Internal Linking for SEO: What It Is and How to Do It Right
Internal linking for SEO means adding links from one page of your website to another page on the same site. Done well, it helps Google find your pages, understand how they relate, and decide which ones matter most. It also helps readers keep going instead of leaving after one page.
The short version: link to related pages using <a href> tags, write anchor text that describes the destination, put your most important pages within a few clicks of the homepage, and make sure no page is left without a link pointing to it. The rest of this guide shows you how, step by step.
What Is Internal Linking?
An internal link is any link that points to another page on your own domain. Your navigation menu, footer, buttons and the links inside your blog posts are all internal links. A link to a different website is an external link, and a link from another site to yours is a backlink (we cover those in What Is a Backlink?).
Internal links are the one kind of link you fully control. You do not need anyone's permission, and you can improve them today.
Why Internal Links Matter for SEO
Google discovers pages mostly by following links. Its own documentation says links help it find new pages and understand context about the page being linked to. Internal links do three useful jobs:
- Discovery. A page with no links pointing to it may never be found, even if it is in your sitemap.
- Context. The words in a link give Google a clue about what the destination page covers.
- Importance. Pages that many of your own pages link to tend to signal that they are central to your site.
They also matter for people. A helpful link at the right moment sends a reader to the next answer they need, which keeps them on your site longer.
How Google Reads Your Links
Google's link guidance is clear on the technical basics. To be reliably crawled, a link should be an HTML <a> element with an href attribute that resolves to a real web address. Links built only with a button, a span, or a script click handler may not be followed.
| Link type | Crawlable? | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| <a href="/pricing">Pricing</a> | Yes | Use this |
| <span onclick="go()">Pricing</span> | Not reliably | Avoid |
| <a href="#"> with script | Not reliably | Avoid |
If you use a website builder, this is usually handled for you. It matters most when a developer has built custom menus or buttons.
How to Write Good Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable words of a link. Good anchor text is short, natural and tells the reader what they will find. Google recommends text that is descriptive and reasonably concise rather than vague.
| Weak anchor | Better anchor |
|---|---|
| Click here | our guide to keyword research |
| Read more | how to set up an XML sitemap |
| This page | Core Web Vitals explained |
Do not force the exact same keyword phrase into every link. Vary your wording the way a person would in conversation. Stuffing identical anchors across dozens of pages looks unnatural and adds nothing for readers.
Build a Simple Site Structure
Think of your site as a tree. The homepage is the trunk, main topic pages are the branches, and individual articles are the leaves. Every page should be reachable in a small number of clicks from the homepage, and each page should link up to its parent topic and across to close relatives.
The hub-and-spoke approach
Pick a broad topic, such as SEO basics, and create one main guide, the hub. Then write more specific articles, the spokes, and link each spoke to the hub and the hub to each spoke. For example, a hub on what SEO is could link out to detailed posts on sitemaps, meta descriptions and Core Web Vitals.
This keeps related content together, which helps readers explore a topic in depth and helps search engines see that you cover it thoroughly.
Where to Place Internal Links
Links inside the main body of an article, placed where they genuinely help, are the most natural. Navigation and footer links are useful for site-wide pages like Contact or About, but they do not replace contextual links.
- Link the first time a relevant term appears, where the reader may want more detail.
- Add a short "related reading" line near the end of a section or article.
- Link from older, well-visited pages to your newer ones, so new content gets discovered.
- Use a breadcrumb trail on larger sites to show the path back up the structure.
How Many Internal Links Should a Page Have?
There is no official number. Google has not set a fixed limit, and a count is a poor goal anyway. A practical rule is to include a link whenever it saves the reader a search, and to stop when additional links would feel like clutter. For a typical 1,500-word article, a handful of relevant links is plenty.
If a page has so many links that none stands out, readers click none of them. Quality and relevance beat volume.
Find and Fix Orphan Pages
An orphan page is a page that no other page on your site links to. Search engines may struggle to find it, and visitors almost never do. Fixing orphans is often the quickest internal linking win.
- List your pages. Your sitemap is a good starting point (see What Is an XML Sitemap?).
- Check which pages are linked from elsewhere on your site. A free crawler or the Links report in Google Search Console can show this.
- For every page with no internal links, find two or three related pages and add a natural link to it.
- Re-check after Google has had time to recrawl.
New to Search Console? Our beginner's guide to Google Search Console walks through the reports.
Common Internal Linking Mistakes
- Generic anchors. "Click here" tells nobody anything.
- Broken links. Links to deleted or renamed pages frustrate readers and waste crawling. Fix or redirect them.
- Linking to redirected URLs. Point links straight to the final address.
- Mixed URL versions. Pick one format, with or without a trailing slash or file extension, and stick with it. See SEO-friendly URL structure.
- Links only in menus or scripts. Make sure important pages are linked in plain HTML too.
- Forced links. If a link does not help the reader, leave it out.
A Simple Internal Linking Checklist
- Every important page is linked from the homepage or a main menu within a few clicks.
- Every new post links to two or three related existing pages.
- Older posts get a link to the new post when it is relevant.
- Anchor text is descriptive and varied.
- All links use real
<a href>tags. - No orphan pages, no broken links.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do internal links help SEO?
Yes. They help search engines discover pages and understand how your content fits together, and they help visitors find more of what they need. They are not a magic ranking trick, but they are a reliable foundation.
Should internal links open in a new tab?
Generally no. Keeping readers in the same tab is the expected behavior for links within a site. Opening a new tab is mainly useful for external references.
What is the difference between internal and external links?
Internal links stay on your domain. External links go to another website. Both have a place in a useful article.
How often should I review my internal links?
A quick check each time you publish, plus a fuller review a few times a year, is enough for most small sites.
Can I add too many internal links?
Yes. Too many make a page hard to read and dilute the value of each one. Add links where they help, and no more.
Next Step
Pick your five most important pages today and check how many other pages link to them. If the answer is "almost none," you have found your first improvement. If you would like a hand reviewing your site structure, you can get in touch for a friendly chat.