What Are Internal Links? Types, Benefits and Best Practices

Internal links are hyperlinks that point from one page of your site to another page on the same site. Google uses them to find pages and understand your site, and advises that every page you care about should be linked from at least one other page.

Use descriptive anchor text, place links where they help the reader, and fix broken or redirected ones. Check yours with the Broken Link Checker.

What Are Internal Links?

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect different pages within the same website. They help users navigate the site easily and enable search engines to crawl and index pages effectively. Google says paying attention to internal links and their anchor text helps both people and Google make sense of your site and find other pages on it.

Types of Internal Links

1. Navigational Links

Menus, sidebars, and footers all include navigational links. Important sections like “About Us” and “Contact” are easier to locate with their assistance.

2. Contextual Links

A page’s primary content is where you’ll find contextual links. To provide further information, they link to relevant sites or articles. For instance, posts titled “SEO Tips” may include links to more specialized sections, such as “Keyword Research.”

3. Breadcrumb Links

Links that serve as breadcrumbs may often be found toward the page’s top. They display the current page location to the user, such as “Home > Blog > SEO Tips.” Users may easily go back to previous categories using breadcrumbs.

4. Footer Links

You may find a web page’s footer links at the very bottom. “Privacy Policy” and “Terms of Service” are common links that they often go to. Links in the footer allow users to easily reach crucial pages, even when they don’t directly address the main content.

5. Image Links

Links within pictures are called image links. Banner advertising and product galleries often make use of them. Users are sent to the appropriate website when they click on the picture. For a linked image, Google uses the image’s alt text as the anchor text, so write descriptive alt text.

6. Related Links (Or Suggested Reading)

The conclusion of each post or article will include a list of related links. To encourage the reader to go more, they provide associated topics.

Benefits of Internal Linking for Your Website

Below are nine key benefits of internal linking for your website.

Improves Website Navigation

Internal links help users easily find other relevant pages on your website. For example, if someone reads a blog about “personal injury law,” a well-placed link to your “car accident” page can guide them to related content.

• Real-world example: A law firm website with clear internal links between practice areas (e.g., criminal defense, family law, etc.) ensures that visitors can easily navigate to other pages that interest them.

Enhances User Experience

Internal links lead users to related content, helping them find more information without leaving your website. For example, a user reading a blog post about tax law may find internal links to “estate planning” or “corporate tax” topics, which enrich their experience.

Increases Page Views

Adding internal links encourages users to visit more pages on your website.

• Real-world example: An e-commerce site could link product pages to related items (e.g., “related products” or “you might also like”), leading to increased product views and sales.

Helps With SEO Ranking

Search engines use internal links to discover new pages and understand how content is structured on your site. Well-organized internal links help search engines crawl your site and find pages more efficiently.

Distributes Link Equity

Link equity refers to the value passed through links from one page to another. Internal linking helps distribute this value across your site, ensuring that high-traffic pages can pass some of their authority to other, less-visited pages.

Improves Content Discovery

Internal links allow users and search engines to discover pages that may not be easily found. This is especially helpful for older content buried deep in your website. You ensure it doesn’t get overlooked by linking to it from other relevant pages.

Reduces Bounce Rate

When visitors can easily find more pages that interest them, they are less likely to leave your site immediately. This can reduce the share of visitors who leave after viewing one page.

Increases Time Spent on Site

The more links you provide, visitors have more opportunities to explore other pages.

Helps With Site Hierarchy and Structure

Internal links allow you to establish a logical content hierarchy on your website. By linking key pages (e.g., service pages or main topics) to related subtopics, you create a clear structure for users and search engines.

• Real-world example: An online magazine could use internal links to connect its homepage to main categories like “Lifestyle,” “Technology,” and “Health,” helping readers and search engines easily navigate through the site

How To Set Up Your Link Building Strategy – Step by Step

This section covers earning links from other sites. Unlike internal links, backlinks are not in your control, and Google says links you were paid for should be qualified with rel sponsored or nofollow.

Step 1: Understand Your Link-Building Goals

Before you start building links, it’s essential to define your goals.

