Internal Linking Strategy: Connect Your Content for Better Rankings

Reading time: 13 minutes

Quick Definition: Internal links are links from one page on your site to another page on your site. They help users navigate, help Google understand your site structure, and distribute “link equity” (ranking power) throughout your site.

Key insight: Your internal linking strategy can be the difference between page 1 and page 3 in search results. No backlinks required.

TLDR

Internal links help Google discover pages, distribute ranking power, and signal page context. Link from high-authority pages to important pages using descriptive anchor text with keywords. Use the hub-and-spoke model: pillar pages link to related content, which links back to strengthen the pillar. Audit with Screaming Frog to find orphan pages with zero internal links. Fix orphans by linking from relevant pages. Link to specific pages, not just your homepage.

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Why Internal Linking Matters

1. Helps Google Discover Pages

How Google crawls:

1. Googlebot lands on your homepage
2. Follows links to other pages
3. Follows links from those pages to more pages
4. Etc.

No internal links = Google may never find the page

Example:

• Homepage → Blog → Article A (Google finds it)
• Homepage → (no link) → Orphan Article (Google never finds it)

Solution: Every important page should be linked from at least one other page.

2. Distributes Link Equity (PageRank)

How it works:

• External backlinks give your site “link equity” (ranking power)
• Internal links distribute that equity throughout your site
• Pages with more internal links pointing to them get more equity

Example:

Homepage (100 equity from backlinks)
  ↓ Internal link
Product Page A (receives about 30 equity)
  ↓ Internal link
Product Page B (receives about 10 equity)

Result: Strategic internal linking boosts rankings for important pages.

3. Provides Context to Google

Anchor text signals topic:

<!-- Google learns this page is about "keyword research" -->
<a href="/blog/keyword-research-guide">keyword research tools</a>

Result: Internal link anchor text helps Google understand what your pages are about.

4. Improves User Experience

Good internal linking:

• Helps users find related content
• Reduces bounce rate
• Increases time on site
• Boosts conversions

Example:

• User reads “What is SEO?”
• Clicks internal link to “How to Do Keyword Research”
• Stays on site longer, learns more, converts better

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Internal Linking Best Practices

1. Link from High-Authority Pages to Important Pages

Priority order:

1. Homepage (highest authority) → Link to key product/service pages
2. Popular blog posts (high traffic) → Link to conversion pages
3. Category pages → Link to top products/articles

Example e-commerce site:

Homepage
  → Best-Selling Products
  → New Arrivals
  → Sale Page

Popular Blog Post ("SEO Guide")
  → SEO Audit Tool (product page)
  → SEO Consultation (service page)

Why this works: Link equity flows from high-authority pages to important pages, boosting their rankings.

2. Use Descriptive Anchor Text

Anchor text = the clickable text in a link

Bad anchor text:

<a href="/seo-guide">click here</a>
<a href="/products">read more</a>
<a href="/blog/keyword-research">this article</a>

Good anchor text:

<a href="/seo-guide">complete SEO guide for beginners</a>
<a href="/products">AI-powered SEO audit tools</a>
<a href="/blog/keyword-research">how to do keyword research</a>

Why it matters:

• Google uses anchor text to understand what the linked page is about
• Descriptive anchors = better rankings for target keywords

Best practices:

• Include target keyword naturally
• Make it descriptive (tells user what to expect)
• Keep it concise (3-7 words)
• Don’t keyword stuff (“SEO SEO SEO tools”)
• Don’t use generic text (“click here,” “read more”)

3. Link to Relevant Content

Good:

Blog post: "How to Fix Core Web Vitals"
  → Internal link to: "Image Optimization Guide" (related topic)
  → Internal link to: "LCP Troubleshooting" (directly related)

Bad:

Blog post: "How to Fix Core Web Vitals"
  → Internal link to: "Our Company History" (not relevant)
  → Internal link to: "Cookie Policy" (not related)

Why relevance matters:

• Google values contextual links
• Users are more likely to click relevant links
• Keeps users engaged on related topics

4. Avoid Over-Linking

Problem:

<!-- 50 internal links in a 500-word article -->
Too many links = diluted link equity + poor UX

Guideline:

• Short article (500 words): 2-5 internal links
• Medium article (1,000 words): 5-10 internal links
• Long article (2,500+ words): 10-20 internal links

Quality over quantity: Link to the 5 most relevant pages, not everything.

