extra internal links can often push them higher.

Common internal linking mistakes

  • Important pages buried deep with few links.
  • Over-optimised anchors repeated hundreds of times in footers.
  • Linking two pages with the same keyword to each other, causing Keyword Cannibalisation.
  • Broken internal links after URL changes.
  • Relying only on menus and ignoring contextual links.

A clear Site Architecture plus consistent contextual linking is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve rankings across a whole site.

Further reading: Google’s link best practices.

Key Takeaways

  • Internal links help discovery, pass authority and signal relevance.
  • Contextual links in body text carry the most meaning.
  • Use descriptive anchors close to the target page’s keyword.
  • Link to priority pages from your strongest pages.
  • Link clusters both ways: pillar to subpages and back.

Related Terms

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