Clear goals will help you focus your efforts and determine the best link-building approach. For example:

• Increase domain authority: If you’re trying to improve your website’s authority, you should focus on getting high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites in your niche.
• Boost organic traffic: If your goal is to drive traffic to your website, look for opportunities to acquire links from websites with high traffic.
• Improve rankings for specific keywords: If you want to rank higher for certain keywords, make sure to acquire links from content that is relevant to those keywords.

Step 2: Analyze Your Existing Backlinks

Before diving into new link-building opportunities, analyzing your existing backlinks is important.

• Check for toxic links: Review your links in Search Console and third-party tools. Google says it can usually assess which links to trust, so most sites do not need to disavow.
• Identify strong backlinks: Highlight the links that help your site’s authority and rankings. You can then look for similar high-quality sites for further link-building.

Step 3: Identify Link Opportunities

Once you understand your website’s current backlink profile, identifying opportunities to acquire new links is the next step. There are several ways to do this:

• Competitor backlink analysis: Identify where your competitors are getting their links from. Use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to find link-building opportunities your competitors still need to look into.
• Guest blogging: Guest posts can bring readers to your site; qualify any link you were paid for with rel sponsored or nofollow. Focus on providing valuable, high-quality content to the website’s audience. It helps you build authority while getting a link back to your site.
• Content promotion: High-quality content like blog posts, infographics, and case studies often gets natural backlinks when promoted properly. Share your content on social media, reach out to influencers, or use email outreach to promote it.

Step 4: Create High-Quality Content

One of the best ways to attract valuable backlinks is to create content people want to link to. If your content is useful, relevant, and provides unique insights, other websites will naturally link to it.

• Long-form articles: Create in-depth articles or guides that cover a topic comprehensively. Other bloggers, influencers, and websites often share and link these articles.
• Infographics and visual content: If you can present information in an engaging and easy-to-understand visual format, it could lead to more backlinks.
• Case studies and original research: Original studies or data are always valuable to others in your industry. If you research and share valuable insights, people will want to reference and link to your findings.

Step 5: Build Relationships with Influencers and Bloggers

Link building is not just about reaching out for links; it’s also about building relationships.

• Engage on social media: Follow influencers and bloggers in your industry. Engage with their content and build a relationship before asking for a link.
• Collaborate on content: Offer to collaborate on content, such as co-writing blog posts or featuring them in interviews. You can earn backlinks and exposure to a broader audience by working together.
• Offer valuable resources: If you have a resource, guide, or tool that could help an influencer or blogger’s audience, offer it to them. In return, they may link to your content.

Step 6: Use Anchor Text Effectively

Anchor text is the clickable text that links to another page. Using anchor text strategically can help improve your SEO by signaling to search engines what the linked page is about.

• Descriptive anchor text: Use text that clearly describes the linked page’s content. For example, instead of “click here,” use “learn more about our SEO services.”
• Avoid over-optimization: While including relevant keywords is important, avoid repeatedly using the same anchor text. This can appear spammy to search engines.

Tip: Write anchor text naturally. Google advises against generic text such as click here and against stuffing in keywords.

Step 7: Monitor Your Link-Building Efforts

Link building is an ongoing process, and it’s important to monitor the effectiveness of your strategy regularly. Tools like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and SEMrush can help you track the performance of your backlinks and make adjustments where needed.

• Track rankings: Keep an eye on how your rankings improve after acquiring new backlinks. If you need to see results, re-evaluate your strategy.
• Check the quality of new links: Ensure the links you acquire are from reputable and relevant sites. Low-quality links can harm your SEO efforts.

Step 8: Keep Building Links Over Time

Link building is not a one-time effort; it’s an ongoing strategy that needs continuous work.

Some Advanced Internal Linking Strategies

Once the basics are in place, these techniques can help organise your content.