5. Link Deep (Not Just to Homepage)

Bad linking structure:

Page A → Homepage
Page B → Homepage
Page C → Homepage

Good linking structure:

Page A → Related Page X
Page B → Related Page Y, Page Z
Page C → Page A, Page X

Why deep linking is better:

• Distributes link equity throughout site
• Helps Google discover all pages
• Better user experience (specific, relevant destinations)

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Internal Linking Strategies

Hub and Spoke Model (Pillar Pages)

Structure:

Pillar Page: "Complete SEO Guide"
  ↓ Links to →
Spoke 1: "Keyword Research"
Spoke 2: "On-Page SEO"
Spoke 3: "Technical SEO"
Spoke 4: "Link Building"

Each spoke links back to the pillar page.

Benefits:

• Pillar page gains authority from all spokes
• Ranks for broad term (“SEO guide”)
• Spokes rank for specific terms (“keyword research”)

Example:

• Pillar: /seo-guide (3,000 words, comprehensive)
• Spokes:
  • /keyword-research (links to pillar)
  • /on-page-seo (links to pillar)
  • /link-building (links to pillar)

Contextual Links (In-Content)

Best type of internal link: Within the body text, naturally integrated

Example:

"If you're struggling with slow page speed, check out our
guide on <a href="/image-optimization">optimizing images for Core Web Vitals</a>."

Why contextual links are powerful:

• Google values them more than footer/sidebar links
• Higher click-through rates
• Natural anchor text

Where to add contextual links:

• First 1-2 paragraphs (high visibility)
• When mentioning related topics
• In “Related:” sections at article end

Breadcrumb Navigation

What it looks like:

Home > Blog > SEO > How to Fix Core Web Vitals

HTML structure:

<nav aria-label="Breadcrumb">
  <ol>
    <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
    <li><a href="/blog">Blog</a></li>
    <li><a href="/blog/seo">SEO</a></li>
    <li aria-current="page">How to Fix Core Web Vitals</li>
  </ol>
</nav>

Benefits:

• Internal links to category pages
• Helps Google understand site structure
• Improves user navigation

Related Posts/Products

At bottom of articles:

→ Related Articles:
- How to Do Keyword Research
- Title Tags 101
- Meta Descriptions Guide

On product pages:

→ Customers Also Viewed:
- Product A
- Product B
- Product C

Benefits:

• Increases pages per session
• Distributes link equity to related content
• Easy to implement (plugins/widgets available)

Internal Link Clusters

Strategy: Group related pages and link them heavily to each other

Example cluster (Local SEO):

Pages in cluster:
- Google Business Profile Optimization
- Local Citation Building
- NAP Consistency Guide
- Local Schema Markup
- Review Management

Each page links to all other pages in the cluster.

Result: Cluster becomes an “authority hub” on local SEO topics.

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Technical Implementation

HTML Best Practices

Standard link:

<a href="/target-page">Anchor Text</a>

With title attribute (optional):

<a href="/seo-guide" title="Complete SEO Guide for Beginners">SEO guide</a>

Opening in new tab (use sparingly):

<a href="/external-tool" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">External Tool</a>

Note: Only use target="_blank" for external links, not internal links.

Relative vs Absolute URLs

Relative (recommended for internal links):

<a href="/blog/seo-guide">SEO Guide</a>

Absolute:

<a href="https://example.com/blog/seo-guide">SEO Guide</a>

Why relative is better:

• Shorter code
• Works on staging/development environments
• Faster (no DNS lookup)

When to use absolute:

• Canonical tags
• Sitemaps
• Schema markup

Nofollow Internal Links (Rare)

When to nofollow internal links:

<a href="/login" rel="nofollow">Login</a>
<a href="/cart" rel="nofollow">Cart</a>

Use cases:

• Login/signup pages (low SEO value)
• Shopping cart/checkout (transactional, not SEO targets)
• Internal search result pages

Don’t nofollow:

• Blog posts
• Product pages
• Service pages
• Any page you want to rank

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Auditing Your Internal Links

Find Orphan Pages

Orphan page = page with zero internal links pointing to it

How to find:

Method 1: Screaming Frog

1. Download Screaming Frog SEO Spider
2. Crawl your site
3. Go to “Internal” → “Orphan Pages” report

Method 2: Google Search Console

1. Search Console → Coverage
2. Look for “Discovered - currently not indexed”
3. These may be orphaned (no internal links)

Method 3: Site Search

site:example.com "page title"

If page appears in search but you can’t find it via site navigation, it’s orphaned.

