What Is Internal Linking?
Internal linking is the practice of creating hyperlinks that connect one page on your website to another page on the same website. Unlike external links, which point to other domains, internal links keep visitors within your site and help search engines understand the relationship between your pages. Every website uses internal links, from the navigation menu at the top of your site to contextual links embedded within your blog posts and service pages.
There are several types of internal links, each serving a different purpose. Navigational links appear in your header, footer, and sidebar menus and provide the primary structure for visitors to move through your site. Contextual links are embedded within the body content of a page and point to related content that provides additional value to the reader. Breadcrumb links show the hierarchical path from the homepage to the current page. Related content links appear at the bottom of articles suggesting further reading. Each type contributes to your site's overall link architecture.
For small business owners, internal linking is one of the few SEO techniques that is entirely within your control and costs nothing to implement. You do not need to convince other websites to link to you or invest in expensive tools. You simply need to thoughtfully connect your existing pages in ways that help both visitors and search engines navigate your content. Despite this accessibility, internal linking is one of the most commonly neglected aspects of SEO. Many business websites have pages that receive no internal links at all, making them nearly invisible to both users and search engines.
SEO Benefits of Internal Linking
The most fundamental SEO benefit of internal linking is improved crawlability. Search engine crawlers discover new pages by following links. If a page on your website has no internal links pointing to it, crawlers may never find it, which means it will never appear in search results. This is known as an orphan page. By linking to every important page from at least one other page, you ensure that search engine crawlers can discover and index your entire site. The more internal links a page has, the more frequently crawlers will visit it, which helps new content and updates get indexed faster.
Internal links distribute what SEO professionals call link equity, or ranking authority, throughout your site. When your homepage earns backlinks from external websites, that authority flows through your internal links to other pages on your site. A well-structured internal linking strategy ensures that your most important pages receive the most link equity. This is why pages with more internal links pointing to them tend to rank higher than similar pages with fewer internal links. You are essentially telling search engines which pages are most important by how many internal links they receive.
Internal linking also provides crucial context signals to search engines. The anchor text you use for internal links tells Google what the linked page is about. When you link to your "commercial plumbing services" page using descriptive anchor text like "commercial plumbing services in Chicago," you are reinforcing the topical relevance of that page. Internal links between related pages also help Google understand your site's topical clusters, demonstrating that you have comprehensive coverage of a subject area. This topical authority can boost rankings for all pages within the cluster.
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Building an Internal Linking Strategy
Start by mapping out your site's content hierarchy. Identify your pillar pages, which are the main, comprehensive pages that target your highest-value keywords, and your supporting pages, which are more specific articles or pages that cover subtopics in detail. Your internal linking strategy should flow from this hierarchy: pillar pages should link down to supporting pages, supporting pages should link up to their parent pillar page, and related supporting pages should link to each other horizontally. This creates a hub-and-spoke model that both users and search engines can navigate logically.
Next, conduct an internal link audit to identify opportunities. Look for pages with very few incoming internal links, especially important service or product pages that should be receiving more authority. Look for blog posts and content pages that mention topics covered on other pages but do not link to them. Look for high-authority pages, those with the most external backlinks, that could distribute more of their authority through additional internal links. Every time you publish new content, include at least two to three internal links to relevant existing pages, and go back to existing content to add links to your new page.
Create a systematic process for internal linking that becomes part of your content workflow. Before publishing any new page, identify three to five existing pages that should link to the new page and three to five existing pages that the new page should link to. Keep a spreadsheet or use your CMS tagging system to track which topics link to which pages. This prevents the random, haphazard internal linking approach that most websites default to. The more intentional and systematic your approach, the more effective your internal linking structure will be at boosting your search visibility.
Anchor Text Best Practices
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. For internal links, your anchor text should be descriptive and give both users and search engines a clear indication of what the linked page is about. Instead of generic phrases like "click here" or "learn more," use anchor text that includes relevant keywords for the target page. For example, rather than saying "To learn more about our services, click here," write "Explore our comprehensive plumbing repair services." The descriptive version tells both users and Google exactly what to expect when they follow the link.
While descriptive anchor text is important, avoid over-optimization. Using the exact same keyword-rich anchor text for every internal link pointing to a page can appear manipulative. Vary your anchor text naturally by using different phrases, partial keyword matches, and natural language variations. If you are linking to a page about "emergency plumbing services," you might use anchor text like "emergency plumbing," "24-hour plumber," "urgent plumbing repairs," and "call us for plumbing emergencies" across different pages. This variety looks natural and also helps the target page rank for multiple related keyword variations.
The context surrounding your anchor text also matters. Search engines evaluate not just the linked text but the sentence and paragraph around it. An internal link embedded within a relevant, topically related paragraph carries more weight than an orphaned link stuck at the bottom of a page with no context. When adding internal links to your content, ensure they flow naturally within the text and appear in contexts where the link genuinely adds value for the reader. If a link feels forced or irrelevant to the surrounding content, it is better to find a more natural placement on a different page.
Common Internal Linking Mistakes
One of the biggest internal linking mistakes is having orphan pages, which are pages that receive zero internal links from any other page on your site. These pages are essentially hidden from search engines because crawlers have no path to discover them. Orphan pages are surprisingly common, especially on sites that have grown over several years without a deliberate linking strategy. Every time you create a new page, make sure it receives at least one internal link from an existing page, and preferably several.
Another common mistake is linking too heavily to your homepage and top-level navigation pages while neglecting deeper content. Your homepage naturally receives the most internal links through your site-wide navigation, but your individual service pages, blog posts, and product pages need contextual internal links too. These deeper pages are often the ones targeting specific, high-converting keywords, and they need internal link support to rank effectively. Review your internal link distribution to ensure that important pages at all levels of your site hierarchy are receiving adequate internal links.
Broken internal links are a frequently overlooked problem that wastes link equity and frustrates users. When you delete a page, change a URL, or restructure your site, any internal links pointing to the old URL become broken. Each broken link is a dead end for both users and search engine crawlers, wasting the authority that was flowing through that link. Additionally, using too many internal links on a single page can dilute the value of each link. While there is no hard limit, keep your internal links purposeful and relevant. A blog post with fifty internal links is not more effective than one with five to ten well-placed, contextually relevant links. Quality and relevance always outweigh quantity.
Auditing Your Internal Links
Regular internal link audits are essential for maintaining a healthy site structure. Lumio SEO can analyze your pages and identify internal linking issues such as orphan pages, broken internal links, pages with too few incoming links, and anchor text patterns. Running this analysis quarterly, or after any major site update, helps you catch and fix issues before they impact your rankings. The goal of an audit is to create a complete picture of how your pages connect to each other and identify gaps or weaknesses in that structure.
During an audit, pay special attention to your most important pages. Pull a list of the pages that drive the most revenue or target your highest-value keywords, then check how many internal links point to each one. If a critical service page has only two internal links while a low-priority blog post has fifteen, your link equity is being distributed inefficiently. Rebalance by adding more internal links to your priority pages from relevant, high-authority pages elsewhere on your site. Also check that your highest-authority pages, typically your homepage and any pages with strong backlink profiles, have internal links pointing to your priority content.
Track the impact of your internal linking improvements over time. After making significant changes to your internal link structure, monitor your search rankings, organic traffic, and crawl statistics in Google Search Console over the following weeks and months. You should see improvements in how quickly new pages get indexed, how your target pages rank for their keywords, and how much organic traffic those pages receive. Internal linking is not a one-time task but an ongoing practice that should be integrated into your regular content maintenance routine. Every new page you publish and every content update you make is an opportunity to strengthen your internal link structure.