• Descriptive Anchor Text: Use anchor text that clearly describes the linked page’s content. This helps Google understand the relevance of the linked page and improves the user experience. For example, instead of “click here,” use something like “learn more about SEO best practices.”
• Vary Your Anchor Text: Write each anchor to fit its sentence rather than repeating one keyword. This reads naturally and avoids keyword stuffing. For example, use variations like “SEO tips” and “on-page optimization techniques.”
• Target Long-Tail Keywords: Internal links can be an excellent way to target long-tail keywords, which have less competition and attract more qualified traffic. Focus on linking to pages optimized for specific, niche keywords highly relevant to your audience’s needs.
• Hub-and-Spoke Model: Create a central “hub” page for key topics and link it to related “spoke” pages. This method organizes your content into clear categories, helping users and search engines better navigate your site. A blog about SEO could be the hub, linking to sub-pages on technical SEO, keyword research, and link-building strategies.
• Improve User Experience: Internal links should guide users to relevant content, keeping them engaged. For example, after a user reads an article about SEO basics, you can link to more in-depth content, like advanced SEO tactics.

Audit your links: the Website SEO Audit reviews a page’s links and technical setup in one run.

Best Practices for Internal Linking

By linking your content strategically, you help search engines understand your site’s structure and provide a better experience for visitors. Here are six best practices for internal linking to get the most value out of it:

Use Clear and Relevant Anchor Text

When selecting anchor text for your internal links, ensure it’s clear and relevant to the content you’re linking to. For example, if you are linking to an article about digital marketing, anchor text like “digital marketing tips” is much more informative than “click here.”

This gives both Google and your visitors a better idea of what to expect when clicking the link. Descriptive anchor text helps users and search engines find the information they need.

Avoid Overloading Pages with Links

Google says there is no magical ideal number of links per page, but that if you think it is too many, it probably is. Too many links can overwhelm readers.

For example, don’t link to unrelated posts to add more links. Instead, choose links that enhance the user experience and help guide visitors through your content logically.

Link to Important Pages Regularly

Certain pages on your website, such as cornerstone content or high-priority landing pages, should be linked to frequently. These pages contain valuable information and deserve more internal links to signal to search engines that they are important.

For instance, if you have an article on your blog that serves as a comprehensive guide to your industry, link to it from other relevant posts. This helps reinforce the significance of that page.

Ensure Logical Site Structure

Think of your website as a roadmap. The clearer and more logical the structure, the easier for users and search engines to navigate. Your internal linking should mirror this structure by hierarchically connecting content.

For example, start by linking from your homepage to broad category pages. From those category pages, link to more specific subcategories or individual posts. This hierarchical structure makes it easier for users to explore your site and for search engines to understand your content’s context.

Find broken links: the Broken Link Checker lists internal links that return errors so you can update or remove them.

Regularly Audit and Update Links

Internal links are not a “set it and forget it” strategy. Over time, as you add new content, some of your older internal links may need to be fixed or updated. Regularly auditing your internal links will ensure that they are working and relevant.

During audits, you should:

• Remove broken or outdated links.
• Replace links that go to 404 error pages.
• Ensure that every page on your site has relevant internal links.

You can use tools like Google Search Console or specialized SEO tools to find and fix broken links easily.

Link to Related Content for Enhanced User Engagement

One of the main reasons for using internal links is to keep users engaged. When users find links to related content, they are more likely to stay on your site longer, exploring different articles and posts. This helps readers find related pages.

For instance, if you write a post on “How to Start a Blog,” you could include internal links to articles on choosing the right platform or creating content.

Common Internal Link Problems and How to Fix Them

Let’s explore these problems and how to resolve them.

Broken Links

Broken links occur when an internal link leads to a page that no longer exists or has been moved. These links frustrate users and break the path crawlers follow. To fix this:

1. Regularly audit your website for broken links using tools like Google Search Console or site crawlers like Screaming Frog.
2. Once identified, update the link or remove it entirely.
3. Keep your content fresh and avoid frustration for your visitors.

Crawl Depth Beyond Three Clicks

Crawl depth refers to how many clicks a search engine bot takes to reach a particular page. Three clicks is a common rule of thumb, not a Google rule, but a page buried deep with few links pointing to it can be found and recrawled late. Ensure key pages are easily accessible by placing them within a few clicks of the homepage. Create a logical site structure to keep essential pages visible and easy to find.