Fix: Add internal links from relevant pages.

Check Link Distribution

Goal: Important pages should have more internal links

How to check (Screaming Frog):

1. Crawl your site
2. Internal → “Inlinks” report
3. Sort by “Inlinks” column (descending)

What good distribution looks like:

• Homepage: 50-100+ inlinks
• Key category pages: 20-50 inlinks
• Important blog posts: 10-30 inlinks
• Regular articles: 3-10 inlinks

Red flags:

• Important product page: 1 inlink (needs more)
• Random old blog post: 47 inlinks (probably too many)

Identify Broken Internal Links

How to find (Google Search Console):

1. Coverage → Errors
2. Look for “Not found (404)”
3. Check “Referring page” to see which pages link to 404s

How to find (Screaming Frog):

1. Crawl your site
2. Internal → “HTML” → Filter “Status Code” = 404
3. “Inlinks” tab shows which pages link to this 404

Fix:

• Update links to correct URL
• Or redirect 404 to relevant page

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WordPress Internal Linking

Manual Linking

Block editor:

1. Highlight text
2. Click link icon (or Ctrl+K)
3. Start typing page title
4. Select from dropdown

Classic editor:

1. Highlight text
2. Click “Insert/edit link”
3. Search for page or paste URL

Plugins

1. Link Whisper (Paid, ~$77/year)

• AI-powered link suggestions
• Shows which pages need more internal links
• Automated internal linking

2. Internal Link Juicer (Free)

• Auto-links based on keywords
• Configurable rules
• Whitelist/blacklist pages

3. Yoast SEO (Free)

• Shows internal link suggestions while writing
• Link counter in sidebar

Automatic Related Posts

YARPP (Yet Another Related Posts Plugin)

<!-- Automatically shows related posts at bottom of articles -->

Jetpack Related Posts

<!-- Built into Jetpack plugin -->

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Common Mistakes

Footer Links to Every Page

Problem:

<footer>
  <!-- 150 links in footer -->
  <a href="/page-1">Page 1</a>
  <a href="/page-2">Page 2</a>
  <!-- ... 148 more -->
</footer>

Why it’s bad:

• Dilutes link equity (each link gets less value)
• Poor user experience
• Google may devalue footer links

Fix: Only link to key pages in footer (About, Contact, Privacy, Top 5 products)

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Using Same Anchor Text Everywhere

Problem:

<!-- Page A links to Page B -->
<a href="/seo-guide">SEO guide</a>

<!-- Page C links to Page B -->
<a href="/seo-guide">SEO guide</a>

<!-- Page D links to Page B -->
<a href="/seo-guide">SEO guide</a>

Why it’s not ideal: Looks unnatural, potentially spammy

Better (vary anchor text):

<a href="/seo-guide">complete SEO guide</a>
<a href="/seo-guide">learn SEO fundamentals</a>
<a href="/seo-guide">beginner's guide to search engine optimization</a>

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Linking to Low-Quality Pages

Bad:

High-authority blog post
  → Internal link to thin, outdated article (300 words, 2015)

Better:

• Update old article (make it comprehensive)
• Or delete it and redirect to better content
• Then link from high-authority page

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What Surmado Checks

Surmado Scan looks for:

• Orphan pages (pages with zero internal links)
• Broken internal links (404s)
• Pages with too few internal links (< 3)
• Pages with excessive links (> 100)
• Generic anchor text (“click here,” “read more”)

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Quick Reference

Internal linking checklist:

• Link from homepage to top 5-10 most important pages
• Use descriptive anchor text (include keywords naturally)
• Add 3-10 contextual links per article
• Link to related content (topical relevance)
• Fix broken internal links (404s)
• Find and link to orphan pages
• Vary anchor text (don’t use same phrase every time)
• Don’t overlink (keep it natural)
• Don’t nofollow important internal links

Link equity flow:

Homepage (most equity)
  → Key pages (medium equity)
    → Supporting pages (low equity)

Anchor text formula:

[Target Keyword] + [Context]
Example: "keyword research tools for beginners"

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