Excessive Internal Links

While internal linking is essential, too many links on a page can overwhelm readers. Google gives no ideal number: if it feels like too many, it probably is. Aim for a balanced approach by linking only to highly relevant and valuable content. As a best practice, limit the number of links on a page to avoid creating a cluttered user experience.

Trace the hop: the Redirect Checker shows each redirect step so you can point links straight to the final URL.

Internal Redirects

Internal redirects can slow down your site and create a poor user experience. If a link points to a page that redirects to another URL, it adds an extra step for users and search engines. Regularly check your site for internal redirects, and when possible, update the link to point directly to the final destination.

Links Between HTTP and HTTPS Pages

Links between HTTP and HTTPS pages on your site can confuse users and search engines. HTTPS is the secure version, and mixed content can trigger browser warnings. Ensure your internal links use HTTPS, especially if your site has moved to a secure connection. If any HTTP links are still in place, update them to HTTPS as soon as possible.

Nofollow Attributes in Internal Links

Google says to use nofollow only for links you do not trust, such as paid or user-generated ones, so internal links to your own pages rarely need it. Ensure that internal links to key pages (like cornerstone content or main landing pages) are not tagged with “nofollow.” If you use “nofollow,” be sure it’s only applied to specific pages where you want to prevent the link value from passing.

Confirm indexing: use the Google Index Checker to see whether a page with few links is in Google’s index.

Orphaned Pages

Orphaned pages aren’t linked to any other page on your site. This means search engines may have difficulty discovering and indexing them, and users may not find them easily. To fix this, audit your site to identify orphaned content and add internal links to relevant pages.

Pages With Only One Link

A page with only one internal link is easy to miss, and if that one link breaks the page becomes an orphan. To address this, look for opportunities to link to important pages from multiple other pages. This also makes those pages easier for visitors and crawlers to reach.

Redirect Chains and Loops

A redirect chain occurs when a page redirects to another, which then redirects to a third page, creating a “chain” of redirects. A redirect loop happens when a page redirects to itself, causing an endless cycle. Google says long redirect chains have a negative effect on crawling, and loops frustrate visitors. Resolve redirect chains by eliminating unnecessary redirects and ensuring pages redirect directly to the intended destination.

The Role of Internal Links in Google’s Ranking Process

Google uses links as a signal when determining relevance and to find new pages to crawl. These links help Googlebot understand how pages relate to each other and which pages are most important.

Here’s how Google uses internal links:

• Discoverability: Internal links guide Google’s crawlers to new content. Without these links, pages may be overlooked, making ranking harder.
• Understanding Relationships: Links between related pages help Google understand which topics are connected, strengthening the relevance of content.
• Prioritizing Pages: Pages linked directly from the home page may be seen as more important and crawled more often, but Google says that does not mean they rank higher.

Make sure every important page on your site is accessible and connected.

Final Discussion

Internal links connect your pages, help readers move between them, and help Google find and understand them. By strategically linking your content, you can guide visitors through your site, improve engagement, and help search engines understand your site structure.

FAQs

What is an internal link?

An internal link is a hyperlink from one page on your website to another page on the same website, such as a menu link, a link inside an article, or a breadcrumb. Google uses internal links to discover pages and to understand how your content relates.

How many internal links should a page have?

There is no ideal number. Google says there is no magical count of links per page, but that if you think a page has too many, it probably does. Link where it helps the reader, use descriptive anchor text, and avoid stuffing pages with unrelated links.

Do internal links help SEO?

They help Google find pages and understand your site, and they help visitors move between pages. Google says every important page should be linked from at least one other page. They do not guarantee rankings, but a page nothing links to may not be found.

What is an orphan page and how do I fix it?

An orphan page has no internal links pointing to it, so crawlers and visitors may never find it. Compare a full crawl of your site with your sitemap or CMS page list to find them, then link each important page from relevant pages, or remove pages you no longer need.